FYI: Graduate employees hold rally for higher pay

News-Gazette, Thursday December 7, 2006
By Christine Des Garennes

With temperatures hovering around freezing and less than a week to go before final exams begin, University of Illinois graduate employees took a break from studying and grading Wednesday to rally on campus for higher pay.

The Graduate Employees' Organization and the UI have been negotiating for a new contract since April. Several rallies and more than a dozen bargain sessions later, the two sides are still in discussions. Recently, tensions rose between the UI and the union when they started negotiating wages.

The current minimum graduate stipend – the salary a graduate student earns as a research assistant or teaching assistant – is $12,220. [...] Under the current UI proposal, the stipend would rise by 2.5 percent to $12,586 for 2006-2007. For 2007-2008, assistants would make a minimum of $12,963 and in 2008-2009 the minimum would increase to $13,354.

But that's not enough to cover the rising costs of living for a student, said union members.

[...] "Our own minimum stipend doesn't meet the published figures (by the UI's Office of Admissions and Records) for what it takes to live in Champaign-Urbana," Simeone said.

According to that office's Web site, graduate student expenses average close to $14,000 a year in Champaign-Urbana for room, board and other living expenses.

Also at issue are health care costs and the other student fees the graduate employees pay the university. [...]

The health care premium for a graduate employee is $256 per semester or $756 a year. But add a spouse and children to the plan, and graduate employees could spend more than $1,000 per semester for health coverage.

"For some students it's more cost effective to fly back to their home country to receive care there, and that includes the cost of airfare," Simeone said. [...]

The next bargaining session is scheduled for Dec. 13.

"We have an outstanding offer and have been waiting four weeks for a response. We're hoping for a response at that meeting," Kaler said of Dec. 13.

If there is no settlement soon, the two sides can request federal mediation. [...]

Find the rest of this article here.