Letter to the Editor | Call on Democratic Illinois senate candidates to speak at GEO rally
March 2, 2018
For almost 11 months, the Graduate Employees’ Organization of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign has been without a contract, having been locked in frustrating negotiations with the University administration, which has refused to compromise on essential aspects of the union’s contract, such as compensation, healthcare and, most importantly, tuition waivers.
This past Monday, Feb. 26, the GEO went on strike. In this primary season, the leading Democratic gubernatorial candidates have unceasingly argued they are each unwavering proponents of organized labor.
JB Pritzker has said: “The fact is, the labor movement is key to restoring the middle class in Illinois, and I’m committed to working together to protect our families.”
Daniel Biss has publicly come out in support of the unionization of University of Chicago graduate students, wore a GEO pin on his most recent visit to the University campus and has argued he “strongly supports union rights and collective bargaining.”
Chris Kennedy has expressed desires to make the Illinois governor’s office more friendly to organized labor and to appropriately funded pensions. Having been the chairman for the University of Illinois’ Board of Trustees, Kennedy should be intimately knowledgeable of the importance of graduate workers.
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Regardless of each candidate’s stance on unionism, so far they haven’t used their unique positions of power, influence and media attention to pressure the University administration to bargain with the GEO in good faith.
Each claims to be a vanguard of unionism and a protector of the middle class, but at the present moment, each has failed to act on an opportunity to stand up for organized labor in a case that has the potential of exemplarily resisting the encroaching right-to-work ideology.
I call on each Democratic gubernatorial candidate who claims to support labor to endorse the GEO in its fight to win a #FairContractNow and to demonstrate wholehearted support by speaking at a GEO rally.
Juliana is a senior in LAS.
