UIC Faculty Go On Strike (UPDATED BELOW)

The Faculty at the University of Illinois at Chicago have gone on a two-day strike to protest wage compression (for both tenure-track and non-tenure-track faculty) and also to draw attention to misplaced spending priorities at the University.  At UIC the median salary for tenure track faculty is $65,000 and the standard salary for non-tenure track faculty is $30,000 per year.  The Union at UIC is pressing the administration to allow larger and more regular salary increases for both categories of faculty.

Just at the tenure-track and non-tenure track faculty are standing together, the strikers are also demonstrating solidarity with their students.  As Lenny Davis and Walter Benn Michaels note in a recent statement, UIC students tend to be poorer than their counterparts at related flagship campuses and face larger retention challenges. In order to improve their ability to stay in school students are required to take writing courses, writing courses are taught by lecturers and lecturers are not paid what is a sustainable wage (given the costs in Chicago).  By striking for 2 days the faculty have also ensured that they do not penalize their students.

You can get more information at the union's SITE.

UPDATES:

You can read an interview with the Union President here. 

And for more context of the strike in a longer perspective see here.

FOR NEWS ON SECOND DAY see here.