GTFF COVID-19 Updates

1/17/2022: Winter 2022 Demands for a Safe UO

Our demands for a safer UO as we stand united behind calls for increased remote instruction, improved in-person safety measures, more transparent data, and more democratic decision-making.

1/10/2022: Urgent Instructions for All GEs: Exercising Your Rights

We are calling on all GEs to request remote work immediately as a first step in securing safe working environments. In the link above, we outline concrete steps you can take now, followed by details on GTFF meetings and resources.

1/8/2022: Fighting Back for a Safer University For All

In light of an urgent and unprecedented public health and workplace safety crisis, our email to over 1400 Graduate Employees (GEs) at the University of Oregon urges GEs to exercise their right to refuse to work in an unsafe environment if applicable, calls on instructional GEs to feel empowered to request and move classes online for safety, and announces our intent to file an Unfair Labor Practice (ULP) charge against the University of Oregon for what we view as unlawful and unsafe changes to our working conditions.

1/5/2022: Open Letter to UO Requesting Improved COVID-19 Safety Policies

Our letter to UO’s Executive Vice Provost demanding a temporary shift to remote work and N95/KN95 masks for all students and employees in light of the public health and workplace safety crisis posed by the current, unprecedented COVID-19 surge.

COVID-19 Workplace Safety Rights

This guide to GE’s workplace health and safety rights under COVID-19 explains how, under our contract and broader labor law, GEs have legal protections to refuse to work in unsafe environments.

COVID-19 Safety Reporting

See here for ways to report safety concerns to OSHA, GTFF, and/or UO

Member Communications & Social Media

For online and private conversations about COVID organizing and other union efforts, we highly recommend members join the GTFF members-only Slack and the #covid-updates channel within it. Slack has the most frequent and detailed conversations between members, but another members-only communication option is the GTFF private Facebook Group (be sure to answer all new member questions so we can confirm your member status).

For more general, public updates, including GE and student stories about the reopening, check out GTFF’s Instagram and Twitter accounts.


See the archives for COVID-19 updates from the 2020-2021 academic year.