STATEMENT OF SOLIDARITY WITH THE TEACHERS AND STAFF AT THE NOBLE NETWORK OF CHARTER SCHOOLS

The Graduate Employees Organization (GEO) of the University of Illinois at Chicago (IFT/AFT Local 6297) stands in solidarity with the teachers and staff at the Noble Network of Charter Schools who are organizing a union.

We support their efforts to form a union, because we understand just how necessary it is to fight for our rights in the workplace. Unions make it possible for us to improve our working conditions: from demanding fair wages to fighting against discrimination, unions are a powerful collective voice for workers. As members of unions, we are not only improving our own lives, we are working for each other and for our communities. As teaching assistants and graduate assistants at UIC, GEO members understand firsthand that our working conditions are UIC students’ learning conditions. And as our educational institutions are increasingly underfunded and teachers and staff are stretched thin, it is more important than ever to fight for a better future for our school communities. UIC GEO members recognize the incredible work of the teachers and staff of the Noble Network of Charter Schools, and we strongly support their demand for a voice at work.

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The Graduate Employees Organization is the labor union that represents more than 1,400 Teaching Assistants and Graduate Assistants at UIC. The GEO is a democratic union run by and for its members. The GEO is affiliated with the Illinois Federation of Teachers (IFT), the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), and the AFL-CIO.