As you may have heard, GEO members overwhelmingly authorized the union to strike this past weekend, with the earliest start time being next week.
After talking with our coworkers, stewards council, and among our body, we have voted to call the strike for Tuesday, April 21st. We are scheduling another bargaining session on April 20th in the hopes to prevent a strike and get a reasonable response on our top demands around healthcare, wages, job security, and international worker protections. We have seen better movement at the bargaining table through mediation, but are concerned they will continue to hold out on the demands we know graduate workers need in order to not just survive but thrive at UIC. The era of balancing the budget on graduate researchers, assistants, and teachers’ backs is over.
A strike is a big ask to make and it is not one any of us take lightly. However, with over a majority of our membership ready to take back their power and halt business-as-usual austerity, we feel confident in our ability to support one another, keep each other safe, and pull off a successful strike action. It’s going to take all of us to get a good contract in our hands on our terms.
Starting on Tuesday, we will have rotating picket locations each day on both East and West campus. These locations will be shared over email, on our website the night before, and over text from your strike captains. Please keep your eyes on these spaces and also sign up for a picket shift! Members will be contacted by strike captains based on college. These captains will be in contact with you soon!
Ready to help bring home the best contact we can possibly win? Here’s some ways you can help right now:
Weekly Strike Huddles: We will have weekly meetings among both members and strike captains to make sure we are up to date on what members’ needs are, how our strategy may need to change, and our approach to how much longer we think we need to be out. The first of these is this Thursday, April 16th, at 5:00pm in the West Loop Branch of the Chicago Public Library and on Zoom. This first huddle will be a space to 1.) hear the strike plan in detail, 2.) ask questions or raise concerns or ideas you have, and 3.) get clarity on the strike captain role and how it will work in practice.
Strike School: We have one more strike school coming your way, our 102 training on direct action on April 16th at 1:30pm in the Latino Cultural Center.
Practice Picket: If you’re excited to help us hit the ground running with a strike, join our practice picket in front of University Hall from 2:00-4:00pm on April 17th. There will be chants, music, new friends, and good energy so please join in!
Sign up for a shift on the picket line for next week: We're excited to see you out on the picket line. To know how much food, how many Scabbies, and how many signs to prep each day, we need you to sign up for a picket shift. There is not expectation to stay for the entire day or entire shift. Let's be as loud and visible as we can be!
Sign Up to be a Strike Captain: We are still looking for more strike captains, especially among the Natural Sciences, Humanities, and West Campus. If you want to help keep your coworkers in the loop about day to day actions and make sure our pickets are as big and visible as they can be, sign up today!
Let’s fight for a better UIC for all of us.
In solidarity,
Your Steering Committee