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.
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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.
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