Grad student teaching assistants have no business being union members, according to three GOP senators.
Their assessment came during Senate floor debate April 19 of SB2546, sponsored by Sen. Daniel Biss (D-Evanston), which amends the Illinois Labor Relations Act to allow teaching and research assistants to unionize, an unpopular notion according to to the three Republican senators.
Sen. Jil Tracy (R-Quincy) wanted to know why Biss filed the bill and asked Biss if there were any opponents to the proposal.
“No one has spoken to me and I haven’t seen any on the computer system, and I would just candidly expect that administrations of some public universities might be,” Biss said.
The University of Illinois (U of I) rejects the bill, according to Tracy, who said she supposed the objection was due to the lack of higher education funding.
“Don’t you think this might be a hindrance to their ability to continue to operate properly?” Tracy asked.
Saying he has strong views on higher education funding and noting a recent strike at the U of I by graduate employees over tuition waivers, Biss said the student win has now posed an issue with teaching assistants to be allowed in a bargaining unit, but not research assistants.
Speaking of strikes, Sen. Chapin Rose (R-Mahomet) said he saw Biss on television marching with students in the Urbana protest. Like Tracy, Rose asked why he thinks U of I is opposed.
Biss said he believes the objection is based on a single slip of rejection by one student.
“They just had a difficult strike and are eager to expand whatever influence they have in their negotiation for graduate students,” Biss said.
Rose pointed out Biss’ bill would apply to any position a graduate student holds within the university.
Biss said teacher or research assistant aside, if you are a graduate student working for tuition reimbursement in lieu of a wage, they should be able to participate in the collective bargaining unit.
“I would politely ask that my colleague and friend, Sen. Biss, who always looks good on TV, to consider taking it out of the record long enough to find out what exactly the opposition from the university is,” Rose said.
Sen. Dale Righter (R-Mattoon) said lawmakers were forgetting they were debating over students.
“I don’t think it is beyond the pale to say we shouldn’t be handing over by state fiat labor organizational rights to students,” Righter said.
Righter brought up how Biss himself noted the lack of funding in higher education, yet proposes a bill that will cost universities.
“If you vote for this and it becomes law, they are going to have to pay these kids more,” Righter said, adding lawmakers should be concerned for all students and not just graduate employees.
SB2546 passed 39-14 and was moved to the House.
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