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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Sept. 19, 1978)
Teaching fellows await contract By MIKE HOPKINS Of the Emerald If the University rejects a state Employment Relations Board fact finder's report, teaching graduate students will consider a strike sometime in October, the Graduate Teaching Fellows Fed eration announced last week. Graduate teaching fellows master's and doctoral degree candidates who receive a stipend and lower tuition rates for perform ing teaching, research, adminis trative and other duties — are now represented by a new labor union, called the Graduate Teaching Fel lows Federation. The union, representing about 750 of the more than 900 GTFs at the Uni versity, has been involved in col lective bargaining with officials of the University and the Oregon State System of Higher Education for 11 months, but has yet to settle on a contract. The GTFF will begin the term with a membership and informa tion meeting open to the public tentatively scheduled for Thurs day, September 28, in the EMU. Following a union-declared im passe in negotiations last March, the state Employment Relations Board (ERB), Oregon’s version of the National Labor Relations Board, sent a mediator to end the stalemate. Despite some progress, union members rejected by a 2-1 margin the University’s final contract offer of the 1977-78 school year. Both sides then presented their cases to another ERB official dur ing a mid-August fact-finding ses sion. If the union and the Univer sity can’t agree on a contract Fact finder considers dispute when the fact finder submits a compromise proposal in late Sep tember, students and faculty might witness the first GTF strike in University history as early as this fall. Since its beginning, the GTFF has faced an uncertain future. When union organizers first sub mitted a petition to the ERB asking that GTFs be granted the right to bargain collectively, the University opposed the request, arguing that GTFs are students, not em ployees. The ERB deliberated for nearly a year before recognizing GTF employee status by a 3-2 vote in February, 1977. When contract talks began the last October, the number of arti cles proposed by both sides to taled 60. Eight months later only eight items had been settled, and the union accused the University of stalling and declared further negotiations useless without the help of a neutral third party. Mediation last April and May helped iron out a grievance proce dure and some minor articles, but in a June ratification meeting, GTFF members found them selves considering a contract that, according to the union’s negotia tion team, lacked significant union gains on key issues. However, GTFF leaders were satisfied with the compromise rec ommended in the fact finder's report released Sept. 12. Arthur Hedges, the ERB official who heard both sides of the dispute during a mid-August fact-finding hearing, agreed with the union's proposals on salaries, work load, reappointments and discipline and discharge. Hedges upheld University rec ommendations for union rights, union use of facilities and work environment, but declined to sug gest ways to improve the University’s child care program. The report offered strike clause language that was essentially a compromise between union and University proposals. • Henna • Weaving Techniques • Imported Clothing ESPECIALLY FOR MENS HAIR We let our work speak for itself Look Fashion Salon for Men & Women 1 The report agreed with the GTFF's demand for a $40 per-month pay hike to offset the cost of health insurance. Pro visions for a separate health care plan for GTFs were dropped from contract talks due to legal restric tions prohibiting GTF participation in the health plan for state em ployees. YOUR STORE AND A WHOLE LOT MORE CELEBRATES ITS FIRST ANNIVERSARY ON THE U OF O CAMPUS Come In and register for a FREE guys 10-speed and a gals 10-speed bike to be drawn on September 30th. 766 E. 13th 77 W. Broadway We honor
