It’s time to celebrate! Today marks the one-year anniversary of our first collective bargaining agreement, ratified on May 5, 2016 (photo).

So, later on today, starting at 4:30pm, we’re hosting a potluck at Quality bar in downtown Champaign. Everyone is welcome–members, solidarity partners, friends, family; bring something if you can, but come regardless (link).

This follows on the heels of our regular end-of-semester Work-In, which gives our members and solidarity partners a chance to do their valuable work in public and spend time catching up, just before finals strike (a few photos here: link). And, earlier this week, many of us participated in a May Day rally, with some great speakers.

However, our colleagues, the unionized tenure-track faculty as the University of Illinois, Springfield, are on strike for the fourth day today, and are finally back in the bargaining room. There may be news to come today or this weekend, but they can still use support. As members of our three-campus coalition of IFT faculty locals, UISUF has the full support of NTFC and UICUF, and we were able to have the leadership of all three locals in Springfield on Wednesday (link).

There are still a number of ways to help, in addition to joining their picket lines (fee free to circulate these to anyone interested):

• Sign the petition in support: link.
• Follow their facebook page and offer support: link.
• Contact UIS Chancellor Susan Koch. Email, call 217/206-6634, or send a message on Twitter to @ChancellorKoch. Tell her to return to the table to bargain a fair contract with hardworking UIS faculty!
• Post messages of support on Facebook and Twitter. Use the hashtag #UISContractNow.
• Donate to the UISUF strike fund. Send contributions and letters of support to: UPI Office, 11 E. Adams #1106, Chicago, IL 60603-6301.

A couple of weeks ago, NTFC voted on a new set of officers and committee chairs, who will take over this weekend. This transition means that this will be my last wrap-up as President, as I’m turning the reigns over to Kay Emmert, who served are our Bargaining Research chair and lead negotiator for the past few years. Our new officers will be:

I will send updated contact information to the relevant parties on Monday, and then my time as President will be done. I want to thank everyone who receives these wrap-ups for their attention, feedback, and support. Hopefully, I have overburdened your email along the way, and know that NTFC would not be as successful without the support of those around us, and we will keep paying that support back for a long time.

Typically, I close with an invitation to our standing Friday Happy Hour, but today, come celebrate with us a Quality, in downtown Champaign, starting at 4:30!

In solidarity