CHAMPAIGN - Last week graduate assistants at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign voted overwhelmingly to authorize a strike because they have been working without a union contact since Aug. 16.
They are “asking for a minimum stipend equivalent to a living wage, wage increases for (members) earning more than that minimum stipend, better coverage of health care fees, and the protection of tuition waivers from reduction or elimination,” according to a report from the World Socialist Web Site.
The graduate assistants are an integral part of the university system because they teach more than 36 percent of freshman courses and more than 20 percent of all courses, the news report said.
