Live Blog: Illinois State University on the brink of a faculty union strike
The latest reporting from WGLT about the United Faculty of ISU's negotiations with Illinois State University over its first contact. The union for tenured and tenure-track faculty has threatened to strike as soon as Friday, April 4, if an agreement is not reached.
Tips or questions? Contact us at news@wglt.org.
Tonight's faculty union rally is canceled due to weather
The United Faculty of ISU union says that today's 5 p.m. rally has been canceled due to heavy rain in the forecast.
"We had great turnout at the rally yesterday; we had a great turnout at the gauntlet this morning," the union said on Facebook. "Our power is strong, and the ISU (administrators) know we can mobilize at a moment's notice if we have to. Stay home and rest up."
Faculty union: 'We're ready to walk next week if we must'
It looks like a possible faculty strike at Illinois State University won't happen until next week at the earliest.
The United Faculty of ISU union, which represents 650 tenured and tenure-track faculty, issued a statement midday today saying that they're now legally allowed to strike at any time. The 10-day cooling off period has ended after the union filed an intent to strike.
ISU administrators and the union are meeting right now, trying to reach a deal on the union's first contract. Pay — specifically merit-based pay — is one of the biggest remaining sticking points.
"We bargain again today, and hope that they finally listen to the faculty and get serious about reaching an agreement," the union said in a statement. "Our members don't want to strike, but we have had enough of this administration's lies. The final countdown has begun, and we're ready to walk next week if we must."
ISU grad workers prepared to support strike in any way they can
The Illinois State Graduate Workers Union remains committed to refusing to do extra work to cover for faculty on strike if one begins.
“The biggest thing for us is, again, not scabbing and not crossing the picket line, if that, if one is created with a potential strike,” said AJ Pittman, a member of the steering committee for the grad workers union.
Sarah Hall, president of the Illinois State University Education Association (ISUEA), said in a written statement she has been communicating over the past two weeks to non-tenure track instructors that they should not cover classes.
“Members have reached out to our union leadership, with concerns about being asked to perform extra duties, going into classes that they don't normally go into, to take attendance, to field questions, to do extra work, basically that they're not prepared for,” said Pittman.
Graduate workers are not allowed to join the strike, as the contract the union agreed to last March prohibits doing so. They are, however, able to refuse to take on extra duties or cover classes outside of their job description — a looming possibility if a strike were to begin.
Pittman said ISU administration has frequently expressed concern of an enrollment cliff during negotiations. Pittman said he does not know where ISU is getting this information but that he does know ISU has continued to grow in enrollment, despite other state schools declining in student population.
“Our concern is that a lot of the work that we're going to be doing as graduate workers in the future, for any type of teaching faculty or teaching staff, that class sizes will continue to grow,” said Pittman. “That makes it harder for students to thrive and succeed in classroom situations as well. And so we want to make sure that those things aren't being kind of pressed upon us unnecessarily.”
Despite not being able to strike alongside, Pittman thinks efforts made by the union to avoid covering classes works as repayment for the support faculty showed grad workers last year.
“There's a lot of solidarity from faculty towards the graduate workers, because they know our labor,” said Pittman. “And so even now, as graduate workers going to support faculty ... I saw numerous faculty members that I know from the English department there, and it made me emotional, because just seeing that sort of shared solidarity, that they were there for us and that we can be there for them.”
Negotiations to resume Friday morning
Illinois State University and its faculty union are "still not in agreement" after a 15-hour negotiating session on Thursday, the union said in a Facebook post.
ISU administrators and the United Faculty of ISU are scheduled to resume negotiating at 11 a.m. today.
The union has filed an intent to strike that means a work stoppage could begin as soon as today. The union is planning another rally at 5 p.m. today, with plans to "possibly be announcing some actions for Saturday and Sunday."
'Not a picture we agree with,' say ISU demonstrators in support of fair contract
Illinois State University faculty on the verge of strike were joined by family members, students and union members for a demonstration and march on the Quad Thursday afternoon.
Speakers at the demonstration echoed an earlier statement that non-tenure track faculty made in solidarity — that nobody should be put in a position of having to cover for a different position without extra compensation.
“Our students deserve to have regular faculty and staff here all the time, able to work with them and invest with them, instead of trying to either recruit new faculty in or retain new faculty or have all the faculty doing nothing but research, which is what their current proposal seems to be doing,” said John Miller, president of the University Professionals of Illinois local 4100, which represents seven of Illinois’ 12 public universities for collective bargaining.
“Admin has pushed us to this point, has pushed United Faculty to this point, and pushed students to this point,” said Andrew Franson, a freshman at Illinois State. “So it's important that, you know, we show ISU admin, Hovey Hall, President Tarhule that we don't screw around, that we just want ISU to be the home, to be a better home for us, for our faculty, for our staff, and for future students.”
Illinois State Provost Ani Yazedjian said in a written statement to the campus community that both sides have negotiated in “good faith” over the past few days.
Yazedjian also said in the statement the increases to pay and paid parental leave currently being offered by the university. It includes 4.50% pay increases for tenure-track faculty on the first day of the first full month of ratification, which would currently be May 1. Further increases of 3.50% in 2026 and 2027, and 4% increases in 2028 would also occur. Six weeks, or 30 business days of paid parental leave would be offered, an increase from four weeks in the previous offer.
“It's not a picture that we would agree with. We have differing perspectives on it. But really what it comes down to is the university's priorities. What does the university want to prioritize?” said Miller.
Also present at the gathering was state Rep. Sharon Chung, who represents the 91st Illinois House District stretching from the Peoria area to Bloomington-Normal. Chung has a background in both unions and in higher education.
“I do understand a lot of the things that the faculty is fighting for. So just given who I am and my background, I am always going to be on the side of workers rights,” said Chung.
Chung added Gov. JB Pritzker has introduced an increase to higher education funding to his budget.
“What also we're trying to do is sort of revamp also how higher education is funded and a more equitable sort of funding formula. I don't know if that's going to get passed this year, to be perfectly honest with you. But again, all these things can help ISU to be able to have more funds, to be able to do a lot of things they want to do,” she said.
Another aspect of recent ISU developments called to attention by demonstrators was their focus on investing into the College of Engineering.
“Right now, I mean, I know we're building this new College of Engineering, but if they hope to staff that with people who are high quality, they need to have a fair pay to make that possible,” said Brandon Thornton, an ISU graduate.
“All three of my degrees have been from ISU, and the cost of that has gone up astronomically. And so if we're expecting professors to maybe even move to Illinois to work here, we need to find a way to make sure that we're giving them a livable wage, and not even a livable wage, but a wage to grow professionally,” he added.
Negotiations are continuing as the time when ISU faculty can officially begin a strike comes nearer.
“As the institution wants to continue to talk, we're going to continue to talk. We're at the table all night tonight, we'll be at the table again tomorrow. The institution has a choice. They can move or they can choose a strike. It's their choice,” said Miller.
Provost: University 'is committed to reaching an agreement'
Illinois State’s top academic officer today thanked negotiators from both sides for enduring “not easy discussions” and said she believed a “mutually acceptable agreement” is within reach.
Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Ani Yazedjian said ISU is “committed to reaching an agreement because we know that our faculty and staff allow Illinois State to remain a school of choice, when many schools are experiencing significant declines in enrollment.”
“They allow us to keep doing what we do, which is to serve students well. Our students are very important to me, and I know they are important to our faculty as well. That is why I remain steadfast in my belief, even as the deadline for the first day of a strike draws near, that we can reach a mutually acceptable agreement that is fair, fiscally responsible, and sustainable in the long term for Illinois State University,” she wrote in a statement shared with the campus community and media.
Yazedjian said ISU acknowledges that average salaries of associate professors and professors have not kept pace with what it considers ISU’s peer institutions. To address that, she said ISU has offered things like increasing promotion pay bumps to associate professor and professor, as well as introducing five-year full professor merit review.
The provost said ISU’s current economic proposal would mean “the average salary for Assistant and Associate Professors will be at or above the projected market averages for similar positions at Illinois State’s peer institutions—and, by Jan. 1, 2026, the average salary for all Illinois State tenure-track faculty will be at or above the projected market averages for similar positions at Illinois State’s peer institutions.”
Yazedjian, who said she “still considers herself a faculty member at heart,” was named interim provost in 2023 and then accepted the permanent position a year later. She was a professor, department chair and associate provost before that. Her primary research areas have focused on relationship education, adolescent ethnic identity development, college student adjustment and achievement, and evidence-based practice.
Faculty union hosts rally and march on the Quad
The ISU faculty union and their supporters met on the Quad this afternoon for a rally and march.
State Rep. Sharon Chung, a Democrat who represents parts of Bloomington-Normal, was in attendance at the "We Stand With UFISU!" rally and march.
More coverage to come.
Non-tenure track faculty union: 'We will not cover classes or take on duties to support administration'
The union representing non-tenure track faculty at Illinois State University has issued a statement in solidarity with a separate union that's on the verge of a strike.
The Illinois State University Education Association (ISUEA) is a separate bargaining unit from the United Faculty of ISU. ISUEA has its own contract with the university, which runs through 2027. It includes language that prohibits ISUEA members from doing a sympathy or solidarity strike alongside the United Faculty of ISU.
Here's ISUEA's statement:
"We stand in solidarity with our union siblings in UFISU," said ISUEA President Sarah Hall. "While we will meet what is required of our members by contract, we will continue to tell our people to hold the line. We will stay committed to our principles and spread the word that we will not cover classes or take on duties to support administration.
"UFISU members deserve a fair contract now. We still believe in the motto of 'Gladly do we Learn and Teach' … and today we must teach administration and the Board that our unions stand together. We will not take on the work of our siblings in UFISU as the powerful few try to break them."
Merit pay is a key sticking point as strike date looms
The 47th negotiating session between Illinois State University and its faculty union is underway this afternoon in Normal. A strike could happen as soon as Friday.
Statements from both ISU and the United Faculty of ISU union suggest merit-based pay is one of the biggest remaining sticking points. The two sides have been talking for over a year.
In an update today, ISU said it wants to allocate around 40% of annual base salary increases to merit-based raises. But ISU said the union “philosophically” opposes this approach, preferring to allocate more money “for increases wholly unrelated to performance.”
“As a higher education institution striving to recruit and retain high-quality faculty and high-achieving students, this is surprising — particularly since merit pay is a well-established approach at Illinois State and other R2 Universities,” ISU said in a statement. “Under Illinois State’s proposal, as is current practice, specific merit-based salary increases for tenure-track faculty would continue to be determined jointly by department chairs and peer tenured faculty.”
In their own statement early this morning, United Faculty of ISU’s bargaining team said they’ve told ISU “again and again that we need reliable across-the-board raises; yet, their proposals continue to emphasize merit pay that turns a large portion of our possible salary increases into a cutthroat competition with each other.”
“When we have to focus on chasing merit pay, we have less time and energy to dedicate to our students. ISU (administrators) say they want to incentivize high-quality work, but right now their proposals tip the scales too far towards merit in a way that is guaranteed to leave dedicated and talented faculty without assurance that our salaries will meet rising costs of living,” the union said.
ISU says its latest economic proposal included:
- Further enhancements to the guaranteed funding pools to support across-the-board and merit-based annual base salary increases for tenure-track faculty of 4.50% at the first day of the first full month following ratification. 3.50% in 2026 and 2027, and 4.00% in 2028 (up from 3.75% following ratification and 3.25% in 2026, 2027 and 2028 in the University’s previous offer).
- Six weeks (30 business days) of paid parental leave available to all tenure-track faculty (up from four weeks in the University’s previous offer). This new benefit could be combined with other existing paid benefit time that can already be used for parental leave to extend the leave beyond 6 weeks.
Grad student workers union issues solidarity statement
The union representing Illinois State University’s graduate student workers said it will resist any effort by administrators to get them to take on extra unpaid work if faculty go on strike.
The ISU graduate workers union chapter of SEIU Local 73 issued a statement Wednesday night:
“On or about March 31 our union became aware that the ISU administration would be asking other workers to cover workload for the tenure-line faculty members who issued a ten-day notice to strike on 3/21/25. While our members are prohibited from participating in a solidarity strike with UFISU, we have informed our members that it is their right not to perform additional, unpaid work. We have shared Know Your Rights flyers with our members to further educate them on this matter.
“It is a core principle of solidarity that we don’t scab our Union siblings’ work, and for ISU administration to make such a request of other workers –– instead of doing everything in its power to get to an agreement to avoid a strike –– is shameful and runs contrary to the mission of our institution. Gladly do we Learn and Teach, but not our Union siblings’ labor.”
The graduate student workers union’s own contract runs through June 2026.
The last time ISU was this close to a strike: 'It's a very scary situation'
Illinois State University has been on the brink of a strike before. And it was just three years ago.
AFSCME Local 1110 was five days away from a strike in April 2022 when they reached a tentative contract with ISU. That union represents around 350 building, grounds, and food service workers.
“It’s a very scary situation,” said Chuck Carver, a building service worker and president of AFSCME Local 1110. “We’ve gotta clean up after everybody and make sure they eat and make sure the grounds look good. So it was scary on both aspects, because if we would’ve (gone on strike), we would’ve had to make all this up. And if we wouldn’t have gone (on strike), we would’ve been settling for nothing again.”
It took more than 20 negotiating sessions over six months. The union filed an intent to strike, and the university began making contingency plans.
What made the difference at the end, Carver thinks, was a large public demonstration in front of the Hovey Hall administration building. One of the speakers was Roberta Lynch, executive director of the statewide AFSCME Council 31.
“That was enough to push it over, because that was our final straw. And we went back in, and we all agreed. And it was a fair contract. It really was a fair contract,” Carver said. “The most important provision for me is that nobody who works for the state of Illinois, let alone ISU, should qualify for welfare. We didn’t completely fix that, but we raised it up a lot higher than what it was.”
United Faculty of ISU, which represents around 650 tenured and tenure-track faculty, could go on strike as soon as Friday if they can’t reach agreement with ISU on a contract. They’ve been negotiating for over a year, with pay among the final sticking points.
Carver said his union is contractually prohibited from any sort of sympathy or solidarity strike alongside the faculty, but he said he expects his members will be supportive while off-the-clock.
“I do believe it’s a shame that ISU would drag this out as long as they have and put the potential of the students worrying so much, the professors and teachers worrying so much, over the outcome of this. (It’s) the added stress, when things could’ve easily been agreed upon a long time ago,” he said.
AFSCME Local 1110’s three-year contract expires June 30, 2025. Talks have begun on a new one.