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AFT Local 3544

Graduate Teaching Fellows Federation

students | teachers | workers @ the University of Oregon

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Member Resources
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Welcome to the GTFF!

Recent News

API Caucus Statement
Statement of Solidarity with Springfield Memory Care Workers
Statement of Condemnation of White Supremacist Violence

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Today we're highlighting Sylvia Woods, a pioneer i

Today we're highlighting Sylvia Woods, a pioneer in the African-American liberation and labor movements, and an incredible speaker against racism and police brutality.

At 16, she moved to Chicago and began work in a laundry, where she organized her fellow laundry workers in a successful work stoppage after the company attempted to hire a white forelady instead of promoting a Black woman. The laundry workers - mostly women who worked seven days a week - were also required to provide written explanations to their bosses when they were absent. This requirement was eventually dropped because Woods encouraged all the women to protest their employer’s efforts at intimidation by writing in “just tired” as the reason for their absence.

In the 1950s, Woods protested the murder of Emmett Till and fought against the Smith Act and McCarthy era anti-communism. She later helped found the Black Panther Party free health clinic and breakfast program. She went on to be a public spokesperson for the Communist Party in Illinois, rallied thousands of protestors as the head of the Chicago Committee to Free Angela Davis, and helped found the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression. Much of her later work organizing unions was informed by her belief that racism is used as a tool to divide the working class, and Black and white workers must unite to fight for better working conditions.

Read her story in her own words at the link in our bio!

The Committee on Political Education, Workers Comm

The Committee on Political Education, Workers Committee, Asian and Pacific Islanders Committee, and Equity Committee have collaborated to bring together a series of workshops on Race and Labor Unions.

Join us this coming Monday, March 8 at 6pm PST for the second event in the series, A Continued Conversation featuring Cassie Galentine and Rajeev Ravisankar. RSVP at the link in our bio!

Today we're highlighting Rosina Tucker, one of the

Today we're highlighting Rosina Tucker, one of the most influential labor and civil rights organizers in American history.

In the 1920s, sleeping car porters faced miserable working conditions and were routinely exploited by management. While Black labor organizer A. Philip Randolph began organizing the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters (BSCP), Rosina Tucker founded the Ladies’ Auxiliary, through which she organized the porters’ wives to help the BSCP fight for adequate pay, decent working conditions, and new benefits.

Tucker pushed for the Ladies’ Auxiliary to not just offer moral support to the BSCP, but also organize women workers and form connections with other labor unions. As secretary-treasurer of the Auxiliary, Tucker became a key organizer of unions for laundry workers, domestic workers, and hotel and restaurant workers, which at the time were occupations largely held by Black women.

The BSCP eventually became the first Black-led union to sign a contract with a major U.S. corporation and to be formally recognized by the American Federation of Labor, and, with Tucker's help, organized civil rights marches in 1941 and 1963. #unionstrong

The Asian and Pacific Islander Caucus has released

The Asian and Pacific Islander Caucus has released a statement condemning the racialized violence and discrimination toward Asian, Asian Pacific Islander, and Asian American communities that continue to rise at an exponential rate during the COVID-19 pandemic. Read the full statement at the link in our bio.

If you haven’t filled out our survey about hours

If you haven’t filled out our survey about hours and working conditions of GEs, please fill it out now at the link in our bio! If you are a grad student without a GE this term feel free to either a) fill this form out for a GE you had a different term or b) fill out this form for your grad student or research duties only. The Organizing Committee hopes to use this survey data to inform our campaign for better working conditions!

The GTFF stands in solidarity with the workers of

The GTFF stands in solidarity with the workers of The Rawlin at Riverbend Memory Care assisted living facility in Springfield, OR in their strike for union recognition and workplace safety. We strongly support their efforts to unionize and push for protections in response to dangerous working conditions and living conditions for residents during the COVID-19 outbreak.

We invite all members to sign up for a picket line shift this week and fill out the GTFF volunteer form to help distribute food and supplies during the strike (both linked in our bio). For those who want to support the strike but cannot participate in person, we encourage you to share the workers’ social media posts, sign their petition, and join their Facebook Live broadcasts.

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Contact Us

Email
Staff Organizer:
stafforganizer@gtff.net

Benefits Administrator:
benefits@gtff.net

Phone
(541) 344-0832

Fax
(541) 344-2105

Address
609 E. 13th St.
Eugene, OR 97405

Office Hours
Monday – Friday 9:00AM – 4:00PM

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