EIU-UPI holds meeting to reach agreement

Luke Taylor, Senior Reporter

Eastern ‘s chapter of University Professionals of Illinois members write on signs before the negotiation team’s bargaining meeting with administration at the Union Monday morning. (Luke Taylor)

Members of Eastern’s chapter of the University Professionals of Illinois gathered in the Martin Luther King Jr. University Union Monday morning to show their support for their negotiation team as a potential strike looms later in the week.

They chanted about their desire for a new contract and higher wages, but the mediator arrived to inform them that the administrations negotiation team chose to begin today’s meeting separately.

Usually, the two teams start in the same place, then split up as they need to have private discussions and use the mediator to pass information back and forth.

Some gathered union members wondered whether their presence made the team wary of entering the joint meeting room.

EIU-UPI President Jennifer Stringfellow said that while she could not know why the meeting was started separately, she does believe the administration’s negotiation team knows their position is “unpopular” on with students, the community and other unions on campus.

“It’s really nice to make statements and all from an office that’s protected, that you don’t have to see people that you don’t want to,” Stringfellow said. “They keep saying the unpopular things, but they don’t want to face the consequences of saying the unpopular things.

Kim Pope, the current president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Local #981, said that members of that union are in support of EIU-UPI.

While their contractual “no-strike” clause will stop AFSCME members from participating in some protests, many still plan to support their sister union when they can.

Pope said that members might show support by wearing green ribbons, showing up to action events and sharing information on social media.

“UPI leadership is aware of [the no-strike clause] and they know that our employees are going to have to cross picket lines, so we’ve talked with our members about ways that we can show support,” Pope said.

Eastern’s chapter of University Professionals of Illinois members and students wrote on signs before the negotiation team’s bargaining meeting with administration at the Martin Luther King Jr. University Union Monday morning. (Luke Taylor)

AFSCME’s most recent negotiations ended September 2021 after 834 days of bargaining and two years without a contract.

That contract included a retroactive 1.5 percent increase, a 1.25 percent increase in 2021 and a 1.25 percent increase in 2022, plus a $150 lump sum payment for each employee. These raises were estimated to cost the university $300,628.

Michelle Burnside, the chief steward of building service, said that elements of EIU-UPI’s current negotiations remind her of AFSCME’s experiences a few years ago.

“Jennifer Stringfellow was talking about [administration] saying they don’t have money, and I definitely felt that because our members were constantly, when we were in negotiations like ‘but Eastern doesn’t have money,’” Burnside said. “Eastern has money. They have money, just not for you. They have money for them.”

Pope said that she hopes AFSCME members will take note of what is happening now since they will be back at the bargaining table again this summer.

Both Pope and Stringfellow said that unions across campus, including AFSCME and EIU-UPI, have focused on banding together over the last few years.

Steve Brantley, dean of library services, was one of a group of EIU-UPI members who picketed in front of Old Main on Thursday, March 30.

Brantley referenced the several unions across campus as being important and said that he wanted students to remember that their learning conditions are the faculty and staff’s working conditions.

“We need the administration to respect that the most important relationship at the university is between the students and their teachers,” Brantley said. “The ‘All In’ attitude that we all have, we think should be invested in by the administration.”

 

Luke Taylor can be reached reached at 581-2812 or at [email protected].