A tentative agreement was reached between Eastern Illinois University and union-represented faculty and staff Thursday evening after almost a year of bargaining and a six-day strike.
The union — EIU University Professionals of Illinois — said that although the offer was not endorsed by the bargaining team, members decided to suspend the strike to officially consider the administration’s offer and return to work Friday morning.
“I am heartened by the unified strength and care that our members showed throughout this process, despite the administration’s various attempts to derail and delay,” EIU UPI President Jennifer Stringfellow said in a statement. “We know our cause is just, and we stood up, together, for the entire campus to demand that this administration prioritize our students and the educators and staff who teach and support them.”
According to the Illinois Federation of Teachers, the EIU UPI bargaining team could not endorse the administration’s package at the membership meeting Thursday because the administration didn’t offer union members a chance to do work that was missed during the strike. As part of a return-to-work agreement, employers typically agree to make up pay for the days missed while on strike.
“Employers expect the employees to catch up on missed work, therefore employees expect to be paid for that work,” IFT officials said. Examples include grading assignments that students did during the strike and scheduling makeup office hours.
“The work that we will be doing is not being compensated for,” lead negotiator and microbiology professor Billy Hung said Friday afternoon, as he responded to a flood of student emails from when the union was on strike. “But our members looked past that lack of understanding for the sake of moving the process forward.”
Hung said the administration’s final offer for a pay increase was a four-year contract with a 5% raise in the first year, 4% in the second year, and 3% raises in the third and fourth years. EIU UPI was trying to negotiate increases of 7%, 5%, 5% and 4% over four years.
“The offer is still an effective pay cut to our members. When you look at a 5% raise, it’s not even treading water; we couldn’t get a wage that keeps up with inflation,” Hung said. “But the good news is our members can get back into the classrooms and work with their students again. That’s absolutely the best part of the process.”
Hung said there were “quite a few big wins” that cushioned the financial blow, including new language in the contract that ensures academic support professionals are compensated fairly.
“Admissions officers, for example, work a lot of extra hours during peak recruitment time,” Hung said. “Currently, when they work extra hours, there is no guarantee for them to recover those hours either in pay or time off, so you basically work extra hours for free.”
Under new agreement terms, admissions officers and other support professionals would get equal time off for however many extra hours they worked.
Hung said that because of the support of students and community members, EIU UPI was able to work toward significant improvements. The full membership will vote to ratify the agreement next week.
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“EIU thanks all parties for their commitment to our students and willingness to collaboratively chart a pathway forward as the University and its UPI partners work together to advance EIU’s mission,” university officials said in a statement.
Meanwhile, faculty and staff members at Chicago State University have been on strike since April 3, and at Governors State University since Tuesday. UPI members at Northeastern Illinois University filed their intent to strike vote Thursday and could go on strike as early as April 24.