Dear GTFF members:
Today, October 16, the GTFF Bargaining Team informed UO during our partial mediation session that we are planning to declare impasse on Thursday, October 19.
As we told UO in the meeting, “We’re not moving fast enough for how long we’ve been in bargaining and the expectations of our members. Our intent is to declare impasse on the 19th. There’s a lot on the table we’re still not close on. We’re still open to meeting on the 24th.”
What does this mean? Once impasse is formally declared, this will start a 7-day timeline towards the publication of public “Final Offers” from each side. By October 26, both sides must submit these Final Offers to the Public Employment Relations Board. The submission of Final Offers triggers a 30-day “cooling off” period. When this period ends on November 27, the employer has the right to impose its Final Offer and the union has the right to strike.
Neither side is obligated to follow through with strike or imposition at that time, but the option becomes available. The parties typically continue bargaining through the cooling-off period in pursuit of an agreement.
Let’s be clear: GTFF’s goal here is to come to a deal. We believe this step is necessary to move forward in the process. We’re declaring impasse because we want UO to understand how serious we are about the demands still on the table, including our key asks on Salary (Article 22) and the International GE and Caregiver Articles. We will continue meeting with UO until we reach a deal. Meanwhile, we need all members to continue building pressure on the university to bring us a deal that reflects GE needs.
That’s why we are asking all GEs to sign a Strike Pledge by the end of this week. You can pick up your pledge from our office or from your department steward.
We also need you to come to our General Membership Meeting on Friday, Oct 27, 5:30-7:30 in PLC 180, where we’ll be discussing a potential strike and launching the next step in the process.
We’ll have more information to share soon. In the meantime, if you have questions about what this step means for the bargaining process moving forward, see our bargaining FAQs. Members can also share questions or feedback for the GTFF Bargaining Team through our online feedback form.
We’ve come a long way since we started bargaining in March, and you’ve been with us at every step. The only way for us to win this contract is to win it together through collective action. Now, it’s time once again to show UO how powerful we are.
Solidarity forever,