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Tuesday October 9, 2012
The Daily Illini www.DailyIllini.com
The independent student newspaper at the University of Illinois since 1871
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Vol. 142 Issue 32
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GEO requests NO PLACE TO CALL THEIR OWN mediator to bargain with administration Employees remain working under expired contract BY LAUREN ROHR STAFF WRITER
CHONG JIANG THE DAILY ILLINI
The Marching Illini take to the field at the start of the game against Penn State, held at Memorial Stadium on Sept. 29.
Marching Illini looking for their own practice field BY CHRIS SIMON
BY MAX PLOKITA CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Unsustainable production costs because of this year’s drought and a consistent oversupply of pigs have created a crisis within the pig industry. Big bucks for bacon are expected ahead, and in response, consumers may have to acquire new tastes. Michael Ellis, professor of swine genetics and management, said corn and soybeans are the primary components of pig feed, which account for 70 percent of the costs associated with producing pork. As a result of this year’s drought, the United States Department of Agriculture estimates that this year’s corn and soybean harvest will respectively yield at 10.7 and 2.63 billion bushels — the smallest average yields of corn and soybeans since 2003 and
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1996 . Ellis said pressure from the decrease in the supply of corn and soybeans, coupled with an “increase in the demand for ethanol and also the export market,” have escalated feed prices to very high levels. Poultry, beef and dairy industries will also suffer from high feed costs, but tighter controls over the livestock supply by larger, more consolidated companies and the use of other feed components, will dampen these effects. He said the pig industry, which consists of many independent operators, will have difficulty controlling the supply and is sure to suffer the worst of the increase in feed prices. At a time when costs to maintain pigs are going to be at a historically high level, farmers are going to get the
2009 November 2009: The GEO went on strike to protect graduate employees from having tuition waivers reduced or eliminated. The strike lasted for two days before the University signed a side-letter that protected tuition waivers. MELISSA MCCABE THE DAILY ILLINI
The Marching Illini band has not had a field since its creation in 1907 and practices at different locations each day of the rehearsal week. The field behind the Business Instructional Facility is one of these locations. piccolo player and sophomore in LAS, disagreed. “The field doesn’t have to be turfed,” Fowlkes said. “It can be just a grassy field.” She said she thinks all the band needs is a fi eld with properly marked yard lines, which prevents collisions between members and helps them stay in formation. Lucas Sykes, trombonist and sophomore in LAS, said he recognizes the need for a
standard football field for the band to call home. “Consistency is huge when you have so much to do in so little time,” he said. “We shouldn’t need to worry about this when we have too much else to worry about. We realize the University has done a lot to help us, but it would make it physically easier.” Houser conveyed that the
See MARCHING ILLINI, Page 3A
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CORN
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Source: USDA
lowest price for their pigs because of a slight oversupply, Ellis said. “It’s supply and demand,” he said. “These two things coming together create a crisis where producers are losing a lot of money.” The USDA estimates pork production for 2013 will fall below both 2011 and 2012 numbers at 22.9 billion pounds. Farmers will likely respond to rising costs of production by reducing the number of sows. In the short term, there is no scarcity of hogs, which is why the price is currently low. Consumers will still be
Oct. 18, 2012: The GEO takes its case regarding tuition waivers to the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board.
Aug. 16, 2012: The GEO’s official contract expired.
2013 Source: Natalye Tate, president of GEO
J MICHAEL MIOUX Design Editor
BY GARRETT WILLIAMS
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July 2011: A hearing took place between the GEO and the University in front of a third-party federal arbitrator regarding conflicts with tuition waivers.
September 2011: The independent arbitrator ruled in favor of the GEO.
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SOYBEAN $6.43 $10.10 $9.97 $9.59 $11.30 $11.40-12.60 $3.04 $4.20 $4.08 $4.06 $5.18
Fall 2010: Tuition waivers for incoming graduate employees for those departments were reduced.
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The price of bacon will increase significantly in the following year as the industry faces the rising cost of feed. Also, there is expected to be a shortage of pork in upcoming years. Since 2006, the price of corn and soybeans, which are fed to hogs, has gone up, leading to an increase in the price of pork. 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010
Summer 2010: The University implemented a policy change for tuition waivers for graduate employees in departments in the College of Fine and Applied Arts.
Possible Champaign teacher strike could block student teachers
Cost of feed, pork on the rise
Price of pork/pound ($)
Rise in bacon prices expected in near future
The GEO and the University have had labor disputes on-and-off since November 2009.
Average price/bushel ($)
U
Marching Illini are forced to switch practice sites during rehearsal weeks. Rehearsals begin Tuesdays at Memorial Stadium but on Wednesdays move to the open space behind the Business Instructional Facility, on Thursdays to Huff Hall, and on Fridays back to the open space, unless Huff Hall is available. “Every three to five years, we’d stay on one spot and then move on,” Houser said. These makeshift practice sites undergo normal wear and tear of the grass, he said. The band used the South Quad as its main practice location last year, but they can’t use the space this year because the University is reseeding and maintaining the grass. Houser said he thinks a new facility should have artificial turf to make it the most costeffective. His hope is the turf can endure all 350 band members treading on it. However, Annie Fowlkes,
See GEO, Page 3A
GEO, UI have problems since 2009
CONTRIBUTING WRITER
niversity officials are discussing the need for a Marching Illini practice fi eld as the band has not had one since its creation in 1907. “Everyone said we would like to get a space,” said Barry Houser, director of athletic bands and the Harding Symphonic Band. “This thing is about 30 to 50 years too late.” The Marching Illini perform seven or eight halftime shows at home games during the football season. According to Big Ten marching band websites, almost every other Big Ten university has either a practice field solely for their marching band or access to the school’s home football field on a regular basis. Indiana University is the only exception, and its band, the Marching Hundred, has raised over half the funds needed for a new $4.5 million facility. Without their own field, the
Amid contract negotiations between the Graduate Employees’ Organization and the University, the organization has formally requested a mediator after working more than 50 days on an expired contract. To move the process along toward a new contract, members of the GEO bargaining unit contacted the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board last week to petition for a mediator. The GEO’s three-year contract expired Aug. 16 . The mediator will act as a communicator for both parties
when there is discussion of tuition waivers and other major issues, such as health care and wages. “The administration knows that we are not going to move on our arguments concerning tuition waivers,” said GEO president Natalye Tate. “We do not want them to be able to make unilateral changes to them, but they won’t discuss it with us.” The organization has been negotiating with the University for more than five months, but Tate said they still have not received an appropriate response from the University regarding its “most important issues.” “It is in the interest of the GEO, the administration, the students and the state to see these issues resolved in
$1.412
$1.244 $1.588
sity-required hours. “(A strike) would defi niteEarly last week, student ly affect the students that are teacher Arielle Penuelas student-teaching and observarrived at Westview Elemen- ing from campus,” Penuelas ta r y School said. “My class requires us to in Champaign have 42 hours for her reguof obser va lar observation and teachtiona l (a nd) ing. But on that student-teachday, the teaching experience er she observed a semester, was handed a and if they’re piece of paper, on strike, we notifying facobviously ulty that regucan’t get that lar school days experience. could potenWe’ll probably tially come to a have alternate temporary halt. assig nments ARIELLE PENUELAS Members that won’t be senior in AHS very fun to do.” of the Champaign FederaThe union tion of Teachhas been in ers authorized the possibility negotiations with the board of a strike in the Champaign about teachers’ salaries since Unit 4 School District at a early April. Though this vote meeting last Tuesday. now gives federation leaders Penuelas, senior in AHS, is the authority to call a strike, one of many student teachers See STRIKE, Page 3A who would lose out on UniverCONTRIBUTING WRITER
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SHANNON LANCOR Managing Editor of Visuals
able to buy cheap pork for the foreseeable future, but with fewer animals on the market, Ellis said consumers will eventually have to pay a higher price. Ryan Brooks, junior in LAS, said he might have to change his breakfast meat if the price of bacon gets too high. “If I want to have a hearty breakfast, I do bacon,” Brooks said. “If bacon (gets) too expensive, I’d just do steak and eggs — switch over to a different animal, y’know?”
Max can be reached at news@ dailyillini.com.
“We’ll probably have alternate assignments that won’t be very fun to do.”
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