Hundreds of graduate teaching assistants at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign walked out of classes Wednesday, darkening classrooms across campus and leaving thousands of undergraduate students without teachers.
The work stoppage, which was to have lasted through Thursday, is the most militant action yet by the graduate students who teach many of the university's courses and are seeking recognition by the administration as a bargaining unit.
The teaching assistants, mainly from liberal arts colleges, spent the day marching through the campus Quad, picket signs in hand, chanting, "No union, no peace. No contract, no peace."
Coming just as final exams approach, the two-day strike miffed many students.
"We don't deny this is a disruptive action," said Dave Kamper, a teaching assistant in the history department and spokesman for the grad students' organization. "But this is short-term pain for a long-term gain. We've exhausted all of our other choices and we were forced into this action."
Their efforts toward increasing their recognition and compensation mirror a growing national movement.
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As colleges and universities have depended more on non-faculty student teachers, the graduate assistants have demanded more recognition, more money and better health benefits. Strikes and work stoppages have become commonplace. Last year, 1,600 graduate assistants at the University of Washington walked out on the last day of classes with final exams left to grade.
"Unfortunately, they leave us no choice but to act militant," said Uma Pimplaskar, a U. of I. teaching assistant in media studies, who canceled her class for the day.
"We've tried to meet with the administration to talk things over, but they ignore us. Maybe this will get their attention."
University spokesman Bill Murphy said Chancellor Nancy Cantor stood by the position that teaching assistants should not be able to form a union because they are students first and their employment is secondary.
Cantor has indicated a willingness to talk with graduate students, "but that doesn't mean she is willing to reverse position on the university policy on a union for students. We have been against that," Murphy said.
Organizers said 80 percent to 90 percent of the 500 teaching assistants who work in the Quad buildings canceled their classes and office hours Wednesday.
They estimated that about 10,000 students were affected.
But university administrators disputed those numbers. Associate Provost David Swanson estimated that only about 200 classes were canceled and about 4,000 students affected. Overall, about 3,300 classes are taught each day, and the school has 28,000 undergraduate students. Swanson said most classes went ahead as scheduled.
Some faculty members moved their courses to other buildings so students would not have to cross picket lines.
"The impact was very, very small," Swanson said.
"Luckily, participation in the strike was not large, and those who did participate took great care to construct take home assignments beforehand so students would not be affected. That was very responsible on their part."
Despite these assertions, the U. of I. campus Quad and surrounding buildings were quiet Wednesday. Many classrooms were dark and the hallways, typically filled with students catching up on homework, were quiet. Parking lots were sparsely filled.
This fall, the growing chorus of teaching assistants seeking union recognition has gained momentum at public and private universities nationwide.
The unionization drive at Brown University in Providence, R.I., recently was bolstered when a National Labor Relations Board decision set the guidelines for a union election Dec. 6 and 7. Though the election will be held, the university has not decided whether to appeal the decision, said Mark Nickel, director of the news service at Brown.
In Philadelphia, the graduate students association at Temple University, a public college, won recognition as a collective bargaining unit in late September.
The Urbana strike did not affect classes at the University of Illinois at Chicago. But in solidarity with the strike in Urbana, about 20 graduate students at UIC staged a sit-in and rally outside their chancellor's office in University Hall.
About 40 other students and local union representatives rallied outside University Hall.
"We think it's going to have more influence on the university if they see that the two campuses are working together and have the same goals," said Kat McLellan, co-president of the Graduate Employee's Organization at UIC.
"We're sitting in for the same reasons they're walking out. We have the same set of issues and the same set of grievances."
Many students who attended classes at U of I said they disapproved of the decision to strike two weeks before finals. Others said they objected to the teaching assistants' intimidation efforts to keep them from walking into the buildings, some of which had fliers that said, "Stop. If you enter this building, you are crossing a picket line."
Knight Ridder Tribune
