Upcoming Sessions & Bargaining Debriefs

Attending our bargaining sessions is essential to showing UO our strength in numbers! Without member engagement, we can’t make wins at the bargaining table. Invite a friend, bring your work, and help our bargaining team fight for our demands!

DATE	LOCATION	TIME	VIRTUAL OPTION
Monday, March 9	EMU Ballroom (Room 244)	12:00 – 3:00 PM	GTFF Zoom
Friday, April 17	EMU Ballroom (Room 244)	12:30-3:30 PM	GTFF Zoom
TBD
TBD

Session Debriefs

Session #1

UO Bargaining Team hesitant in the face of a United GTFF Flock

GTFF and our allies turned out in masses and FILLED the bargaining room yesterday for our first bargaining session! Our undeniable presence shows UO admin how much our work means to us. It shows we are here and ready to stand as a community. During the session, an engaged and activated membership audience showed UO’s bargaining team in real time how many of us share the struggles spoken to in testimony, how one member’s struggle is the struggle of us all!

What made our kickoff session so successful was the presence and support of members—and we will continue to rely on that engagement throughout the entire bargaining cycle!

The GTFF Bargaining Team is the mouthpiece of our membership. We want to hear from you about your priorities and concerns, especially those connected to the articles we’ll be presenting next session. You can share your testimony with us here. Tell UO in your own words your struggles in our workplace and your demands for change!

GTFF came to today’s session ready to bargain – UO did not.
Our hope yesterday was that UO would bring their priorities for this bargaining cycle to the table. Their response? They are happy working under the current contract, as negotiated in our last bargaining cycle. We are disappointed in this response. We know that improving GE working conditions improves learning conditions for our students! We know that rent and cost of living have kept on rising since our last contract bargaining! We know that our marginalized members are under direct attack! As we navigate multiple overlapping political and social crises, it is necessary that all of us contribute to our community.

UO’s team was unprepared to offer a proposal at our first bargaining session. In response, GTFF’s bargaining team gave their presentation outlining the UO’s mission goals (as outlined on the UO website) and our plan to bring our university closer to them through our bargaining platform, as informed by member voices. UO admin clearly expressed their own priorities through their inaction and lack of presentation, which ultimately resulted in the session ending early. We know UO must take decisive action to fight for the mission of our university! GTFF is ready to take that action!

In Chris Meade’s (UO Bargaining Team Lead Negotiator) own words:
“I just think we’re maybe less organized than you all.”

Although we did not receive anything from UO’s team, we continued moving forward toward our goal of bargaining for the common good. After the session today, we sent UO our proposed language for 5 articles:
Article 8: Non-Discrimination and Harassment
Article 24: Health Insurance
Article 27: Support and Resources for International GEs
Article 35: Immigration and Customs Enforcement
Article X: Academic Freedom and Free Speech: our new article!
Our B-team made the decision to withhold these articles during the session yesterday – it is critical for our negotiations that we hear from UO. We cannot continue to respond to UO admin on their terms and must move forward in ways that value our time, expertise, and needs. It is essential for both UO and us to prepare for meaningful discussions about these articles that are crucial for our most vulnerable members.

To follow progress on these and future articles, check out the GTFF Bargaining Tracker.

The next Bargaining Session will be early Spring term: Stay Connected!
We’ll be sharing information about the time and place for our next bargaining session on the members-only Slack and on our Instagram. You can stay updated on our bargaining progress on the GTFF website.

At our next session, we’ll be presenting the articles that address some of the most urgent and severe issues we face as workers and community members. We need you (yes, you!!) to help us fill the room again! Keep updated and bring a couple coworkers along with you to the next session!