SEIU backs down, calls off strike

Students may not have been aware that the Service Employees International Union, or SEIU, has been negotiating fair contracts with the university for over a year. After being unsuccessful in the negotiations, the union voted to strike for three days starting on Monday, August, 23, 2010 around campus, as well as hold protest rallies at the UIC Medical Center and the East Campus Quad.

As students were starting their first classes of the semester, many of them may have noticed the lack of protestors on campus. The SEIU Local 73 President, Christine Boardman, and Vice President, Phil Martini, along with University Counsel, Steve Veazie, met with University of Illinois President, Michael Hogan, over the weekend prior to the strike to reinitiate contract negotiations in order to potentially call off the planned strike, according to an SEIU press release.

Over a period of two days, the university and union formed new deals, and in the end, the strike was called off along with all planned rallies. The SEIU released the following statement: "The union strongly believes in the members' individual voices as well as their collective voice when they unite. Our meetings with President Hogan would not have taken place without the united front we showed by agreeing to strike."

When the two sides finalize the contracts, they will be presented to the members of the union and from there, a ballot ratification vote will take place to approve the contracts. The bargaining committee has been said to "feel a new energy from the revised proposals" and are ready to go back to the table to finalize the three union contracts, for the clerical and administrative workers, service and maintenance personnel, and technical staff, as soon as possible.