Unionize!

This is going to be an uncharacteristically long post. Please take the time to read.

This group is for graduate students that receive compensation from NIU for work, whether that means a Graduate Assistantship or other means. Many of you have received emails from me before informing you on union activities and events held to work towards unionizing. If you have not received emails from me before now, I’d like to inform you on the work me and many others have been doing.

For years now, many graduate students have been working behind the scenes to gather information about and inform people on the possibility of unionizing the graduate workers here at NIU. It is well-known that being a graduate student is tough across all disciplines. However, the conditions in which we work make it much tougher than it needs to be.

We work for little pay. We receive no employer provided health insurance and are left to deal with the horrendous student insurance or to find it ourselves. We often are forced to commute without provided parking passes. We are forced to pay student fees back to the university out of our pay. We are often left uninformed over university business. We are the first group to receive cuts while the university pays admins ridiculous salaries. We are often left to wallow in uncertainty with short contracts and no transparency.

We can change these conditions, and we must work together to do so!

Northern Illinois University is one of the last public universities in Illinois without a graduate workers union. We are the last group of workers on our own campus without a union. This leaves us vulnerable to budget cuts and gives us few avenues for improvement other than the hope for better pay after we are done. However, if you commit to sign a union card, you can help make this place better for all graduate workers. We have over 100 signatures from graduate workers already that want to unionize! There are over 900 graduate workers at NIU. We need signatures from 2/3 or over 600 worker signatures. This very attainable goal can be reached with a little help from you! Today in the Holmes Student Center from 2:30–3:30pm, I will be sitting across from the Starbucks with union cards to be signed. Stop by for a few minutes to sign a card! If you are unsure, come talk to me! I am more than happy to answer questions so that you can make an informed decision. Below is a few things that may help you be informed:

• Some of our main goals include: higher salaries, employer provided health insurance, no student fees, 12 month contracts, and more! These are all things other graduate workers unions have achieved at other universities!
• International Graduate Workers Welcome! All International Workers are eligible to join! We are dedicated to keeping our international friends safe!
• Once we achieve our goal of 2/3, we will send the cards to the Illinois Labor Board to be recognized as a union. After that, it is up to all of us what happens. These efforts are built on democracy! Leaders would be chosen democratically. Actions would be put up to a vote. Discussions on how to negotiate would be held. We, the graduate workers of NIU, would be in control of our own destiny.

Please feel free to send us an email as well if you have any questions. I am more than happy to talk to each and every one of you. I hope to see you today. Look out for other emails from me and others for other opportunities to sign a union card if you cannot make it today. If you are never or rarely on campus, please also reach out. Union cards, unfortunately, cannot be filled out or signed digitally. However, I can send you a card via email and have you print and mail it to me or we can find another way.