Springfield, IL (CAPITOL CITY NOW) – Faculty members at the University of Illinois Springfield have voted to authorize a strike, joining the union representing support staff on campus, who has done the same.

The strike authorization vote came Thursday at the same time the University of Illinois Board of Trustees was holding their monthly board meeting in the UIS Student Union.  UIS United Faculty Union leaders claim virtually 100 percent of members approved the strike, which can happen no sooner than ten days from now.

The union claims in talks ongoing since last June, the administration has rejected every financial offer made, and wants the union to turn back a number of things given to them in their most previous contract.

The strike authorization vote may have been timed to coincide with the board meeting.

“Audits reveal that (the University of Illinois System) have increased their net financial positions, on average, like half a billion dollars each of the last several years,” said Dathan Powell, UIS associate professor, and chair of UIS United Faculty.  “The system has money to fund its campuses.  We at UIS — and I know our colleagues at (University of Illinois Chicago) — often feel like those resources aren’t distributed to our campuses in the same way that they get distributed in Urbana-Champaign.”

The tenure-track union has the backing of the non-tenure-track union, which approved its first-ever contract one year ago Thursday.

“Management and admin at almost every level is asking us to make ourselves smaller, and to do more with less,” said Miranda Andrews, chair.  “We want you to know that this is unacceptable.  The folks upstairs may represent different parts of the university system, but we know that we ARE the university.”

The UIS support staff union also approved a strike authorization, said Thom Gebhards, that unit’s chair.  They represent everyone from food service workers to office staff.

“We have been fighting since last June — ten months,” said Gebhards.  “We keep getting rejection, rejection, rejection.”

That’s the same amount of time tenure-track faculty union members have been negotiating with the university.  The staff union will bargain again Friday with the administration.  The next meeting with tenure-track faculty is Monday, March 23.

A spokesperson for UIS sent the following statement to CapitolCityNow.

“The University of Illinois Springfield is disappointed that members of UPI Local 4100, including the Tenured/Tenure-Track Faculty and Clerical, Service and Technical units, have reported voting to authorize a strike. The vote does not necessarily mean a strike will occur, and from the University’s perspective, a strike is not warranted. The University has presented proposals that represent a fair contract given the University’s fiscal constraints. We respect our union colleagues and remain committed to working together to reach an agreement that serves the best interests of the entire university community while protecting the university’s financial wellness.”

UIS has set up this website with what they say are updates on contract negotiations.