25 Aug Back-to-School: Our Union is Here to Help
- Welcome Back: UICUF wants to welcome everyone back to school. With many of us returning to in-person work for the first time in over a year, we know that we’ll face many challenges, but having a union means we can face them together.
- Union On Your Side: As we navigate a new landscape of safety and teaching norms, we want to remind you that union staff and representatives are always available to offer individual support when needed. You can always contact your college rep directly, or email us at UICUnitedFaculty@gmail.com with any questions or concerns.
- A Reminder About Your Rights: As public employees represented by a union, we all enjoy certain rights, including the rights in our contracts, statutes, bylaws, and state and federal laws, and your Weingarten Rights to union representation in discipline hearings.
- Save The Date For Our Membership Meeting: We have set our member meeting for September 22nd, 3pm, location TBD. We hold member meetings each semester, and this one will be particularly important in identifying issues for bargaining next year.
Dear Colleagues,
It’s the start of a new academic year, and we want to extend a warm welcome to all our new and returning faculty! Of course, we must also acknowledge that the new year brings new challenges, with faculty and students returning to classrooms after over a year of predominantly remote work. We want to especially remind all of you that with our union behind us, we do not have to face these challenges alone. Whether they be large campus-spanning issues, or individual concerns about anything from safety to teaching, to workloads and discipline, we hope every faculty member can take some peace of mind in knowing that you have someone on your side.
Our union has both elected faculty representatives in each college, and trained professional staff who can be called on to assist you with questions or workplace issues. We are also working diligently to keep our members informed about policy changes and your rights and responsibilities in a time when conditions continue to evolve rapidly. If you missed our recent series of reopening policy positions, or any past messages, you can find them here.
We also want to remind everyone that regardless of pandemic conditions, all faculty do enjoy clear rights, laid out in our union contracts, as well as UI Statutes, your unit bylaws, and state and federal laws. In particular, as a union member, you have Weingarten Rights, meaning you have a right to union representation in disciplinary meetings or hearings. If you are in a situation that is disciplinary in nature, or that you believe may lead to disciplinary actions, you can assert this right and have the meeting scheduled at a time when your union representative can be present. If you do invoke this right, you should of course notify UICUF immediately so that representation can be arranged.
Lastly, please SAVE THE DATE for our Fall Membership Meeting, scheduled for September 22nd, at 3pm. All active union members are welcome to join, and non-members can join at the door. Of particular importance, this meeting will set the stage for our bargaining preparations as we ramp up to a new round of negotiations on our contract next year. At this point, we have not determined if this meeting will be in person, but we will make every effort to accommodate remote access regardless of venue.
Solidarity
UIC United Faculty
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