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

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.

UO’s team is ‘pretty happy with the contract as-is.’ We’re not.

Today’s bargaining session, focusing on support and resources for international GEs, was moving—on the GTFF side. UO’s team appeared mostly unmoved. After international GEs shared powerful testimony about the sacrifices they have made to study at UO, GTFF’s team proposed the addition of a new article, titled Support and Resources for International GEs, to the… Continue reading UO’s team is ‘pretty happy with the contract as-is.’ We’re not.

4/7 Session Recap: GTFF’s Proposal Walkthrough

Today, our team presented in detail changes we’ve proposed to Articles 3, 8, 9, 10, 12, 17, 25, and 35, as well as Appendix A. The University asked a few questions, but did not bring proposals of their own; they stated that we should expect to see some of their proposals at the next session.… Continue reading 4/7 Session Recap: GTFF’s Proposal Walkthrough