Working for Illinois Caucus

Members of AFSCME Local 2887 and 2232 met with Illinois State Representative Katie Stuart on Monday, Aug. 14 in the MUC to voice their discontent with the university in recent contract negotiations.

Members representing both clerical workers and building service workers were present and involved in presenting these concerns to Stuart.

“I’m an advocate for the university as a whole,” Stuart said. “I think it’s important to understand all the moving parts of the university. The people we talked to today are just as vital as the administration and faculty in terms of giving that ultimate student experience.”

Amy Bodenstab, vice president of AFSCME Local 2887, said university workers are often forced to take on more responsibilities than are in their job description with no extra compensation.

“We do things that are currently business administrative associate [responsibilities],” Bodenstab said. “We’re doing things that are their job level, those people are making $80,000 here, and we’re making $34,000. And we’re doing the same work.”

Anthony Fearon, president of AFSCME Local 2232, represented the building service workers.

“We made a request for maternity/paternity leave,” Fearon said. “They treated it like a joke, like they were offended even to be asked. It’s not a joke.”

Other union members also said the university needed to keep its wages competitive not only for its employees, but also for the quality of students’ education. AFSCME Local 2232 Acting Vice President Tyler Toussaint said the wage is no longer attractive for new workers.

“The biggest issue has to do with the stagnating wages for the last three years,” Toussaint said. “And we used to be above minimum wage [by] about 30 percent. Now it’s so bad that we’re at minimum wage, and no one wants to work here for that wage.”

Julie LaTempt-Brazier, president of AFSCME Local 2887, said many union members feel as if the situation with the university is an “us versus them” dynamic.

“Right now, morale is at an all-time low,” LaTempt-Brazier said.