CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- After a strike that lasted almost three weeks, teaching assistants at the University of Illinois at Chicago are going back to work Monday morning.
One of the big now-settled issues in the teaching assistants' strike against UIC: wages.
"We got a 14 percent increase," said Jeff Schuhrke, co-president of the Graduate Employees Organization union. "It's about $2,500 — a little over $2,500 over three years — which is the largest raise we've ever gotten in our union's history."
It's over and we won. Strikes work.@uicgeo #UICGEOstrike pic.twitter.com/gwxoSFRopX
— J.J. Okie (@jjoconno) April 5, 2019He said the union got its first contract back in 2006 and this tentative deal will be an increased step toward better pay. He added they also worked out a deal on fees and getting more transparency over the hiring of teaching assistants.
The union represents more than 1,500 teaching assistants and graduate assistants at UIC, and Schuhrke said they'll be back at work Monday.
The strike canceled classes and rallied support from other grad programs, students and organizations who started petitions to make the school administration take notice.
