I'm really happy to hear the GEO members voted to authorize and explore their right to strike over the next few months. It has been frustrating to read and hear the University has repeatedly used the current international economic crisis selectively to leave financially insecure undergraduates and university workers out in the cold.

For example, they use it as a justification to freeze wages on most laborers making well under $40,000 a year, but then leaks begin to reveal high-level administrators secured their bonuses. What's 4% of $100,000+ dollars a year? Right, that kind of a bonus is fair in this economic climate, but not the one to help hundreds of Graduate Teaching Assistants who make a little over $12,000 a year earn a living wage instead.

How and why do things like the above happen? Who gets to make those decisions and selectively publicize them? And how do we stop them at an institution we're all connected to? I think the GEO has taken the right first step.

MaW's right. Graduate student employees do work critical to the University's mission. Why is our labor not worth enough to live on in our community? The Grad College acknowledges that the minimum wage (paid to almost 60% of TAs and GAs) is below the cost of living here. I'll say it again: why is my labor not worth enough to live on?

Most of what I read is ridiculous! All of it! The administrators shouldn't be getting an increase, and the GEO should not be seeking perks like child care. How 'bout we raise the wage only in an attempt to appease most? The increase can be used to partially pay for child care. Most graduate students don't have children anyway! Why are we fighting for what won't affect the majority? The only way it will affect the rest of us is if we strike over it. Please understand that I think graduate students are treated unfairly. But, also keep in mind that you are students! You objective is not to make a living. Your objective is to get by until your degree is completed. The people clamoring for ridiculous amounts of money are the ones that are TREATED to a 50% or more assistantship. Try your living wage against the 25% assistantship many graduate students hold. You are not in school to make money. You are in school to make money AFTER YOU ARE DONE WITH SCHOOL! I understand needing to increase the wage. It would be nice if you had your fees and health care coverage included. But I imagine many would far rather maintain what you have than give it all up in order to get perks for the minority of graduate students!

I'm glad to see that the GEO is doing something to help the graduate employees. As to MaW- grad students may not be in school to make money, but they are working for the university in order to make ends meet while they pursue a degree that is an important part of their career. Also, if you look at the information they've distributed around campus, the union isn't asking for outrageous perks; they've tried very hard to stay within a reasonable cost. Good for the GEO and everyone involved in helping them get a decent contract.

TA's with 50% appointments do not make "ridiculous" amounts of money. It's less than 18,000 over 9 months, which is below the poverty line. No one that I know is getting rich off a 50% appointment. I know I'm not.

Just a quick response to your comment as well, coming from a graduate student and occasional TA in the English Department here -

"You are not in school to make money."

You're right, I'm not. But I'm also not in graduate school to assume an amount of debt I may not recover from for decades either - which could happen here if I got into an accident or contracted a medical condition not covered by our terrible health insurance, or if the university continues to deny basic cost of living wage increases or any decent benefits, and this definitely would have happened if I went to graduate schools that accepted me into their program without promise of financial support through teaching or fellowship. I knew that was a preposterous thing to do - especially in the field of English.

"You are in school to make money AFTER YOU ARE DONE WITH SCHOOL!" I wish this were the case - but did you know that the Graduate College in LAS greenlights the Department of English (particularly the ones charged with teaching university-required composition courses like Rhet 105 here) to let in a large number of graduate students each year, now more than ever with the knowledge they will not be able to place most of these students in tenure-track jobs, let alone teaching positions that have job security more than a year or two? Why do they do that? So the university can pay this group of people about $16,000 dollars a year for three to eight years to teach HUNDREDS of Rhetoric and Composition sections the university makes THOUSANDS off of them for their cheap labor relative to the tuition generation these courses produce. Should I have known this going into it? Yes - I could have been more informed - but now that I'm here, I'm certainly not going to let the University try to further erode the position of graduate employees here.

Agreed! The University's refusal to negotiate is part of a larger trend in education of expanding administration and administrative salaries at the expense of the people who provide the actual service/product that the university provides--instruction. Not only has the University given raises to administrators (maybe as a "thank you" for not revealing too much during our admissions scandal coverage?) while we're expected to get no pay increases over the next three years (as gas and food bills rise); they're also insisting on the right to force us into "furloughs" (involuntary leaves of absence without pay) or pay us "in kind" with university housing, services etc. Frankly, it's insulting. We teach about a fifth of the classes on this campus, and many of us are here for about 7 years getting our degrees. The work that we do here should be worth at least enough to cover the bills for that time.

Our health insurance is actually pretty good. Sure we don't have a prescription plan, but you can get most meds at McKinley for a $5 co-pay. I have had many major medical issues as a grad student and I have had to pay very little out of pocket. I even had to have my shoulder replaced (that's a $30K price tag), and I only ended up paying about $1500 after insurance. I don't know about family coverage, but I don't need to. I knew that a family in grad school was a difficult situation so I made the choice to post-pone that.

The policy is pretty good for injuries, but if you have a condition that requires medication or medical equipment that you CAN'T get at McKinley for $5, it is a terrible plan.

The main problem that I have with our health care is that we have to go through an extra application process for the summer. Our employers should not be encouraging us to take risks with our health, and going for a summer without health care is extremely risky, no matter what your age is. My first year, I wasn't even aware that I wasn't covered in the summer, unexpectedly had to go to the ER in August, and ended up with $5,000 in medical bills out of pocket.

No employer should have an insurance policy that encourages employees to take irrational risks with their health. The University banks on many of us being desperate for cash in the summers when we don't get paid, as well as a good potion of us missing the one memo that explains to us that we have to apply and pay for summer insurance, so they don't have to pay as much for medical costs in the summer. It's a pretty sinister way of saving money and a pretty clear indication that the health and well-being of the people who do 20% of the teaching here is not as big of a priority to the university as saving a few bucks.

My father went to grad school and became a professor. My brother went to grad school and became a professor. My wife went to grad school and became a professor. I went to grad school. Never have I heard of anyone anywhere who got rich off being a graduate assistant, and yet never have I heard so much whining about it! You're going to strike? Seriously? Who's going to grade the stacks of papers? Who's going to work 24 hours straight in the lab to meet the deadline? Your 75 year-old advisor? Button your lips and suffer for the good of your field. Everyone else did.

Compared to comparable universities, our TAs make less money for the same job. The U of I likes to think it can attract the best in every field: well, we lose grad students to other programs because of the funding. Graduate students at my alma mater earned the same amount of $$ for teaching one class that TAs here earn for teaching two. Talented grad students are going to go some place where they don't take as long to graduate (because they work more to make the same amount) and don't have to go into debt or go on public assistance to feed their kids!

Why begrudge talented professionals, nascent experts, a living wage?? Is this really how the U of I wants to teach the people who teach a large percentage of classes? who do the drudge work? What does this say about the university?

We're not suffering "for the good of [our] field"; we're suffering so the university can save .01% of their budget. If you don't want my hypothetical 75-year-old advisor to have to grade his own papers, blame the university for being too stingy with their increased budget to pay me a living wage. Academia isn't a giant fraternity, and we're not obligated to haze ourselves with needless pay freezes, furloughs, or payments-in-kind just so you can be certain and content that we don't have it better than you and your pedigreed family of academics did.

Once more, completely (willfully?) missing the entire point...

Dear "the joke's on you,"

Simply because you and many people in your family went to grad school does not mean that you are well-informed about the GEO's current contract negotiations, or how the conditions for grad students here at UIUC compare to those at other schools. When you tell us to "button our lips" because "everyone else did" you illustrate your ignorance. The fact is, the wages UIUC pays graduate students compare very poorly to those at other Big 10 schools. Furthermore, the contract that the University is pushing us to accept is regressive, i.e. the University is asking us to "suffer for the good of the field" in new ways.

Also, dear "the joke's on you," with so many professors in your family, you likely entered grad school knowing that if you were getting paid $2000 less than a living wage, your family would be there to help you get by. However, not all grad students come from families of privilege. Not all of us can count on our families to support us when our university refuses to. The contract the University wants us to accept will ensure that graduate school becomes less accessible to students from working class backgrounds, which should be unacceptable for any public university, but particularly at one that spends massive amounts of money on an ad campaign touting itself as "Inclusive Illinois."

Thus, "the joke's on you," I would ask that you take a step back and look at the facts. Do you know how long TA's and GA's have been working without a contract? Do you know what the University's proposals have been? Do you know how much the average TA at UIUC earns? If you are going to insert your opinion into this debate, at least do your homework beforehand so that you can add something to the conversation rather than simply dismiss the very real grievances of those who, as your post points out, allow this university to function.

I'm not here to comment on the fine print of contract negotiations. I'm here to put your grievances in perspective. Let me guess how much the average TA earns: Not enough. Join the club. You're still the envy of the academic world because you've got your whole career ahead of you. Don't waste your time organizing strikes, for pete's sake. Do what you came here for. When you reach the "real world" you'll never be able to throw yourself headlong into your work again.

Perhaps instead of telling GEO members that we "shouldn't waste our time organizing strikes," you shouldn't waste your time interjecting into conversations you know nothing about. It's impossible for you to put our grievances in perspective if you don't actually know what are grievances are. We're not only fighting for a living wage, we are also fighting to protect our rights as employees, rights which the administration would like to strip away. Perhaps you shouldn't waste your time making ridiculous and over-blown statements like TAs are the "envy of the academic world."

Also, I'm not quite sure what you mean when you say TAs are not living in the "real world." Like professors (who I anticipate you would categorize as living in the "real world"), TAs have to divide their time between teaching undergraduates and working on their own research. By definition, Teaching Assistants cannot throw themselves headlong into their own work (as you suggest all graduate students are able to), because of their very "real" teaching commitments.

Lastly, I fundamentally disagree that simply because many other workers are underpaid, TAs should be satisfied receiving substandard wages. ALL workers deserve a living wage, sir. Justifying the mistreatment of one group by pointing to the suffering of another is never a response which is going to placate those who seek justice.

Thank you for posting this!

Since the age of 15, I have worked hard and saved what little I had just so a college degree would be an option (financial aid covered the rest). Due to financial independence from my single mother, the sole reason why I chose U of I for graduate school was due to the assistantship package offered. The small stipend covers monthly bills for housing, food, and other bills; however, there is not much left over to put away in savings. It is worrisome to think that after completion of the Master's program, I will not be financially secure to move where ever I find a job. I too do not want to find myself in debt during a recession or not be able to take a job because I can't afford to move.

I never went to grad school at the appeal of making money either... I came to U of I for a quality education and the prospect of a bright future (please excuse the cliche). It saddens me to think how much politics and greed are tarnishing the reputation of one of the best institutions in Illinois.

Whether we strike or not, it is important for the GEO to stand up for our rights, and to not let the TAs/GAs get taken advantage of by the administration.