Research assistants at the University have “taken the first step toward unionization,” wrote the Graduate Employees’ Organization in a press release on Friday.
“Over 35% of Research Assistants on UIUC’s campus have signed membership cards or petitions stating that they want GEO to be their bargaining representative,” GEO’s statement read.
In order to unionize, at least 30% of over 3,700 RAs needed to sign union authorization cards. The next step is for the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board to hold a union election, where a majority of RAs must vote yes to certify GEO as their bargaining representative.
Augustus Wood, LAS professor in the School of Labor and Employment Relations, called the milestone a “magnificent victory.”
“For the people who make the University work the way it does — faculty, graduate students and undergraduates — our conditions are tied directly to the quality of education and research that happens here,” Wood said. “The fact that research assistants have been taking on assistantships without having union recognition and union protection has always put them at a disadvantage.”
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By unionizing with GEO, RAs would gain the same protections already outlined in the existing GEO contract, such as a minimum wage, health insurance, tuition and fee waivers and a grievance process for pay issues, per the press release.
Wood described conditions RAs faced when he was a graduate student and why he thinks RA unionization is important.
“RAs reported going through exploitation in terms of people not being paid, being overworked … facing retribution and punishment from supervisors who ask them to do things that weren’t in their job descriptions or their research appointments,” Wood said. “That’s why you have so many more graduate unions now popping up across the country — because the exploitation, the abuse, it is pretty bad across the country.”
The unionization of higher education is a national trend. Between 2012 and 2024, the number of graduate student employees in unions grew by 133%. This makes higher education “one of the fastest growing sectors of organized labor,” according to the National Education Association.
There are four types of graduate assistantships: research assistants, teaching assistants, pre-professional graduate assistants and graduate assistants. The latter three, who make up around 2,900 individuals, are covered by a collective bargaining agreement with GEO.
RA unionship would expand the GEO bargaining unit, which could significantly impact the University’s labor costs.
“We’re talking a lot of money here that’s at stake if RAs unionize because they would have to be paid in a very different manner,” Wood said. “They would have to be appointed to their positions in a different manner. A lot of paperwork.”
Patrick Wade, director of executive communications and issues management wrote in an email to The Daily Illini that the University is “aware of the effort” and ensuring that they follow the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Act.
“Our goal is to continue providing an environment that ensures people find value and purpose in coming to and staying at Illinois, and we will do that in a way that is consistent with the law and our institutional values,” Wade wrote.
In Wood’s view, a union can be thought of as a middle ground between the interests of the workers and the interests of a business owner. While the University is not a business, Wood says the lines have been blurred.
“Maybe 15 years ago, they would still try to pretend like this is a higher education space, but now they’re not even trying to hide anymore,” Wood said. “The University has seen the dollar signs. They have a vested interest in accumulating profits at this point.”
GEO’s current collective bargaining agreement with the University is valid through Aug. 15, 2026. The union election is expected to take place sometime in the summer of 2025.
