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JOIN US
Five good reasons to join UPI
1. Campus leaders and protection of campus
autonomy
The experienced campus leaders of UPI
are effective advocates who combine a campus orientation
with the statewide viewpoint necessary to effectively
represent their constituencies at the bargaining table
and achieve faculty and professional staff goals.
2. Collective bargaining expertise
UPI is a recognized leader in academic
bargaining, representing one-half of the state's public
universities at the negotiating table. UPI has mastered
the difficult task of drawing together the collective
strength of the faculty and academic support professionals
while protecting and enhancing the distinctive features
of each public university.
UPI has negotiated effective contractual
protections for its members including:
• Contractual guarantees for tenure
and promotion.
• Tenure, promotion and reappointment decisions based
on departmentally developed criteria.
• Increased sabbatical leaves.
• Retraining and parental leaves.
• An effective grievance procedure ending in binding
arbitration.
• Workload credit for non-teaching activities.
• Collective bargaining for ASPs and continuing temps.
• Salary equity issues.
3. UPI membership benefits including:
• $1 million professional
liability and malpractice insurance coverage.
• Free legal consultation,
employment related problems.
• Accidental death
and dismemberment insurances.
• Legal services for
nonprofessionally related problems.
• No-cost MasterCard.
• Use of united Buying
Services.
• The right to purchase
AFT-sponsored group insurances (life, disability, income,
travel and supplemental hospital coverage).
• The right to purchase
IFT-sponsored group auto insurance.
• The right to participate
in AFT-member programs (group travel, subscriptions and
prescription drug).
• National Car rental
discounts.
4. Effective legislative representation
University faculty and staff
need a comprehensive, effective legislative program now
more than ever. In response, UPI has been the leading
advocate of public university faculty and staff interests
in the legislature and before the Board of Higher Education
and has a full-time lobbyist in Springfield.
UPI's lobby efforts are supported
by our IFT University Council units at the University
of Illinois and and assisted in the promotion of our ambitious
legislative program by the Illinois AFL-CIO and university
civil service union lobbyists.
Among our mutual accomplishments
are enacting legislation affecting:
• University funding.
• Increased state revenues.
• Pension funding.
• Administrative bloat.
• Tax-sheltering pension contributions.
• Partial cash out of accrued sick leave.
• Collective bargaining for educational employees.
• Increased early retirement options.
• Improved disability benefits.
• Educational reform.
• Tuition waivers.
• Maintenance of a full liberal arts program at all
campuses.
5. Resources
Effective faculty representation
demands the resources of a large, strong, effective organization.
UPI is affiliated with:
• The American Federation
of Teachers — representing more college and university
faculty than any other organization.
• The Illinois Federation
of Teachers — Illinois' largest statewide educational
organization and the only statewide organization to have
substantial collective bargaining and lobbying experience
in the public university area.
• The Illinois AFL-CIO —
with its long and proud history of protecting public education.
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