Two University service worker unions rallied on the Main Quad on Friday, calling for higher wages and an updated contract. Both unions’ previous contracts expired last September and will remain in effect until a new agreement is settled.
The unions, American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Locals 698 and 3700, consist of University office managers, lab technicians and library staff. Supporting community members also joined the group.
Ursulla Idleman, president of AFSCME Local 3700, spoke to The Daily Illini about the issues many campus workers face and what she believes to be a disconnect between University messaging and workers’ realities.
“I look at this as shining a very bright light on what the conditions are actually like here, versus what (the administration wants) to tell the public through their messaging and their branding,” Idleman said. “(Administrators) are the only people that can fix this, and (they) can start that by giving our unions and the other unions on campus livable wages and better contracts.”
Patrick Wade, the University’s director of executive communications and issues management, told The Daily Illini the University is “hopeful” a resolution will be reached soon.
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“AFSCME and the university had a productive and mutually beneficial negotiation session on Thursday,” Wade said. “We will continue to work with AFSCME with the goal of reaching resolution on (a) new collective bargaining agreement.”
According to Local 3700 Staff Representative Christina DeAngelo, the unions have been discussing contract terms for over a year. Union members are also requesting backpay from the University for not receiving a raise after their previous contract expired.
Theresa Dobbs, professor in LAS and president of the Non-Tenure Faculty Coalition Local 6546, said she was rallying in support of her fellow workers.
“All these folks have been working with no raise this whole year and just really having to fight for scraps from the University,” Dobbs said. “I definitely wanted to come out — and a few other people from NTFC also coming out in support, because it’s really important for us to stand in solidarity with each other at a time like this.”
The group chanted phrases like, “Whose University? Our University!” and held signs urging administrators to take action. Some attendees shared personal accounts with the crowd.
“Some (members) work two to three jobs because they can’t afford not to,” said University employee Katrina Smith. “They don’t make enough working at the University of Illinois to support their families and pay their bills.”
Smith works as a child development supervisor in the Child Development Laboratory and has been employed by the University for over 22 years. She said her role at the lab is imperative for assisting families with childcare and that a new contract would help lab staff improve their productivity.
“We’d be able to pay our bills, we’d be less stressed,” Smith said. “Which means we’d be better workers because we’d have more energy, and we wouldn’t have to think about, ‘Oh, (we have) to go home and get ready to go to our other jobs.’”
Demonstrators distributed flyers asking passersby to submit a form urging Provost John Coleman to accept a “fair contract.”
Another demonstrator, Shaniya Brown, works as an office manager in the department of African American Studies. She said she came to the rally to support the unions.
“It’s shocking to me that they’re arguing for wages,” Brown said. “My mom — when she used to work here years ago — said that they had that same type of thing. So that’s been over 40 years.”
The next bargaining session is scheduled for Monday.
