CFA Local #6546 responds to last week’s good news from the Illinois Supreme Court. UIUC spent tens of thousands of dollars challenging the certifications of CFA Local #6546. But the Court rejected UIUC’s appeal challenging CFA Local #6546’s union certification, thereby removing the last standing objection.
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On May 28, 2015 the Illinois Supreme Court denied the University of Illinois’ appeal of the certification of two unions at the University of Illinois, Local #6546, AFT/IFT/AAUP (non-tenure-track faculty) and the Uni High Faculty Organization, a member of the Illinois Education Association. Both unions were certified by the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board, but the University persisted in fighting the recognition of both unions as legitimate representatives of their respective employee groups.
“For eighty years, it has been the law of the land that employees alone choose a union to represent them. The employer cannot pick and choose which union should represent employees,” comments Shawn Gilmore, president of Local #6546 on the decision. “We very much regret that the University administration saw fit to spend tens of thousands of dollars of scarce public funds on a fight that was doomed from the outset.”
Union representatives of Local #6546 are hopeful that the ongoing contract negotiations on behalf of its nearly 500 full-time lecturers, researchers, and clinical faculty at the University of Illinois will now pick up speed and that both sides will come to an agreement in the coming months. Local #6546 members have not received any salary raises in almost two years. Most work on nine-month contracts without employment security.
Dorothee Schneider
Communications Chair, Local #6546
Shawn Gilmore
President, Local #6546
Campus Faculty Association 