If you’re wondering what it’s like when a university’s faculty goes on strike, talk to Mike Hart.
He was the president of the Governor’s State University faculty union — and their lead negotiator — when they went on strike for five days in April 2023. Fresh off a heart operation at the time, Hart said it was a scary, stressful and bizarre time for the small campus just south of Chicago.
“I didn’t sleep but maybe two hours a night the entire week, if that,” Hart told WGLT. “The second you go on strike, the first thought in your mind is, ‘How do I get these people back to work?’”
Illinois State University is on the brink of a faculty strike of its own. The United Faculty of ISU union, which represents around 650 tenured and tenure-track faculty, could strike as soon as April 4 if it’s unable to reach an agreement on its first contract. Pay has been one of the big sticking points.
While a strike may be novel at ISU, academic work stoppages are happening more and more often around the country. In 2024, colleges and universities saw the most strikes in at least 25 years, said Jacob Apkarian, an associate professor at York College and a research fellow at the National Center for the Study of Collective Bargaining in Higher Education and the Professions at Hunter College. There are typically about a dozen strikes every year in higher education, he said.
“Since 2012, Illinois has led the country in strikes amongst academic workers,” Apkarian said.
Hart’s union at Governor’s State University was one of them. GSU’s faculty, along with those at Chicago State University and Eastern Illinois, all went on strike in April 2023.
Hart’s strike ended, but the union’s relationship with GSU administrators was not unscathed, he said. There was mistrust. It took time, but that relationship has improved, and he said they’ve worked hard to communicate and keep their focus on taking care of students.
Hart said the strike was ultimately worth it because faculty got a contract with cost-of-living increases.
“But there’s a price to pay long term, right? You just scared your community. Students have gotten scared. You’ve set a divide between yourself and administration. You gotta consider the price,” he said.
How a strike would work
If a strike happens at ISU — and there's no guarantee it will — here’s what happens next. Those 650 faculty members would cease all work immediately, said Keith Pluymers, an associate professor in history at ISU and a member of the union’s bargaining team.
“We would stop doing teaching. We’d stop responding to emails. We’d stop posting grades and any new materials on Canvas and any other campus learning management software that people might be using. We’d stop participating in the extensive committee work that we all do that helps to make this university run. We’d stop producing and disseminating our research during that time.”
There would be picketing.
Some classes will be canceled, but others will not. That’s partly because ISU’s non-tenure track faculty — who also teach but are not part of these negotiations — have their own contract, which explicitly prohibits “sympathy” strikes in solidarity with the United Faculty of ISU.
ISU administrators say they’ve begun “academic contingency planning activities” in the case of a strike. Students should still go to class unless they’re told otherwise. Commencement will proceed as planned, and students who are graduating this semester will not be delayed.
“Illinois State’s primary objective will be to continue normal operations for the benefit of our students, including making every effort to minimize the disruption of instruction, meet course objectives and ensure timely grading,” the university said on an FAQ webpage. “We expect many classes to continue, and students and the campus community will be provided with additional information if a strike date is announced.”
Striking faculty would not be paid. Health insurance is not expected to be disrupted. When asked if the union would offer financial assistance to faculty, Pluymers said they’ve “made some contingency planning around that,” though they haven’t opened a public donation process yet.
“We’ve been talking about this as a possibility that we hoped would never have to happen for months now,” Pluymers said. “People have been making their own contingency plans about how to weather the storm if it does get to this point. So, we’re ready.”
The median, or typical, length of a strike is about four days, said Apkarian, the researcher. The ones at GSU [five days], Eastern [six days] Chicago State [10 days] were a bit longer. University of Illinois Chicago faculty went on strike for four days in January 2023. Building and food service workers at U of I in Urbana-Champaign went on strike for a full week last September.
“It’s really destabilizing to the institution. It challenges the leadership qualities of the president and the chancellor and the provost,” said Bob Bruno, director of the Labor Education Program and a professor of labor and employment at the U of I. “It’s not good for the brand, clearly. There will be families that will be impacted by this who are thinking of sending their kids to ISU. … It will definitely bring a lot of public pressure that will get applied. It will likely draw the attention of elected leaders.”
"That (strike authorization) vote can be helpful in getting the parties to push forward past whatever the logjams are."Bob Bruno, director of the Labor Education Program at the University of Illinois
Contract negotiations would continue through the strike. The goal would be to reach a tentative agreement, then a return-to-work agreement, followed by formal ratifications by both sides, Pluymers said.
United Faculty of ISU leaders have repeatedly said they do not want to strike. But one reason they would is because strikes tend to be effective — and not just getting a contract signed.
Apkarian is currently working on some research — to be published later this year — analyzing higher education strikes going back to 2012 using econometric models.
“What we find is that strikes do have a statistically significant positive impact on full-time faculty salaries. It’s equal to about a $10,000 annual bump over a five-year period,” Apkarian said.
A strike at ISU is not inevitable. The union has filed an intent to strike — a last step — that is followed by a 10-day cooling off period that ends April 4.
Only about half of strike threats like these lead to an actual strike, Apkarian said. ISU was just days away from a strike in 2022 by its building, grounds, and food service workers when a deal was reached.
“Half the time, we see a contract is reached before that strike happens,” Apkarian said.
The union’s formal vote to authorize a strike is part of the process — leverage that both sides know is there, Bruno said. It can also have a counterintuitive effect.
“That vote can be helpful in getting the parties to push forward past whatever the logjams are,” Bruno said.
What are the logjams?
At ISU, the biggest remaining logjams are related to pay, workload and leaves.
The union says it wants higher across-the-board raises than the university is willing to give, and that the current offer does not keep up with inflation. ISU has offered paid parental leave — a new benefit — though the union wants a longer paid leave that can be taken at continuous, intermittent, or reduced load status.
The union says ISU continues to “reject funds for conference travel and professional development, as well as our proposal for enhanced mental health support for students.”
ISU says the union’s most recent salary demands “include average salary increases of over 28% over the next 33 months and exceed $40 million in added cost to the University over the life of the contract.”
That is “unrealistic based on the University’s current financial position, enrollment projections, anticipated state funding and the volatility of the overall economic climate,” the university said.
Indeed, these contentious negotiations are unfolding during a time of unprecedented uncertainty in higher education, as the Trump administration threatens to shutter the U.S. Department of Education and uses funding threats to exert influence over many aspects of academic life.
These negotiations can be an opportunity. Bruno, the U of I professor, pointed to the negotiating progress ISU and its union already have made on things like academic freedom.
“The contract could create the kind of local peace that could move the campus in one direction, so when they’re fighting against external challenges, they’re not divided,” Bruno said.
Additional mediation sessions are scheduled for March 28, April 2, and April 4.
