Central Illinois Jobs with Justice Newsletter | Summer 2014
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A Busy Summer in Central Illinois Welcome to the first newsletter of the Central Illinois chapter of Jobs With Justice (JWJ) . We plan this newsletter to be a quarterly publication providing updates on the latest JWJ events and information for working people in our community. A lot has happened in the past few months, and we want to share just a few of the highlights. August On August 2, the local chapter of the Progressive Democrats of America hosted the third Progressive Fest. The purpose of the Progressive Fest is to bring progressive people and groups together to discuss how to build partnerships for a better Champaign- Urbana. More than 30 people attended the event, including several JWJ regulars. The focus of the event was to organize for voter registration for the upcoming November elections. July In July, the non-tenure track faculty at the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana voted to form a union. They are currently working to form their first constitution, elect officers and to start bargaining their first contract with the University of Illinois. The U of I administration challenged these workers right to form a union and also continue to refuse to bargain. Recently the University administration announced they could not give pay raises to these faculty members until their contract was bargained. The administration can and should give raises to these hard-working faculty members. It may take many months to bargain their first contract, and unionization in no way precludes the University from raising their salaries in the meantime. JWJ applauds the non-tenure track faculty for unionizing, and calls upon the Jobs With Justice has issued a formal statement in support of James Kilgore, a non-tenure track faculty member at the University of Illinois, who saw his contract terminated this past spring University of Illinois to start treating these workers fairly. In our statement, JWJ explains “we are very much committed to the proposition that people who have committed felonies and have paid the price in terms of prison terms and/or f ines should have access to employment opportunities.” You can read the full version of our statement here: http://publici.ucimc.org/?p=50427 Central Illinois Jobs with Justice Mother Jones Chapter SUMMER 2014 NEWSLETTER June Protest against privatization of the Pos tal Service
