NORMAL, Ill.- For over a year, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees local union 32-36 has been trying to negotiate a fair contract with Illinois State University.
On Monday nearly 50 staff, faculty, students and other supporters rallied outside of The Nelson Smith building before the bargaining committee met with university officials.
Staff Representative for the union Renee Nestler said the meeting did not go quite as planned.
“Ideally we would have liked them to accept our proposals on the spot so we can be done,” said Nestler.
“We’re as close as we’ve ever been. We put something across the table that while it doesn’t meet all of our needs...especially with what we started off with months ago…we have at least made some progress on them.”
Some of their proposals include discussing unfair wages, elimination or the fixing of the hiring range, compression and concerns with respect, social and equality overall.
The union is made up predominantly of women with many of the workers making what they consider less than livable wages. In some cases, union representatives explained, that these clerical workers have not seen their wages increase in a number of years, many of them resorting to food stamps to help them get by.
The union will meet with the university again to discuss their counter on Feb. 6.
“But we’re hopeful that very soon we can reach a tentative agreement,” said Nestler.
Grace Barbic contributed to this story.