After Bargaining

Do you ever wonder how did the Graduate Employees' Organization decide on its wage proposal? How does it speak to other peer research institutions? Where does admin's proposal place us compared to the big ten? All of this and much more is answered by the GEO's Finance Committee Co-Chair, Tony Mirasola (5th year PhD in Physics).

Tony and Essam end the episode with the important call to PACK the ROOM on Friday, 3/24th from 10am-5pm. The NEW LOCATION is SDRP (aka Ikenberry), 301 E Gregory, 2nd floor-Multi-Purpose Room.

Essam and Karla are hosted by Abhishek Kodumagulla and Chelsea Birchmier to share the details of a victorious day. They speak about the rally before the session, the proposals that were handed back and forth during the session, and the powerful testimonials shared by members during the session. This episode includes a bonus where the four bargaining team members end the episode with a union song. Tune in to learn about what was inside the proposals and celebrate a successful day of organizing. 

What is next with bargaining?

Chelsea and Karla join the After Bargaining host, Essam, to give updates on the bargaining session that took place on the 28th/10/2022. They discuss the content of the package handed to admin by the Union, how did the admin respond, and all the other happenings of the bargaining session. 

This episode and future ones will be slightly longer reflecting: 1- our sessions are becoming longer, 2- we will include testimonials from members in our episodes.  In this episode, Patrick who is a graduate worker reads to us his testimonial that speaks about the pay cut many graduate workers received this year. 

What is next?

The GEO is hosting a Halloween Party on 5th/11/2022, Saturday, 8:30pm. Please come, invite your non-union friends and get them to join the union. There will be satiating food. 

In this episode of After Bargaining, the lead negotiators for Bargaining Session #15, Sam (History) and Nachiketa (Mathematics), speak with host & Bargaining Team member, Essam Elkorghli (Education)!

Just for context, last session the GEO gave the administration a package proposal that included articles such as Non-Discrimination, Appointment Terms, and Leaves and Holiday. In this episode, Nachiketa and Sam delve into what the admin has given in response to our previous movement. At the end, Essam and Nachiketa give updates on upcoming events.

This podcast is a great way to get caught up if you missed the  bargaining session, or want to hear more about the full contract bargaining process in general!

What is next?

In this episode of After Bargaining, the lead negotiators for Bargaining Session #14, ben (History) and Karla (Social Work), speak with host & Bargaining Team member, Essam Elkorghli (Education)!

They delve into the details of the bargaining session, which started with the GEO providing the administration a package proposal, which include articles such as: Recognition, Non-Discrimination, Appointment Terms, Leaves and Holidays, and No Strike/No Lockout. Karla and ben spoke about the importance of making such movement to expedite the ongoing bargaining process and land a just and equitable contract. 

During the session, we had one of the GEO members share their testimonial. If you would like to bring up an issue or share a terimonial, please contact us: barg@uigeo.org

This podcast is a great way to get caught up if you missed the  bargaining session, or want to hear more about the full contract bargaining process in general!

What is next?

In this episode of After Bargaining, one of the lead negotiators for Bargaining Session #13, Sam Froiland (History), speaks with host & Bargaining Team member, Essam Elkorghli (Education)!

They delve into the details of the bargaining session, which started immediately with a sidebar. During the session, the GEO received a counter package proposal from the administration, in which Sam and Essam discuss in detail, particularly the new wages proposed by admin, mental health, and bereavement leave articles. In addition, E-Sam explain the importance of having a union that protects graduate workers.

This podcast is a great way to get caught up if you missed the  bargaining session, or want to hear more about the full contract bargaining process in general!

What is next?

In this episode of After Bargaining, lead negotiators for Bargaining Session #12 & GEO Co-Presidents, Nachiketa Adhikari (Math) and Karla Sanabria-Véaz (Social Work) speak with host & Bargaining Team member, Essam Elkorghli (Education)! They talk about the testimonial shared by a graduate worker who is a parent navigating a lack of changing tables on campus, break down what a "sidebar" with administration is and how it went, and share details about GEO's definition of equity and our counter-proposal to administration.

This podcast is a great way to get caught up if you missed the  bargaining session, or want to hear more about the full contract bargaining process in general!

**there is a tiny technical problem between minute 5 and 8**

Now that the Graduate Employees’ Organization (GEO) has received a counter proposal from the administration, this bargaining session saw the leads, Essam (Education Policy) and Sam (History), ask clarifying questions on the nature of the admin's proposal.

The host, ben (History), gets some detailed insights about the difference between a full comprehensive counter proposal and a comprehensive counter package proposal, the latter being what the GEO received from the admin. The episode also delves into the burden the international students who come from non-white, English-speaking countries endure to obtain employment and how that contradicts admin’s language of equity (i.e., their proposal does not recognize, for example, if a Kenyan student who speaks English as a first language to be proficient in English, and therefore must take international English language assessments).

The leads also discuss the strategic vagueness of the admin’s proposal that does not commit the admin to changing anything but only that they ‘will explore’ certain actions. Lastly, the episode concludes with Essam highlighting how the admin’s language on modality employment is exclusionary and discriminatory (with imperialist entanglements), which again contradicts the admin’s stance on their proposal being equitable.

The leads and ben end the episode with a plea to members on the importance of showing up to these bargaining sessions. It is time to constantly remind the administration that the university works because we do! Show up on the 19th/9/2022!

After almost 6 months of bargaining, we finally received a complete counter-proposal from UIUC admin! In this episode of After Bargaining, lead negotiators for Bargaining Session #10, ben wallis (History) and Chelsea Birchmier (Psychology) speak with host & bargaining team member, Essam Elkorghli (Education). They talk about the energizing Rally for a Fair Contract that took place before our first in-person bargaining session with admin, and talk through admin's proposal as well as the response from members in caucus. They talk about what the next part of bargaining will look like, as well as the ways admin's proposal falls short of graduate workers' needs.

In the fifth episode of After Bargaining, lead negotiators for Bargaining Session #8, Essam Elkorghli (Education) and Karla Sanabria-Véaz (Linguistics) speak with ben wallis (History) who's swapped hosting with Essam! They debrief on the disrespect and interruptions they faced in Friday's session from the university's lead negotiator, Robb Craddock. They also dive into the most important issues from the bargaining session: wages, re-appointment raises, year-round healthcare, and childcare resources.

In the fourth episode of After Bargaining, lead negotiators for Bargaining Session #7, Lesley Owens (English/Writing Studies) and ben wallis (History) speak with Essam Elkorghli (Education), a Bargaining Team member, about the session. They focus on the conversation on grad worker wages, talking about the need for wage increases that get us closer to a living wage especially as inflation rates increase. They dive into the admin's failure to understand graduate workers' living conditions, and the need to push for a new contract as the expiration date for our current contract is coming up in a month on August 15.

In the third episode of After Bargaining, lead negotiators for Bargaining Session #6, Sam Froiland (History) and Chelsea Birchmier (Psychology) speak with Essam Elkorghli (Education), a Bargaining Team member, about the session. They discuss pushing for grad worker rights such as access to changing tables for parents and guardians as well as accessible all-gender restrooms in all grad worker spaces. They also dive into the reasoning behind GEO's proposal on freedom of speech, as well as the importance of making sure bargaining sessions are open for all members to listen and share testimonials.

In the second episode of After Bargaining, lead negotiators for Bargaining Session #5, Karla Sanabria-Véaz (Linguistics) and Chelsea Birchmier (Psychology) speak with Essam Elkorghli (Education), a Bargaining Team member, about the session. They discuss pushing back against admin wanting to limit the number of GEO members in bargaining sessions, as well as the importance of overwork protections and time off for GEO work.

In the first-ever episode of After Bargaining, lead negotiator ben wallis and Bargaining Team member Essam Elkorghli discuss Bargaining Session #4. They reflect on the session and provide context for the different points that came up throughout negotiation.