Pre-Professional Graduate Assistants at UIUC are organizing to be represented by the Graduate Employees’ Organization!
Need a card?
Reach out through the Card Request/Pickup form to get a card delivered to you or print one from the PDF - both linked to the right. (Yes, a physical copy is required!)
Already signed?
Deliver in-person to the GEO office or sign up to have your card picked up by one of our staff. You can also use the form to request a meeting with GEO members if you have further questions!
Not a pga but want to support?
Sign our Support Petition linked to the right!
FAQs
If i’m already a geo member, do i need to sign another card?
Yes! The PGA Union Authorization Card includes language beyond the regular GEO membership card to express our collective interest in being represented formally by GEO. Don’t worry - you will not be double-charged dues.
What does pga unionization entail?
By voting for unionization, Pre-Professional Graduate Assistants (PGAs) at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign can join the bargaining unit of the Graduate Employees’ Organization (GEO). This will grant PGAs the same access to union benefits as other graduate employees. By winning representation, PGAs will gain the right to bargain over and determine their working conditions. They will also secure contractual safeguards against mistreatment and guarantees to the wages, benefits, and protections of current and future union contracts. While university administration does currently extend certain provisions of the current GEO contract to PGAs, including tuition and fee waivers and annual raises, University Admin can take these away at any time because PGAs are not formally part of the union and are not included within the contract. Unionization lets PGAs enter into the contract, thus extending these benefits to them indefinitely.
How does this affect PGA union dues?
Currently, if a PGA joins the union, they pay $8 per month. After unionization, PGAs would begin to pay 2% of their monthly paychecks. This money is used to fund the union and its activities, including for bargaining, social activities, outreach, and organizing work.
Why are PGAs not already incorporated?
Until the beginning of 2020, Illinois law prevented PGAs (as well as Research Assistants) from unionizing. This derived from a law that classified these two types of student employees as primarily “students” rather than “employees.” In 2019, Governor J.B. Pritzker signed a law that reclassified graduate employees who engaged in pre-professional or research work as “employees,” legally granting them the right to form or join a union. This did not mean that these employees were automatically granted unionization; instead, PGAs/RAs still have to vote and authorize their unionization.
What is the path to unionization?
There are several ways for PGAs to enter into a union. The path that GEO and PGAs have determined to be best for PGAs now involves collecting signed authorization cards from 50% + 1 of PGAs. A signed authorization card represents the wish of a PGAs to enter into GEO’s bargaining unit; while the card does enroll PGAs into the union, they are not legally part of GEO’s bargaining unit until the authorization card drive is completed and the IELRB certifies the results.