The Graduate Employees Organization at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign achieved an enormous concession from the administration, which has been fighting the graduate employees' right to have a union for eight years. On March 13, after 50 GEO activists occupied the main administration building for a daylong sit-in, U of I provost Richard Herman agreed to an impromptu meeting with the union's leadership. At the end, the two sides emerged with an agreement to hold a series of meetings to determine who would be eligible to be in the bargaining unit and hold a representation election.

The day's events began before business hours when the GEO entered the Swanlund Administration Building, which houses the offices of the university president and system chancellor, among others. A block away, U of I trustees were arriving to begin a two-day board meeting.

The GEO is seeking the right to represent 5,000 graduate students who are employed as teaching and research assistants at the university. In 1996, authorization cards were signed by 3,200 graduate employees. The next year, 64 percent voted for a union. The university refused to recognize the union, maintaining that the employees were students and ineligible to bargain. In 2000, an Illinois appellate court ruled against the university on this point, but last year, an unfavorable unit determination ruling by the Illinois Labor Relations Board excluded 95 percent of the identified unit.

Stymied by legal maneuvers, but determined to achieve recognition, the GEO turned this year to job actions and continued demonstrations. Its goal was to convince the administration that, with the support of the community and even the state Legislature, the GEO was not about to give up its dream. The message got through.

"After nearly a decade of organizing, the university administration will be negotiating with the GEO for the first time," says GEO co-president Uma Pimplaskar. "This is a real tribute to the power of direct action and the unwavering dedication of hundreds of GEO activists over the years." [Barbara McKenna / AFT On Campus]

[May 13, 2002]