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GTFF files complaint regarding labor practice
■The University denied mem
citing the Family Educational f
By Serena Markstrom
Oregon Daily Emerald
The Graduate Teaching Fellows
Federation has filed unfair labor
practice charges against the Uni
versity with the Employment Re
lations Board, a state agency set up
to decide labor issues.
The GTFF mailed the com
plaint Thursday, citing the Uni
versity’s alleged refusal to bargain,
its refusal to distribute informa
tion and contract violations.
During February negotiations
the GTFF requested information
regarding the number of GTF ad
ministrative positions and the sta
tus and department appointments
of “training grants,” a type of
scholarship.
The GTFF did not receive this
information because of the recent
application of the Family Educa
tional Rights and Privacy Act
(FERPA), a 26-year-old law that
protects students against a univer
sity’s release of personal informa
tion.
bers access to information,
tights and Privacy Act
Mark Zunich, who discovered
the law, asked for legal advice
from Melinda Grier, the Universi
ty’s general counsel.
In a letter dated April 3, 2000,
Grier wrote, “Nothing in the state
employment relations law obli
gates us to give the union a repre
sented employee’s social security
number, department or terms and
conditions of employment.
“The information the Universi
ty has provided is made available
by contractual agreement with
GTFF. As a result, this is not an
area where state law conflicts with
federal law. Furthermore, a con
tractual provision that violates
lawisvoid.”
The University’s response on
Feb. 24 was to implement an in
formation release waiver system.
This was one day after the Univer
sity had brought the FERPA clause
to the bargaining table.
At the Feb. 23 meeting GTFF
members opposed the implemen
tation of the waiver system, and
they consider the University’s uni
lateral adaptation of the system a
breech of good faith negotiation.
The GTFF also considers the
University’s method of gathering
the waiver forms to be inadequate
because, as of April 17, the GTFF
had only received information on
220 of the approximate 1,200
GTFs.
GTFF President Paul Prew said
that without information on who
is working where, it is impossible
to adequately represent GTFF
members or know how many peo
ple are employed in each depart
ment.
“It is very convenient for them
at this point in negotiation [to not
release information],” Prew said.
Marian Friestad, who repre
sented the University during these
contract negotiations, said, “We
did not go looking for the law ...
we had been giving out that infor
mation for years.”
Bruce Waller, a GTF, said he
finds this argument is faulty be
cause the information it is request
ing is publicly available in the stu
dent directory.
i
Events leading up
to the grievance
February 23— Graduate Teach
ing Fellows Federation union rep
resentatives and University offi
cials meet and discuss implenting
a waiver system to release GTF in
formation.
February 24—The Univerisity im
plements a policy that requires
GTFs to sign a waiver before infor
mation is released to the GTFF.
March 21 —The GTFF files a griev
ance against the Unversity (within
the University).
April 3—TheGTFFrecievesan in
complete list of GTFs.
April 20—The GTFF sends a com
plaint to the Oregon Employment
Relations Board.
SOU RCE: University Senate Resolution
US9900-16 and GTFF
On March 21, the GTFF filed a
grievance with the University on
similar charges. Jan Oliver, associ
ate vice president of institutional
affairs, was expected to have made
a decision on the GTFF grievance
Monday. Oliver did not return
messages left Monday.
“Our case is that no matter how ’
they choose to interpret this law,
they agreed to provide us this in
formation [in the contract],” '
Waller said.
But Friestad said she cannot act
against the law and release the in
formation.
“If the individual doesn’t want
the information released to the
union, I can’t violate those wishes;
that’s what the law says,” she said.
Prew said the failure to release
information has resulted in the
union not being able to contact its
members about health insurance.
Without the information, Prew
said, the union has been unable to
send insurance notices or know if
GTFs are still covered under CO
BRA, a federal law that permits
employees and dependents to
continue medical and dental cov
erage for up to 18 months after ter
mination of employment.
Friestad called the discovery of
the FERPA clause and the subse
quent lapse of information disper
sal “a glitch in a system that had
been working for a very long
time.”
To Prew and the GTFF, the Uni
versity’s refusal to release the in
formation because of FERPA is
more than a glitch.
“I am 100 percent certain some
people have lost their opportunity
to get on COBRA,” Prew said.
If the avenues the GTFF have
taken within the University and
with the state board do not prompt
the University to reverse its deci
sion, the GTFF will file a lawsuit
against the University.
“We have the right to represent
our members at the bargaining
unit,” Prew said.
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