The Illinois Legislature has voted to amend the state's Educational Labor Relations Act to grant graduate employee teaching assistants at public colleges and universities the right to union representation.

The legislation, drafted by the Illinois Federation of Teachers, is an important victory in the fight for the equitable treatment of graduate employees. The new law acknowledges that teaching assistants in Illinois' public higher education institutions are employees and enables them to gain union recognition given a majority of support from the unit. The bill is on its way to Gov. Rod Blagojevich for signature.

"We're ecstatic," said Bryan Nicholson, communications officer for the Graduate Employees' Organization (GEO) at the University of Illinois-Urbana-Champaign (UIUC). The law, an outgrowth of an informal agreement between GEO and UIUC administrators, will also benefit GEO chapters at other University of Illinois campuses, including UI-Chicago, he said. In April, the GEO chapter at UI-Chicago filed majority cards for recognition and is awaiting a final labor determination of the unit composition.

The law will not cover graduate assistants who primarily perform research duties or are involved in preprofessional work, such as law and medical programs.

Graduate employees conduct essential teaching work at colleges and universities across the country, pay state and federal taxes and are covered by workers' compensation insurance "just like any other employee, "says IFT president James Dougherty, who is also an AFT vice president. "The IFT is delighted at the culmination of this decade-long struggle to organize and bargain a contract that respects and values graduate employee work at the University of Illinois-Urbana-Champaign."

IFT field services director Dave Kamper credits a wide range of support and resources in getting the bill passed, including the graduate employees at Champaign-Urbana and the AFT's higher education department, which has championed graduate employee rights throughout the nation. [Brian Dolber]

August 11, 2004