The audience of more than 65 GEs and allies walked out of our bargaining session on August 3 in response to a pitiful salary offer from UO. The university’s team had held on to our last counteroffer for 75 days, yet their long-awaited proposal offered merely a 2 percent raise to current GEs making above… Continue reading UO’s 2 percent wage offer made our members walk out
News & Updates
Supporting Oregon Rep. Paul Holvey
The GTFF leadership affirms our support for Oregon Representative Paul Holvey in light of recent recall efforts. We recognize Representative Holvey’s long record of supporting labor organizations and labor issues through legislation, as well as the broad support Holvey has from other local unions and members of the Lane County Education Workers coalition. We encourage… Continue reading Supporting Oregon Rep. Paul Holvey
UO, allow us to explain how bargaining works
Though GEs were excited to see that UO had finally brought counterproposals to our July 20 bargaining session, tension in the room ratcheted up each time the university’s team revealed a proposal that wasn’t the one we’d been waiting for: Article 22, GE salaries. When GTFF’s team finally asked where their proposal was, UO reiterated… Continue reading UO, allow us to explain how bargaining works
Hardship Fund distributed for 2023
The Mutual Aid Fund Committee distributed aid this month to 64 members who are international students with dependents and/or without summer GE appointments. The funds were distributed after the executive council voted in May to allocate $50,000 of our member dues-generated funds to help alleviate some of the financial precarity that our international members experience… Continue reading Hardship Fund distributed for 2023
UO’s mask-off moment makes their priorities clear
The July 6 bargaining session got heated when a discussion about international students’ access to summer funding and work opportunities led UO’s team to state outright what has long been implied by their stonewalling: They’re not willing to recognize what it takes for graduate employees to survive year-round in Eugene, and although their initial wage… Continue reading UO’s mask-off moment makes their priorities clear
Hardship Fund: Applications Now Open for Summer 2023
This year, the executive council voted to allocate $50,000 of our member dues-generated funds to help alleviate some of the financial precarity our international members experience over the summer, particularly those with dependents. Typically, 50-100 applications are submitted to the fund each year, and disbursements have ranged from $300-$1300 based on the amount in the… Continue reading Hardship Fund: Applications Now Open for Summer 2023
Read our op-ed in the Daily Emerald
Does the University of Oregon believe that academic labor has become less valuable? Recent contract negotiations between the Graduate Teaching Fellows Federation (GTFF) and the UO seem to suggest that the answer is yes. Despite hours of testimony from Graduate Employees (GEs) attesting to the financial insecurity perpetuated by our current contract, the UO has… Continue reading Read our op-ed in the Daily Emerald
UO claims that as students, GEs should pay them
Negotiations at the June 2 bargaining session hit a wall when UO’s team brought back a counterproposal that would continue to require GEs to pay $61 per term in student fees. When GTFF pointed out that this requires us to pay our wages back to them, UO tried to separate our student and employee roles, claiming that fees don’t claw back wages because they “thought people were here to get an education.”
UO still refuses to recognize what GEs need
Today’s bargaining session went from tense to contentious as the GTFF Bargaining Team held firm on our initial salary proposal: a 30 percent increase to the minimum GE salary, and a 16 percent raise for all other GEs in the first year of the new contract. We also presented our brand new Caregiver Article, which… Continue reading UO still refuses to recognize what GEs need
UO finally brought counteroffers—to keep the status quo.
This post reproduces an email sent to GTFF members on May 5, 2023. In today’s bargaining session, UO’s team finally presented counterproposals to GTFF! We began negotiations by allowing UO the time to showcase their changes to Appendix A, Article 3, 9, 12, 16, and 25. Overall, their offers for these articles are aimed at… Continue reading UO finally brought counteroffers—to keep the status quo.