This post reproduces an email sent to GTFF members on April 10, 2023. See the original format.
Last Friday’s meeting was the second bargaining session that GTFF has participated in with UO’s bargaining team. Shout out to 65 members and allies who showed up to support our efforts!
GTFF has presented 13 proposals so far (more to come in upcoming sessions!) and UO has only presented 3 proposals. They have communicated that we should expect to see more of their proposals at the next session.
Want to see if they keep their word? We’ll be at the bargaining table every other Friday from 12–3pm in McKenzie 221. Save the dates below, and read on for more details!
- Friday, April 21, 12–3pm
- Friday, May 5, 12–3pm
- Friday, May 19, 12–3pm
- Friday, June 2, 12–3 pm
- Friday, June 16, 12–3 pm
If you weren’t able to attend, here’s what happened:
- UO’s team is still unprepared for our meetings! However, our team was ready for this and filled the three-hour session by walking through, in detail, our proposed changes to Articles 3, 8, 9, 10, 12, 17, 25, and 35 of our contract, as well as Appendix A. You can follow along with the full proposals on Trello.
- In other words, we mainly focused on our non-economic proposals related to health and safety and having a respectful workplace. Here are some highlights.
- In general, UO’s team didn’t have much to say. However, they did have a lot of questions (and some confusion) around our plan to solve an issue many GEs face when they are hired for hourly work below the minimum FTE and do not receive the benefits of our contract. It’s pretty simple: We believe that if you’re doing GE work, you deserve to have GTFF benefits!
What happens next?
We’ll be back in McKenzie 221 on April 21 from 12–3pm. On the agenda:
- important protections for international GEs
- administrative needs for our incredible Health and Welfare Trust
- …and more!
We need your support to make these changes happen.
Please stop by when you can or stay for the entire session! Bring a colleague, wear a GTFF shirt or pin, and take your bets on whether the UO team will follow through on bringing new proposals. We need to keep showing the University how committed we are to getting the protections, compensation, and benefits we require for our important work. UO works because we do!
Do you like to make memes? We want to see them!
Who doesn’t love a good meme made by your fellow union comrades? Throughout this bargaining cycle the university will give us more than enough material to make quality memes to boost our morale. These memes will also help communicate with our membership and the public about how the negotiations are going over the next few months. If you have a bit of inspiration, feel free to share your memes by tagging us on Instagram, adding them to the #random channel on Slack, or sending them to our VP for Member Communications, Rosa, at member.communications@gtff.net.
Resources and Dates
- To send comments or questions to the Bargaining Team, fill out our Feedback Form.
- For more on our bargaining platform and the process of negotiations, read our FAQ page.
- Our next bargaining session with UO is Friday, April 21,12–3pm in McKenzie 221. Be sure to check out the #bargaining Slack channel to chat with other members about the negotiations.
- Contract Action Team (CAT) meetings are Thursdays 5–6:15pm in the GTFF office and on Zoom. To get more info, you can join the Slack channel or email our VP for Organizing, Lillian, at organizing@gtff.net.
- Weekly internal Bargaining Team meetings are Tuesdays 6–8pm in the GTFF office and on Zoom. Members are welcome to attend!