No Contract, No Peace
Chicago, IL - Nearly 300 union members rallied at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC), April 5. Members of SEIU Local 73 (Service Employees International Union) picketed the president of the University for a fair contract for UIC’s Service and Maintenance workers. President White’s office was targeted because he received a 49% raise in two years. He now makes $525,000 a year.
900 employees have gone six months without a new contract. Besides wages, the workers are demanding job security. They want an end to sub-contracting of their jobs. UIC has a building boom, and management has moved to privatize custodial work in every new lab, office or classroom that opens. Also, Black and Latino food service workers were demanding pay equity with the mostly white employees at the downstate campus of the university in Champaign, who make $1 to $3 an hour more.
In addition, clerical and technical contracts will expire soon, which could result in all 2500 members of Local 73 at UIC bargaining at once.
|
