A tenure-track faculty union at NIU is a long time coming and I say that having been here only four years.

As a graduate student in the Graduate Employees’ Organization at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, I earned yearly cost-of-living raises that brought my salary up almost 25 percent in six years. At NIU, I make to the penny what I made when I was hired. The Graduate Employees’ Organization negotiated for more family leave. At NIU, the family leave policy is to comply with federal law. The Graduate Employees’ Organization won increased employer health care contributions. At NIU, we receive emails saying not to worry about paying our health care providers up front.

As a Graduate Employees’ Organization member, I could participate in a democratic organization to negotiate directly and legally with the administration. At NIU, I get a feedback box on the program prioritization website.

A union is not a separate entity from the faculty — the union is the faculty. While we wait for the labor board to certify the United Faculty Alliance, let’s think about what would make NIU a better place to teach and learn — where we invest in faculty and faculty invest in NIU. Whether we work towards across-the-board pay increases, merit pay, and/or gender equity in pay, spousal hiring or paid family leave, research support or teaching load equity, will be decided democratically when we negotiate a contract. Unions are one of the few forces we have to fight back against the state’s efforts to cut higher education, and I am proud that we are doing so.