ISU tenured faculty union authorizes strike after year of talks, administrators start ‘contingency planning’

NORMAL (25News Now) - After 42 negotiation sessions failed to put forward a new deal, members of Illinois State University’s union of tenured faculty voted overwhelmingly to authorize a strike if a fair agreement isn’t reached.

“After more than a year of bargaining, our members have made it crystal clear that they have had enough. The outcome of today’s vote says it all: We stand ready to strike,” said Dr. Keith Pluymers, an associate professor of history representing the union.

“From the beginning, we have focused on securing a contract that will build ISU and best serve students by ensuring the university can attract and retain world-class faculty,” he added, “but the administration has repeatedly disregarded our voices. We urge them to finally listen and take heed.”

His voice is one of many arguing on behalf of the union. Katie Krcmarik, an assistant professor of graphic design, also voiced concern for the delay in reaching negotiations with the university.

“Faculty are tired of the stall tactics, disrespect, and financial misinformation being peddled by the administration. It is long past time for ISU leadership to demonstrate that they value us as professionals and recognize what our students need to achieve academic success,” Krcmarik said.

Regarding the situation, ISU leaders described the talks positively, saying the negotiations will move forward with “assistance from an independent federal mediator.”

“During this session, the university presented a revised economic proposal that includes four weeks of paid parental leave and other improvements to the University’s previous economic proposal, and the Union later presented a revised economic proposal. Discussion and clarifying questions/responses continued around these and other unresolved topics, and the parties made significant progress on the remaining non-economic items,” the response from ISU read.

At 9:45 p.m. Friday, university administrators released a statement to students and their families, emphasizing that graduation would go on, and that they remain optimistic an agreement can be reached without a strike. However, they also started “contingency planning”.

Talks with the federal mediator are scheduled to continue Monday, March 24 and again March 28, April 2 and April 4. Pluymers, from the faculty union, said members want to avoid class disruption, though their hand may be forced.

“We say this to President Tarhule and his team: ‘The choice is yours. If you want to avoid a strike, come to bargaining on Monday with a serious offer,’” Pluymers said.

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