Graduate student teaching assistants at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign were set to strike at 8:00am this morning, after hours of talks Saturday failed to produce a compromise. The Graduate Employees Organization represents almost 1,500 teaching assistants at the university and has been at odds with the administration since April over tuition waiver language in the contract. The graduate students feel that the contract language does not guarantee tuition waivers (which allow some students to attend the school for free or reduced tuition), while the administration has maintained that they don't see a problem as the contract provides for re-negotiation of tuition waivers. A spokesman for the GEO has said the union believes this is a deliberate attempt by the university to undermine tuition waivers.
See "University of Illinois student instructors set to strike Monday", Georgia Garvey, Chicago Tribune, November 15, 2009