Our President provides a brief update on the previous year’s bargaining sessions with the university related to the pandemic and on upcoming elections for Stewards and Executive Officers.

Union Update

Our Secretary and Treasurer have also provided updates on the state of the union for our general membership.

Thank you to all who attended our first Town Hall! This month the NTFC is happy to host Town Halls as a series of forums to share information and experiences teaching at UIUC during the pandemic.

Our second Town Hall is centered around the AFT-AAUP A New Deal for Higher Education campaign. An IFT representative and NTFC representatives will be on hand to share information, answer questions, and hear your thoughts. This is an open forum for faculty of all levels to discuss this national effort to make public colleges and universities more accessible to all students.

When: Tuesday, March 9, 12-1pm CST

Where: A New Deal For Higher Ed

Amendment Proposed to clarify financial “review” vs. “statement” in the NTFC Constitution

Presented to the membership for vote, October 29, 2020

Passed by Membership November 5, 2020

Ratified November 10, 2020

Article V 

Duties of officers 

Section 4. The Treasurer shall: 

f) prepare a financial review statement in accordance with AFT/IFT and AAUP rules and guidelines, present review that statement to the Executive Council or a committee appointed by the Executive Council, and present a final review statement to the membership at a general membership meeting and later transmit the approved review statement to the AFT/IFT and AAUP.

Background 

NTFC’s current Constitution requires the Treasurer to prepare a “financial review” and promulgate that review  to the Executive Council, membership, and AFT/IFT and AAUP. When our Constitution was ratified in 2014, the  term “review” was intended to ensure that the Treasurer present an annual overview of finances. However,  AFT/IFT has now specified that the term “review” indicates a more formal process, which would require the  union to form a finance review committee (made up of union members) that would complete a series of  AFT/IFT forms. 

This proposed amendment would specify that the Treasurer would regularly be expected to produce a  “statement” (a one-page annual statement of our receipts and disbursements) for the annual process of  documentation; AFT/IFT guidelines will still require a “review” that would occur every three years (which  would become annual if NTFC’s membership exceeded 300). Finally, this proposed amendment would strike  “or a committee appointed by the Executive Council,” which could muddle our internal financial reporting, and  reporting to AAUP, which is unnecessary for locals such as ours (as advised by IFT). 

You will be asked to vote for one of the following options: 

____ Yes. I vote to adopt the resolution put forward to modify Article V.4.f of the NTFC Local #6546 Constitution. 

____ No. I vote to reject the resolution put forward to modify Article V.4.f of the NTFC Local #6546 Constitution.

Voting will begin online at 6pm on Thursday, October 29th and end at 6pm on Thursday, November 5th. Any questions can be raised at the All Members Meeting, or you can contact us.

Each year, many of our campus workers at the University of Illinois struggle to get by. Food Service Workers and Building Service Workers, among others, often are “laid off” during the summers when the students leave. Though they typically receive work again when the fall instruction resumes, they are ineligible to apply for unemployment benefits during the summer period. Normally, this is already a very difficult financial circumstance–but the pandemic has made this situation even worse for many. Our friends from AFSCME have asked us to support their push to get Illinois legislators to amend the unemployment insurance restrictions, which would allow much needed relief to come to non-instructional higher ed workers at UIUC and elsewhere. Below is a copy of the letter that we are sending to the office of Governor JB Pritzker calling on him to help lead the charge to provide unemployment benefits to all higher ed workers over the summer.

You can get involved too! Our friends from AFSCME are asking us to call our legislators to ask them to support these changes. More details are in the image above.

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Dear Governor Pritzker, 

We are writing on behalf of the thousands of non-instructional educational employees (e.g., teacher aides, building and grounds workers, food service workers, bus drivers) in elementary, secondary, and higher education to request that you take action to ensure that these workers are eligible for summer unemployment benefits. 

Unlike other seasonally unemployed workers, non-instructional education workers are currently ineligible to apply for benefits. This is the case even though they face many of the same challenges as other seasonally unemployed workers.It is nearly impossible to find work in the 2-3 month period over the summer while they’re unemployed, receiving low wages, and receiving few benefits. These benefits are already crucial in normal times given their low wages. With the added financial stressors of the pandemic, it is more important than ever to allow non-instructional education workers access to unemployment benefits.

The CARES Act (Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act) provides funding from the federal government to reimburse up to 50% of the costs of unemployment benefits for workers from March 13th through December 31st of this year. This funding will offset any educational employer costs.

We are asking that you please take action to amend the Unemployment Insurance Act (820 ILCS 420) to allow non-instructional educational employees to apply for unemployment insurance. 

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