UIC, Faculty Reach Labor Deal

By Chuck Sudo in News on Apr 16, 2014 9:45PM

Photo credit: Aaron Cynic/Chicagoist

University of Illinois at Chicago administration and the union representing its teachers announced a tentative agreement on a labor deal for both tenure-track and non-tenure track members. The deal comes after nearly two years of collective bargaining negotiations, a two-day strike by faculty in February and an open-ended April 23 strike date looming.

UIC Faculty Union communications director John Shuler said details of the contract wouldn’t be revealed until after the union’s rank-and-file had a chance to review and vote on it next week, but Shuler told the Sun-Times the agreement is “an important first step” in the young union’s existence.

“Many aspects of faculty work life and professional conditions are dramatically improved under the new agreement,” Shuler said in a statement to media. AS of last week the major issues between the two sides centered on pay equity, out of pocket health insurance costs and a commitment to improving learning conditions for students remain unsolved.