In a unanimous 10-0 vote during their first meeting of the semester on Sept. 21, 2023, the NEIU Board of Trustees (BoT) agreed to approve the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Contract Extension. AFSCME – whose Local 1989 is a union that represents roughly 175 civil service employees at NEIU – states in the Priorities section of their website that they are “fighting to promote freedom and opportunity for all working people.”

 The BoT is a state-assigned group, and, according to NEIU’s website, “the board has the authority and responsibility to operate, manage, control and maintain Northeastern Illinois University.”

Before the vote, Imelda Robles, Vice President of the AFSCME Local 1989, had called for an extension to the bargaining agreement for the union.

“The members of Local 1989 have all experienced firsthand the upheaval caused by the many changes in our administration in recent months,” Robles said. “Because of this, [they] felt it would be mutually beneficial to extend our current bargaining agreement by one year with some added provisions so that all parties would be able to come to the table to bargain a full contract in the future in good faith.” 

Robles said, “Despite what has been said at previous board meetings, [AFSCME] is not preventing an increase in starting wages for new hires… it in no way benefits [faculty] to hire employees at or below the Chicago minimum wage of $15.80.” 

“The union is not some separate entity declaring things from on high,” Robles continued. “The staff and employees of NEIU, we’re the ones that make up Local 1989. We are the ones working in these understaffed offices. We are the ones experiencing a revolving door of new hires because of our low starting wages.”

Robles concluded, “Local 1989 wants to work in cooperation with the NEIU administration to get the pay all of our members deserve. All workers deserve to be paid a living wage, and the provisions of this extension agreement help our members towards that goal. I’m proud to work in the civil service, and our members work tirelessly to support our students and faculty.”

Following Robles, Dr. Nancy Matthews – Justice Studies Professor and President of  University Professionals of Illinois, the union that represents NEIU faculty – seconded Robles’ call for an extension of the AFSCME bargaining agreement before expressing the concerns of her own constituency.

“The same week in April that we reached the agreement on the [UPI] contract, averting a strike, NEIU also rolled out Workday, a new HR platform,” Dr. Matthews said. “Five months later, administrators and union members are experiencing high levels of frustration and stress.”

She continued, “Clearly, it’s a complex institutional problem, and I’m sure this system can be made to work for us. But, the current issues are leading many people to spend hours daily resolving individual cases of incorrect pay or not being paid at all.” 

Dr. Matthews then provided anecdotes to further the point: “The union fast fund, which is an emergency fund for students, had to make a grant to a student worker who hadn’t been paid.”

Another union member who had been trying to buy a house, she said, had their income verification delayed because they had only been paid half their salary. 

In a later statement, Interim President Dr. Katrina Bell-Jordan expressed,“I want to take this moment to absolutely recognize not just that change management is difficult, but that it impacts our community. And we need to take a moment before we talk about operations to just acknowledge that these have been some difficult months, but we are moving forward.” 

She expressed gratitude for the collaborative efforts of staff, department leaders, deans, and directors who meet frequently to address problems and improve systems. “I just really want to appreciate the candid feedback that we’re getting,” Dr. Bell-Jordan said,”That’s how we move forward with honest, good conversations about what’s working and what we can do better.”

BoT chair José Rico led the rest of the discussion, thanking everyone for their public comments and welcoming all to the beginning of the school year. He acknowledged issues around Workday and said he hoped they would be resolved as soon as possible.

He also expressed his confidence in Interim President Bell-Jordan, what she has been able to accomplish in her time here and the “good vibes” that can be felt amongst the Board, staff and faculty since this change had taken place. 

In addition, he gave preliminary information, referencing a meeting with Illinois State Representative and Higher Education Co-Chair La Shawn Ford and Senator Mike Halpin, where expectations were set in regard to the budget for the coming year. 

Rico described the BoT’s role as a fiduciary steward. “That’s our role here.. we want to make sure that the resources that we have are stewarded well. And we’re going to have a lot of questions and one of our main roles is to make this transparent.”

Throughout, there were conversations of budgetary needs. Of a potential tuition hike, BoT Secretary J. Todd Phillips said, “The recommendation … was [a] 3% increase for undergrad tuition, a 5% increase for graduate tuition and a 5% increase in student fees.” He included percentages of the last two years as well, indicating an overall upward trend in tuition increases.

Further, he explained the tuition increase was only being considered under the condition of flat enrollment, meaning there would be no increase in overall income from student tuition. “There are any number of ways to get $1.2 million. One of them is increasing the unit cost [tuition], another is increasing enrollment and another is doing well in our investments.”

“The extent to which we increase the tuition makes it that much more difficult for the recruiters to market and … attract students to our university,” Phillips said. “So we’re very happy to keep it flat, if we think we can still achieve our goals… and offer a high-quality education at an affordable price.” 

Correcting a misnomer, Phillips said, “There is no deficit…what we have to continue to do and what I believe Interim President Bell-Jordan is doing a fantastic job of leading us through is a creative and innovative review of the ways we spend money.”

BoT Vice Chair Marvin Garcia did also clarify that due to NEIU’s Tuition Guarantee Plan, any increase would only affect incoming students. 

BoT Approvals Included:

• Financial Year ‘24 Final Operating Budget

– The projected budget of FY24 was smaller than investment income of FY23 and was approved

• FY25 Tuition and Fees Recommendations

– This has been tabled due to lacking insight on projected costs

• Preliminary FY25 Operating and Capital Budgets Request 

– There is a projected increase in expense of 9.2%, and though it does not lock the school in permanently, it was approved.

• NEIU for You 3.0 Renewal & Expansion for Veterans and Transfer Students 

– As described by Secretary Philips, “the committee had fervent conversation on this,” and it was approved.

• Change Order to the Technolutions Contract to Purchase Text Credits 

– The Board approved the implementation of Customer Relationship Management software Technolutions

The next regular Board meeting will be held Nov. 16 2023, at CCICS in Bronzeville. This meeting will not be open to the general public, but all Meeting Agendas, Minutes, Presidential Reports to the Board and subsequent meeting footage can be obtained at the Board Meeting Materials section of the NEIU website.