10-03-2025
UIS faculty members authorize strike amidst contract negations with university
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WCIA) — Non-tenure track faculty at the University of Illinois Springfield could be going on strike next week after their union filed a notice with an 'overwhelming' vote.
In an email to the campus community, Chancellor Janet Gooch explained that the university has been negotiating with University of Illinois-Springfield Instructors United (UISIU) for the last year on a new contract. The two parties have met at least 20 times and reached 11 tentative agreements on approximately 20 contract articles being negotiated.
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But UISIU said in a statement of their own that the university is still refusing to make 'reasonable movement on job security and workload issues that are critical to our members.' On Feb. 26, the union's members voted to authorize a strike and on March 7, the union filed its 10-day strike notice.
Members may go on strike as early as March 18.
'A strike will be our last resort, but we are prepared to withhold our labor if necessary to ensure that, in the long term, we can continue to give our students the high-quality education they deserve,' English instructor Scott Fenton said. 'A strike can still be avoided if this administration will finally show that they value our work and prioritize students' needs. We want to get an agreement done and the administration should too.'
'We love our students and the work we do to make a difference in their futures,' Fenton added. 'But after a year of bargaining and multiple sessions with a federal mediator, Chancellor Gooch and her administration have clearly not heard us as faculty… we hope the filing of this notice will serve as a wakeup call. It's time to take us seriously.'
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Gooch said she and others in the university administration were disappointed that UISIU had filed the strike notice, especially with two more bargaining sessions scheduled for March 14 and March 18.
'The University's goal throughout the past year of negotiations has been to balance an intent to fairly compensate our valued teaching colleagues for their important contributions, while also ensuring progress to reduce the University's structural deficit,' Gooch said. 'A work stoppage will do nothing to change the constraints that limit what UIS can ultimately provide in a new union contract.'
Gooch added that if a strike does occur, the university will have measures in place to minimize the impact on students' academics like exams and grades.
'We will continue to bargain in good faith and do everything within our power to avoid a disruption to learning,' Gooch added. 'I remain hopeful that we will be able to reach a fair, sustainable and fiscally responsible agreement with which both parties can be satisfied.'
UISIU represents 40 full time, non-tenure track faculty at UIS. Those faculty members teach more than 130 classes per semester at UIS.
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