Faculty at University of Illinois Springfield reach tentative agreement
to end strike
[April 21, 2026]
By Ben Szalinski
SPRINGFIELD — Faculty at the University of Illinois Springfield ended a
more than two-week strike on Monday after reaching an agreement with
university administrators overnight.
Tenured and tenure-track faculty at UIS, one of three University of
Illinois system institutions, went on strike on April 3 after failing to
reach an agreement with UIS administrators over pay increases. The two
parties came to an agreement after hours of negotiations on Sunday.
Both sides declined to specify the terms of the agreement until after
the UIS United Faculty union could ratify the agreement in the coming
days.
“Our bargaining team made the difficult decision to suspend this strike
because we do not want our students to lose further instructional time
as they head into final exams and graduation,” Dathan Powell, the union
president and UIS theater professor, said in a statement.
It appeared the strike would start having more substantial impacts on
students if it continued into another week. The university sent an email
to students on Friday announcing it was prepared to implement a plan
this week to help students complete the semester if the strike
continued.
The university said alternative plans would be made for students who
were not able to complete their assignments because their professors
were on strike. Not all classes at UIS were held up by the strike,
however, as many professors are part of a different union.
The union indicated their decision to end the strike was more about
ensuring students can complete their classes than any victory in
bargaining meetings.
They claimed UIS Chancellor Janet Gooch “intentionally prolonged” the
strike.
“We cannot let her jeopardize their education and futures any longer, so
we have decided to bring the administration’s last offer to our
membership for a vote,” Powell said, calling on Gooch to resign her
leadership role.
UIS said in a brief statement that it “looks forward to continuing to
work together to fulfill its mission to provide a uniquely
student-centered educational experience, both in and out of the
classroom.”
A spokesperson for Gooch declined to comment. Gooch took over UIS in
2022.
[to top of second column]
|
University of Illinois Springfield faculty union president Dathan
Powell speaks at a news conference on the first day at the campus on
April 3, 2026. (Capitol News Illinois photo by Jenna Schweikert)
Parties were still far apart
Both parties remained far apart on the size of salary increases as of
Friday, according to the university’s website. The union wanted a 2.6%
increase in the current fiscal year and 6% over the next two years,
costing $1.3 million.
UIS offered three options for increases, two of which begin with 1%
raises that could increase under the University of Illinois system’s
University Salary Program. They argued one-third of the union already
makes six figures.
The union also wanted to raise the minimum starting pay for their unit
to $64,500 from $55,000, which UIS argued was not realistic given
financial constraints on the university. The university offered to raise
the minimum salary to $60,000.
UIS said in an email to students last month that it was running a $19
million deficit in the current fiscal year.
UIS accounts for 2% of all of the university system’s spending in the
current fiscal year, according to the system’s budget documents. The
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign receives 44% and the University
of Illinois Chicago 31% while the rest goes to the system’s
administration and university’s hospital. UIS also receives only 3% of
state funds allocated to the system.
State lawmakers have been debating a new higher education funding
formula that would allocate a greater share of annual funding to
lesser-funded schools like UIS. Institutions like the flagship campus
that are more adequately funded would receive a lower percentage.
The system has continued to oppose the overhaul.
Capitol News Illinois is
a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service that distributes state government
coverage to hundreds of news outlets statewide. It is funded primarily
by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation. |
