Administrators at Governors State University and the school’s faculty and staff union have reached a tentative agreement, ending a strike that began April 11, according to union officials.
“This contract is a step toward strengthening our university and the support we can give our students, and it will contribute to attracting high-quality educators and retaining the excellent faculty and staff we have,” GSU UPI President Mike Hart said in a news release Monday.
[ Governors State faculty hit picket line, join colleagues at Chicago State and Eastern Illinois ]
Faculty and staff at Governors State — which is a Minority Serving Institution and an emerging Hispanic Serving Institution — will return to work Tuesday after progress was made on key issues in the latest bargaining sessions.
GSU’s chapter of the University Professionals of Illinois (GSU UPI Local 4100) hit the picket line last week following strikes at Chicago State University and Eastern Illinois University. The news out of Governors State comes after union members at CSU and EIU suspended their strikes after also reaching tentative agreements with their respective administrations.
Union officials at GSU have said that students at the school have an increased need for advising assistance, yet school advisers are overloaded, some with as many as 500 students. Hart said in the news release that the tentative contract addresses staff and faculty’s workload concerns and fair compensation.
The union and administration at GSU have been bargaining since June 2022, and a federal mediator joined the talks in December. In March, union members voted to go on strike after little progress was made in the latest bargaining sessions.
Members of GSU UPI will have a chance to look over the tentative agreement before a ratifying vote.
