As faculty contract negotiations heat up at Eastern, other universities in Illinois are facing similar hard times.

Southern Illinois University in Carbondale filed an unfair labor practice charge against the faculty union last Friday.

University officials contacted the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board with the complaint against the SIUC Faculty Association of the Illinois Education Association/National Education Association union.

SIUC’s complaint charged the 688-member faculty union with failing to bargain in good faith, bringing up issues that have already been settled and threatening to strike over irrelevant issues.

The union is bargaining for a 21 percent raise over the next three years, and has said SIUC faculty salaries are 28 percent below the national average.

SIUC officials said they want to make progress, but the current budget and economic conditions within the university and the state of Illinois make the request unfeasible at this time.

University officials also have said, compared to peer institutions and other state schools, SIUC faculty salaries are just below average.

“We understand that faculty at the University of Illinois have not received a raise this fiscal year,” said SIU attorney Mark Brittingham. “We understand the same is true for the faculty at Northern Illinois University, Eastern Illinois University, Illinois State University, Western Illinois University and Southern Illinois University Edwardsville.”

Both groups reached a standstill in the bargaining process on Oct. 4 after 27 meetings and 200 hours of labor talks when the faculty requested a federal mediator to aid in negotiations, the Daily Egyptian student newspaper reported.