Graduate student workers at the University of Illinois-Chicago on Monday began a strike as negotiations between the student workers’ union and the administration stalled despite the intervention of a federal monitor.
More than 100 members of the Graduate Employee Organization staged a rally Monday on the Quad in the heart of the UIC campus, as students were headed between classes. Graduate workers, who primarily serve as teaching and research assistants, said the university has balked at a requested 5% pay increase, health care costs and reductions of student fees that can amount to more than 10% of the $20,000 minimum yearly salary. Union officials said the administration’s proposed wage increase is $3,000 less than the union demand.
