Disgruntled faculty at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale have decided to send out a ballot to strike if administrators do not work with them to reach a contract settlement.

On Oct. 30, the Faculty Association, SIU-C’s faculty union, filed an intent-to-strike notice with the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board, clearing the way for them to strike anytime after a mandatory ten-day cooling off period, which expired Sunday, according to a news release from the Faculty Association.

The union is negotiating a new three-year contract with university officials, including a proposed 21 percent salary increase.

SIU-C administrators charged the union with issuing an intent-to-strike notice without negotiating in good faith and bringing up issues the university is not required to bargain on, according to a news release from the administration of SIU-C.

In addition to a salary increase, the union is negotiating the right to jointly determine with the SIU Board of Trustees when a financial emergency comes up, and they want to determine what the faculty will be offered if a future crisis occurs.

On Friday, SIU-C Faculty Association President Morteza Daneshdoost asked for the Board to meet with the union immediately to negotiate 75 outstanding issues and reach a settlement before Feb. 3 or the 688-member faculty union will strike.

In order to strike, however, Faculty Association members must voice their approval. Strike vote ballots will be cast Nov. 18 to 20, and a simple majority is sufficient to authorize a strike action, Daneshdoost said.

The Faculty Association, he said, hopes their actions force the administration to place faculty and students first, and the union realizes the hardship a strike would place on students.

“If we must strike, we will strike. If we strike, we will close this university down,” Daneshdoost said. “We will not be replaced with outsiders. They will not replace us with our graduate teaching assistants. They will not break our resolve.”

Charles Delman, chief negotiator with Eastern’s faculty union, the University Professionals of Illinois, said that Eastern’s union has similar complaints, specifically that there is too much money going to the administration and not the faculty or students.

“I think (SIU-C’s faculty union) is probably right,” Delman said. “I think it’s a reasonable salary increase request, considering SIU is really underpaid compared to comparable institutions.”

Many other Illinois universities are negotiating contracts, Delman said, and their faculty unions have yet to receive a salary increase.

“The administration’s line that no peer institution has gotten a salary increase leaves out something,” Delman said. “All schools have salary negotiations open on the table, and they haven’t agreed to no increase.”

SIU-C’s Faculty Association wants to conclude contract negotiations and concentrate on teaching students, but Daneshdoost said are not giving in to the administration.

“If the administration ignores this vote, it will be making a tragic error. Tragic for our students, tragic for our university, tragic for the state of Illinois,” Daneshdoost said.