SPRINGFIELD — Faculty at the University of Illinois Springfield ended a more than two-week strike on Monday after reaching an agreement with university administrators overnight.
Tenured and tenure-track faculty at UIS, one of three University of Illinois system institutions, went on strike on April 3 after failing to reach an agreement with UIS administrators over pay increases. The two parties came to an agreement after hours of negotiations on Sunday.
Both sides declined to specify the terms of the agreement until after the UIS United Faculty union could ratify the agreement in the coming days.
“Our bargaining team made the difficult decision to suspend this strike because we do not want our students to lose further instructional time as they head into final exams and graduation,” Dathan Powell, the union president and UIS theater professor, said in a statement.
It appeared the strike would start having more substantial impacts on students if it continued into another week. The university sent an email to students on Friday announcing it was prepared to implement a plan this week to help students complete the semester if the strike continued.
Read more: University of Illinois Springfield faculty go on strike | Faculty strike at University of Illinois Springfield continues into second week
The university said alternative plans would be made for students who were not able to complete their assignments because their professors were on strike. Not all classes at UIS were held up by the strike, however, as many professors are part of a different union.
The union indicated their decision to end the strike was more about ensuring students can complete their classes than any victory in bargaining meetings.
They claimed UIS Chancellor Janet Gooch “intentionally prolonged” the strike.
“We cannot let her jeopardize their education and futures any longer, so we have decided to bring the administration’s last offer to our membership for a vote,” Powell said, calling on Gooch to resign her leadership role.
UIS said in a brief statement that it “looks forward to continuing to work together to fulfill its mission to provide a uniquely student-centered educational experience, both in and out of the classroom.”
A spokesperson for Gooch declined to comment. Gooch took over UIS in 2022.
Parties were still far apart
Both parties remained far apart on the size of salary increases as of Friday, according to the university’s website. The union wanted a 2.6% increase in the current fiscal year and 6% over the next two years, costing $1.3 million.
UIS offered three options for increases, two of which begin with 1% raises that could increase under the University of Illinois system’s University Salary Program. They argued one-third of the union already makes six figures.
The union also wanted to raise the minimum starting pay for their unit to $64,500 from $55,000, which UIS argued was not realistic given financial constraints on the university. The university offered to raise the minimum salary to $60,000.
UIS said in an email to students last month that it was running a $19 million deficit in the current fiscal year.
UIS accounts for 2% of all of the university system’s spending in the current fiscal year, according to the system’s budget documents. The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign receives 44% and the University of Illinois Chicago 31% while the rest goes to the system’s administration and university’s hospital. UIS also receives only 3% of state funds allocated to the system.
State lawmakers have been debating a new higher education funding formula that would allocate a greater share of annual funding to lesser-funded schools like UIS. Institutions like the flagship campus that are more adequately funded would receive a lower percentage.
The system has continued to oppose the overhaul.
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