Illinois unions look to state for solutions after year of higher education labor action

At public universities across the state, staff and faculty unions have faced a contentious year of negotiations and, in some cases, strikes.

Pay has been a major issue on several campuses and the unions are now looking to Springfield for potential reforms to the state’s higher education funding.

At Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, negotiations are ongoing between campus leadership and the union that represents clerical workers.

Amy Bodenstab, who works as an office manager in the Department of Teaching and Learning, also picks up weekend shifts at a local domestic violence shelter and contract work in data analytics to make ends meet.

She is on the bargaining team of AFSCME Local 2887, which has been without a contract since June 2022. She said the low pay and perceived lack of respect has resulted in high turnover rates, hampering university staff’s ability to do their jobs.

She said it’s especially troubling because of the complexity of the positions her union represents, which can involve financial management, purchasing, scheduling and more.

“If you’re staff, you’re treated as ‘less than,’” Bodenstab told Capitol News Illinois.

Nicole Franklin, a spokesperson for the university, declined to comment specifically on the ongoing negotiations but said the university “continues to bargain in good faith” with the union.

But Bodenstab’s experience is echoed on other campuses around Illinois.