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Bargaining Update May-July 2026
During the final week of our strike (5/11-5/15), we negotiated a Back to Work MOU which allowed us extra time to submit final grades and promised no retaliation. Although administration was unwilling to make a lot of movement during the strike, we have seen a significant change in their attitude since then. Notably, the university…
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Contract Bargaining Update (4/27/26-5/7/26)
We bargained with admin for another 8 hours last week, working to make movement on our remaining six proposals that center on our key demands: job security, wages, healthcare, and international worker support. While we saw some small movement on things like hours of work and appointment terms, much more movement is needed on the…
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Contract Bargaining Update (4/17/26-4/24/26)
GEO and University administration returned to the table for 5 bargaining sessions (4/17, 4/20, 4/21, 4/22, and 4/24) as we approached the end of the semester and a possible strike. After an extremely lackluster session on April 17th where the university gave us a beautiful “admin gets everything they want and graduate workers get even…
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Contract Bargaining Update (4/10/26)
GEO and University administration returned to the table Friday April 10 for our 24th bargaining session overall– and our 3rd with FMCS commissioner Rosa Tiscareno serving as mediator. After the previous discussion and ranking of priorities, we passed 2 packages: One containing Additional Employment, Leaves and Holidays, Discipline and Dismissal, and Grievance Procedure. After discussion…
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Contract Bargaining Update (4/3/26)
GEO and the university returned to the table with FMCS Commissioner Rosa Tiscareno serving as mediator on Friday, April 3. This session was largely spent with the mediator discussing tactics to get many of the outstanding articled TA’d, so we may focus on our key demands. To facilitate this, the bargaining committee ranked our priorities…
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Contract Bargaining Update (3/20/26)
GEO returned to the table Friday March 20 after a long wait to accommodate the administration’s schedule. This was our first session with Commissioner Rosa Tiscareno from the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS) serving as a mediator. This meant a large amount of the sessions was going over expectations and the commissioner speaking with…
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2/27/26 Bargaining Update
GEO and the university returned to the table Friday, February 27th for our 21st bargaining session. After the final details regarding requesting mediation were ironed out, several proposals were exchanged. GEO passed back: The University’s bargaining team passed: GEO has now returned our major economic demands after the insulting response to our initial proposals. We…
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2/13/26 Bargaining Update
UIC and GEO returned to the table last Friday, February 13. In line with the proposal passed at the Special Membership Meeting last month, we formally requested mediation at this session. Mediation involves bringing in a third party that tries to help us communicate with UIC and explore solutions to reach a mutually acceptable agreement.…
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1/29/26 Bargaining Update
GEO and the university returned to the table on Thursday, January 29 for our 19th session. The university passed back: Though we were unable to get hourly graduate workers and fellows added to the bargaining unit at the table, this does not by any means mean we don’t intend to fight to get them added.…
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12/5/2025 – Wages update!
We are not paid enough to do our work. You know it. We know it. We feel it in our anxiety when our monthly utility bills loom. We feel it in our perpetual stress managing rent and groceries alongside research and instruction. We feel it trying to take care of our kids, our parents, and…
Bargaining Updates
