We are this ‘ ‘ close to finishing bargaining. Unfortunately, the ground we still have to cover may be pretty rocky.
At our last session, the UO and the GTFF agreed on wage and health care proposals. While these proposals are still subject to change, I think we can say that we’re in agreement on the major issues in these proposals. Yay! The raises to the minimum wage over the next two years will not be great, but the deal on health care, while complicated, is really pretty good.
What we have left to bargain is fees and late-pay – two of the top three bargaining priorities this year.
On Tuesday, the UO proposed that GTFs pay $70 per term in incidental fees. All other fees, save course fees for materials consumed as part of the class, will be paid for by the UO. This represented a $23 per term reduction in fees from the UO’s previous offer.
To this point in bargaining, we have been maintaining that GTFs should pay zero dollars in fees. We still hold this opinion. The bargaining team recognized, however, that we were indeed in “bargaining” and decided to move off this position to try to achieve a deal with the UO. We proposed that GTFs pay $23 per term in fees to reflect their $23 reduction.
Theoretically, GTFs should pay fees somewhere between $70 and $23 per term next year. Of course, we are still bargaining and this can change. For instance, as you will read below, we do not have an easy solution on late pay, so something crazy like a “no fees, no late pay language” deal might be worked out. Until deals are final, nothing is final.
On the issue of late pay, a settlement is not so obvious at this point. The UO is still rejecting our proposal (Section 5) and not offering much in exchange.We are still where we were before. We did our best to emphasize to the UO that we need a proposal that both compensates GTFs for their losses (or potential losses) because they were paid late AND incentivizes the UO to pay GTFs on time. We believe our proposal does that, but the UO’s does not.
Our next session is scheduled for May 8th in Century Room A of the EMU. Everyone is welcome to come and find out what happens.