Date: Fri, 8 Aug 1997 13:00:59 -0500 (CDT)
From: Dennis Grammenos <dgrammen-AT-prairienet.org>
Subject: M-NEWS: GEO news update: Mass Union Rally in Chicago


==============Graduate Employees' Organization (GEO)
IFT/AFT AFL-CIO
1001 S. Wright St.
Champaign, IL  61820
Phone: (217) 344-8283     Fax: (217) 344-8281
http://www.uiuc.edu/ph/www/taunion


                IN CHICAGO UNIONS RALLY FOR JUSTICE

URBANA-- Friday, 8 August 1997

On Thursday, 7 August 1997, a delegation of Graduate Employees' 
Organization (GEO) unionists, from the University of Illinois at 
Urbana-Champaign, traveled to Chicago to participate in a major "Justice 
For Janitors" union rally, sponsored by the AFL-CIO.  Nearly 800 
unionists gathered at Federal Plaza in Chicago's Loop to demonstrate 
their solidarity with the campaign to gain recognition for janitorial
employees that have been attempting to organize against great corporate 
opposition.

GEO Treasurer Dennis Grammenos was called on stage to deliver the opening 
speech of the rally.  He stressed the need for solidarity among workers 
and the need for an activist labor movement.  Grammenos outlined the 
history of the drive by graduate employees at the University of Illinois 
to unionize and pointed to the refusal of the university's administration 
to recognize the GEO.  He explained how this refusal comes  despite a 
large authorization-for-representation card drive in April 1996 that 
gathered the signatures of 3,226 graduate employees demanding the 
recognition of GEO by the administration.  Furthermore, Grammenos pointed 
out that in April of this year the GEO won union elections --run 
according to IELRB rules-- in a two-to-one landslide.  "To this day," he 
said, "the administration is refusing to recognize the democratic right 
of its graduate employees to unionize.  They are hiding behind the thin 
veil of legal posturing as they argue that graduate workers are not 
employees but 'merely students'."  

At several points during Grammenos' speech, the Federal Plaza echoed with 
chants of "G-E-O, G-E-O" as rally participants expressed their solidarity 
with the struggles of the graduate employees.

Grammenos was followed on stage by Cathy Colson, of the GEO at the 
University of Illinois in Chicago, who spoke of the campaign by graduate 
employees to organize at her campus.  "We draw inspiration from our 
brothers and sisters in Urbana-Champaign," Colson said, "and we are 
strengthened by their resolve not to waiver in their struggle for Justice."

Rich Trumka, secretary-treasurer of the AFL-CIO and president-emeritus of 
the UMWA, took the stage to call on corporate America to respect the 
right of workers to unionize.  "And that includes the University of 
Illinois," he added.  In his closing remarks, Trumka shouted "Justice for 
the janitors!  Justice for the GEO!" as the crowd exploded in cheers and 
applause, followed by chants of "What do we want? Justice! When do we 
want it? Now!"

Earlier in the day the GEO delegation attended a rally at Teamster City, 
in Chicago's Near West Side, where AFL-CIO president John Sweeney gave 
the keynote address.  Hundreds of unionists signed letters calling on 
University of Illinois chancellor Michael Aiken to recognize the 
democratic right of graduate employees to unionize and to stop the 
university administration's "shameful union-busting  campaign against its 
workers."

Both John Sweeney and Rich Trumka signed letters and expressed their 
strong support for the GEO.

GEO staffer Erin Shackelford, who attended the rallies, was impressed by 
the show of support for the GEO from the hundreds of unionists that had 
gathered from all over Illinois and adjoining states.  "It is folks like 
this that have a lot to say to the university's administration," she 
explained.  "They are tax-payers, they are parents, and they are 
union-workers.  They are upset at the anti-labor tactics that the 
administration has been using and they demand that the University of 
Illinois respect the democratic right of its graduate employees to unionize."

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