NEIUPI

Your UPI bargaining team met with the administration on Tuesday. At the meeting, the administration confirmed that we had requested the rollover of Articles 29 and 34 (Staff Reduction Procedures) in January. The administration was ready to sign off on the current language and both articles were TAed by the UPI and the administration. Two down and several more to go….workload, evaluation, compensation, benefits and others still remain open.

At the Tuesday session, the administration brought sample “employee status sheets” to illustrate the changes they wanted to implement in the type of information reported. Your team caucused and reviewed the samples and will return edited versions to the administration at the next meeting on Tuesday, May 4.

Negotiation sessions are scheduled during the May break from classes. Your team has requested that negotiation sessions be increased in length and frequency in hope that the contract can be settled soon.

On behalf of the UPI bargaining team, thank you for your continuing support and encouragement…

Many NEIU faculty, staff and students signed postcards to the Governor and their state senators and representatives. The postcards carried the message that you support an increase in state revenue for the support of education and vital services. The revenue increase is part of House Bill 174. On Monday, May 3, the NEIU postcards and others from the entire state will be hand delivered to the Governor and members of the General Assembly. Please read the summary of HB 174, and forward this to your colleagues and students.

Let’s make sure that the state senators and representatives understand how much support there is for public education. I am asking all of you to do one or both of the following on Monday.

• EMAIL – Send an email to your legislator supporting HB 174. Go to:

http://www.unionvoice.org/campaign/ift

Fill in your name and home address and the program automatically identifies your state senator and representative

• PHONE BLITZ – Call your state legislators and urge them to support HB 174.

Call 1-800 719-3020 (Free call).

You’ll be asked to key in your zip code and then it will give you the names of your state legislators. Choose the first one and leave the following message:

Raise the new revenues needed to prevent budget cuts that will harm education and vital services. Support House Bill 174.

TAKE A FEW MOMENTS TO LET THE STATE REPRESENTATIVES KNOW THAT YOU CARE AND THAT YOU ARE COMMITTED TO SAVING PUBLIC EDUCATION IN ILLINOIS

Mary Durkin, UPI local 4100, put together an excellent summary page that contains links to print, photo and video coverage of the rally. The link is

Nanette Potee, CMT, was interviewed by ABC news and appeared on several Chicago broadcasts.

Sophia Mihic, Political Science, was interviewed by ABC news at Springfield rally. John D’Amico, state representative, for the NEIU area comments on current budget crisis.

From IFT on Flickr