Dear “CFA Member”,

This past month, University President Tim Killeen informed us via Massmail that their Campus Wage Program will be issuing a two percent raise for all tenure track faculty members.

This is effectively a pay cut:

• The University administration’s Campus Wage Program enforces a salary system but no clear process for merit to impact our individual percentage raises. In some departments, raises are determined by the head; in others, raises are determined by an advisory committee. Some raises are determined by numerical rankings and some, as far as our members can tell, are determined by whether or not their department head likes them.
  
• This wage program does not incorporate data on our economic conditions. Some of our colleagues will receive two percent or less – at a time when inflation is at 3.8 percent, and projected to go higher in the coming months.
  
• This wage program was created without our own voices on the matter. Without a seat at the table we have no way to advocate for our salaries to at least keep up with inflation, compromising our ability to pay for food, rents or mortgages, and more.

This Campus Wage Program jeopardizes our ability to effectively do our jobs and take care of ourselves, our families, and our communities.

Unionizing tenure-stream faculty resolves this problem.

The reason this salary program covers tenure-stream faculty is that most campus workers are already unionized. They have already negotiated higher raises.

• SEIU Local 73 representing building service and food service workers will receive raises between 3.3 percent and 4 percent.
  
• The Non-Tenure Faculty Coalition (NTFC Local 6546/IFT) representing specialized faculty will get up to a 2.5 percent raise this year. We also take inspiration from NTFC, who have negotiated a merit pool from which executive officers can draw to raise salaries of especially notable specialized faculty.
  
• The Graduate Employees Organization (GEO Local 6300/IFT) are currently in bargaining to determine their raise for the next academic year.

In other words, when we unionize, we will have the opportunity to hold decision-making power, collectively, as tenure track faculty, to decide how well we can be compensated rather than wait to see if there will be a salary program and hope it matches inflation (which it never does).

Campus resources are substantial:

• The State of Illinois issued the University of Illinois system a 1 percent increase in operations support, or $748.7 million for the new fiscal year. This followed the state’s release of another $12.9 million to 2026’s operational budget.
  
• The University in 2025 approved of an operation budget of over $8.29 billion with an annual revenue stream of $5 billion.
  
• The current active endowment sits at over $3 billion.

To our minds, there is more than enough money to pay faculty and increase our access to financial resources for research, even considering restricted or already-allocated funds.

With a union, we will bargain not only for salaries that keep pace with inflation, but that allow us to reward faculty who are exemplary in their teaching, research, or service, based on the expectations of their disciplines.

Please feel free to reach out to us with any questions, comments, and concerns as we continue our successful campaign to unionize and empower all UIUC tenure track faculty. We will all win together!

In solidarity,
Kate & Gus
CFA Co-Presidents