Today’s Senate Meeting

At today’s Senate meeting, a coalition of specialized faculty and tenure-track faculty presented a resolution that would represent the first step in the University taking responsibility for funding its collective bargaining agreements.

Around 15 NTFC members and 15 GEO members attended in support of SR.24.01. 

Immediately after NTFC Steward and University Senator Shawn Gilmore presented the resolution, a motion was made by another senator to wait to vote on the resolution until the Senate Committee on the Budget looks it over. After extensive comments, the motion passed. So, there was no vote today on the resolution.

The resolution will eventually come back to the Senate. When that happens, UIUC’s unionized workers will be there to show support! 

We want to recognize and thank the courageous sponsors of this resolution. Some of these senators are specialized faculty, and others are tenure track. 

• Shawn Gilmore, English
• Clara Bosak-Schroeder, Classics
• Stephanie Fortado, Labor & Employee Relations
• Jessica Greenberg, Anthropology
• Ralph Mathisen, History
• David O’Brien, Art & Design
• Charles Roseman, Evolution, Ecology, and Behavior
• Lindsey Stirek, Art & Design
• Kelli Trei, Library
• Jaya Yodh, Carle Illinois College of Medicine

When the official minutes of the Senate are posted, you’ll be able to find them here.

Election Results

This election had the highest participation in our union’s history! During such an important moment for specialized faculty, it’s thrilling to know that so many of us across campus are engaged and attentive. 

NTFC Local #6546’s Executive Council, 2024-2025:

• President: Theresa Dobbs (she/her) – Mathematics
• Vice President: Michael Odom (he/him) – English
• Secretary: Jordan Sellers (he/him) – English
• Treasurer: Dani Nyikos (they/them) – English
• Bargaining Research Chair: Rachel Fein-Smolinski (they/them) – Art & Design
• Communications Chair: Marisa Peacock (she/her) – Advertising and Business
• Grievance Chair: Dave Morris (he/him) – English
• Chief Steward will be elected by the new Stewards Council.

NTFC Local #6546’s Stewards Council, 2024-2025:

• Eben Alguire (they/them) – Theatre
• Juan Alvarez (he/him) – Electrical & Computer Engineering
• Zuofu Cheng (he/him) – Electrical & Computer Engineering
• Mickey Clemon (he/him) – Mechanical Science & Engineering)
• Dave Dubin (he/him) – Information Sciences
• Bryan Dunne (he/him) – Astronomy
• Charles Fogelman (he/him) – Global Studies
• Stephanie Seawell Fortado (she/her) – Labor & Employee Relations
• Katrina Gaffney (she/her) – English
• Shawn Gilmore (he/him) – English
• Maria Hadjipolycarpou (she/her) – Classics
• Melissa Iverson (she/her) – Social Work
• Heather McLeer (she/her) – English
• Zach McVicker (he/him) – English
• Katie Menendez (she/her) – English
• Matt Schering (he/him) – English
• Lindsey Stirek (she/her) – Art & Design
• Lisa Travis (she/her) – Psychology
• Kendra Ward (she/her) – Art & Design

Please join us in congratulating our new officers and stewards!

-NTFC Communications Committee

Bargaining Update

Friday 3/29 was our seventh bargaining session. Our co-lead negotiator Dani Nyikos was unable to attend, so co-lead Rachel Fein-Smolinski was joined by Kay Emmert to fill in for Dani for the day. We presented our counterproposal for Hours of Work & Commitment, and the admin team presented their counters for Discipline & Dismissal, Health & Safety, and Physical Conditions & Institutional Commitments.

Our bargaining team continued to advocate for the issues that are most important to specialized faculty. Among these issues are (a) defining work expectations to combat overwork, and (b) allowing specialized faculty with terminal research degrees to serve as PI’s. The admin team’s lead negotiator tried to argue that these two stances are somehow contradictory, stating: “You say we should let you do your jobs, but you also say you don’t know what your jobs are.” 

Our lead negotiators responded by acknowledging that with many different types of positions on campus, our members’ top priorities may be wide-ranging, and on their face may even seem contradictory. Kay said, “Please don’t diminish our members’ concerns by saying they are rhetorically contradictory.” 

It was disappointing to hear such a facile oversimplification of our proposal, but we hope that the admin team will come to a fuller understanding of the issues. There’s no reason why specialized faculty with terminal research degrees shouldn’t be able to serve as PI’s. It is already the policy in Grainger, and the admin team has not offered any justification for why this policy that works for Grainger wouldn’t work in the other colleges.

The admin team also indicated that they do not plan to improve access to gender affirming care, as outlined in our proposal. For more information about why this matters, read this story on our website.

Fortunately, there is some good news: the admin team has indicated that they’ll bring an economic proposal (including wages, benefits, and leaves) at our next session. After 4 months of bargaining, we are ready to see their economic proposal!

How You Can Help

Now is the time to show that these issues are important to all specialized faculty- not just those of us who are on the bargaining team! With a strong show of support, we can send the message to the Board of Trustees and UIUC upper admin that specialized faculty deserve better. 

Mark your calendar:

• Mon April 22, 3:10pm: UIUC Senate Meeting- Fund Your CBA’s
• Fri April 26, 9am-12pm: Pack the Room at Bargaining
• Thurs May 2, 10am-2pm: Reading Day Work-In and Solidarity Rally

Next Session: Pack the Room!

The UIUC admin team has committed to presenting an economic proposal, including wages, benefits, and leaves, in the next session. Join us there, to show support! We need as many people in the room as possible. We’d love to fill the room with specialized faculty, and members of the general public are welcome to come and support us as well. You can come late, leave early, or stay the whole time. 

• Friday, April 26, 9am-12pm
• Location: Illini Union Ballroom

Want to be in the know?

Would you like to know more, including upcoming events and bargaining updates?

• Follow us on Instagram: @ntfc6546
• Like us on Facebook: NTFC Local 6546
• Join us on Discord: https://discord.gg/EpJNQXhX

In Solidarity

Theresa Dobbs

NTFC Communications Chair

Some UIUC Employees are Denied Coverage of Gender Affirming Care

In the state of Illinois, insurance companies are required to cover treatments for gender dysphoria and not to discriminate on the basis of gender identity. 

Because of this, insurance companies generally cover top surgery, bottom surgery, and some amount of hormone therapy and counseling. However, these are not the only types of gender affirming care. 

The World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) lists the treatments that insurance providers ought to cover when a patient’s doctor deems it medically necessary. This list includes:

• Facial feminization surgery
• Facial masculinization surgery
• Facial hair removal
• Voice training
• Vocal cord surgery

A direct quote from WPATH’s Medical Necessity Statement, referring to the above treatments:

“The medical procedures attendant to gender affirming/confirming surgeries are not ‘cosmetic’ or ‘elective’ or ‘for the mere convenience of the patient.’ These reconstructive procedures are not optional in any meaningful sense, but are understood to be medically necessary for the treatment of the diagnosed condition.”

But most of the insurance companies that service UIUC employees ignore this guidance. They take advantage of a loophole and classify the above treatments as cosmetic- even when an individual’s doctor deems them medically necessary.

For example, Aetna excludes voice training, facial hair removal, and all the surgeries in the bullet points above, deeming them to be cosmetic, no matter what one’s doctor says.

Meanwhile, the University has chosen to do nothing. Despite the University of Illinois’ professed commitment to supporting trans and gender diverse employees, they have chosen to side with the insurance companies and allow their employees to go without medically necessary care.

What Can We Do About It?

For the Non Tenure Faculty Union, this is an issue close to our hearts. A significant portion of specialized faculty at UIUC are trans or gender diverse, and some of us have personally experienced being denied gender affirming care due to this issue.

As specialized faculty, we also are part of the broader campus community, and we see this issue affecting UIUC employees outside of our bargaining unit. (We suspect it may also affect students, but we are not as familiar with UIUC’s student insurance. If you have knowledge about this, we’d love to talk with you!)

We are currently bargaining our third Collective Bargaining Agreement with the University. In our proposal, we propose that the University set up a reimbursement program for expenses of gender affirming care that are not covered by insurance. The negotiations over our contract will take place throughout the Spring semester, and perhaps into the summer.

In our initial bargaining sessions with administration, their team expressed doubts about whether such a program is needed. They expressed a belief that all medically necessary gender affirming care is already covered by insurance. It seems they are unquestioningly following the lead of insurance companies, rather than following WPATH’s standards of medically necessary care. 

In our March 29 bargaining session, the admin team indicated that they do not anticipate changing their existing policies on gender affirming care. But we’re not giving up.

If they genuinely believe in providing medically necessary healthcare to their trans and gender diverse faculty, what will they do when the insurance plans they offer fail to do that?

We hope to work with campus organizations and RSO’s to amplify this issue. With broad support from campus community members both inside and outside of our union, we are hopeful that the University will listen! 

Get Involved!

Follow us on social media to learn about updates and actions that you can take!

• Follow us on Instagram: @ntfc6546
• Like us on Facebook: NTFC Local 6546

Do you have personal experience or relevant knowledge to share with us on the topic of Gender Affirming Care in the UIUC campus community? Or do you want to plan an event together? Or are you a trans new employee trying to navigate the confusing thicket of insurance options? We’d love to hear from you! Our DM’s are open on social media, or you can email us at ntfc6546@gmail.com. 

In Solidarity

Dani Nyikos, NTFC Co-Lead Negotiator

Theresa Dobbs, NTFC Communications Chair