Contract negotiations aimed at ending a strike by teachers and faculty at Governors State University are scheduled to resume Monday, with the union reporting progress being made on a key issue.
Members of the University Professionals of Illinois, which represents about 260 employees at the University Park school, walked out Tuesday after failing to come to terms on a new contract.
Teachers have been working under the terms of their prior contract that lapsed in August, and negotiations on a new agreement began last June. A federal mediator joined the talks in December.
The union said progress was made during a bargaining session Thursday on the issue of faculty adviser workloads, although matters such as wages remain unresolved.
The union said it offered to continue negotiations Friday and through the weekend, but the offer was turned down by university negotiators.
GSU said Friday it presented the union at Thursday’s session “with another across-the-board wage increase — a combination of annual salary increases and a one-time bonus payment.”
“This offer represents that limit of what Governors State University can realistically afford and is higher than any wage package UPI has accepted in at least 15 years,” the university said. “The union presented a counteroffer that remained well above what the university can afford given its current resources.”
Union leaders have said wages are a key issue in talks, and members are trying to regain ground lost during prior contracts when annual wages did not keep pace with increases in the cost of living. Wage increases in some years were zero or less than 1%, according to the union.
GSU said a tentative agreement was reached during Thursday’s session regarding workload for faculty advisers as well as overload payment.
The university said it is “optimistic we can reach a fair and responsible agreement.”