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GTFF continued from page 1 student and GTF turnout. More than half of the University's 1,300 GTFs held class off campus, and an un known number of researchers stayed away from campus, Lindgren said, adding that student turnout was also promising. "I would have expected fewer peo ple to show up for a rescheduled class," Lindgren said. "Turnout has been good." Student response to Empty Cam pus Day and to the possible strike has been largely positive. "I think (the strike) is a good idea," said junior journalism major Amber Merritt . "The University is getting out of paying a lot of money for real teachers." Vice President of Research and Graduate Studies Richard Linton, who is also a member of the Univer sity bargaining team, said the Univer sity had not been contacted by the CITE regarding Empty Campus Day, but accommodations would be made for students who could not make it to off-campus classes. Students can con tact the Office of Student Affairs, the Registrar and the Graduate School with their concerns. Linton said so far there have been no complaints. Linton issued a statement Wednes day that called into question the legality of this tactic in the face of the Universi ty's good-faith attempts at collective bargaining. Linton also admonished the union for being insensitive to the interests of its fellow students. "We don't appreciate actions like this," Linton said. Negotiations begin today and will continue for two weeks. If no agree ment is reached in those meetings, there will be a 30-day "cooling off" period, after which the GTFF may strike at any time. "We are hopeful that the remaining issues can be resolved without the union having to resort to a strike," GTFF lead negotiator Jey Strangfeld said. The main issues on the table for ne gotiation are appointments and re-ap pointments, salaries and fees. Lindgren said he has heard that in some cases GTFs have been teaching classes for $8 to $10 an hour, as op posed to a contracted salary. Also, the University wants to insert language into the contract that would make hiring GTFs for hourly wages, not salary, more common in the future. This allows the University to waive benefits it has to provide to contracted GTFs. Lindgren said this violates the current contract. But, in many cases the University can't hire a contracted GTF to do hourly-wage work because the con tract stipulates that GTFs must work at least nine hours a week, Linton said, adding that when a department does n't have that much work, it will often hire employees on an hourly wage. Lindgren said in some cases un dergraduate students have been hired to do what many in the union consider to be GTF-level work, like teaching classes and grading papers. Lindgren said the mathematics and biology departments hire undergrad uate graders as a rule, adding that this also violates the GTFF contract because the University has to offer that work to the GTFs first. "I would like to see the University argue that undergraduates are more qualified for that kind of work," Lindgren said. Linton said hiring undergraduates for this sort of work is standard prac tice for all research universities. "The institution has the right to de termine hiring practices," Unton said. Unton said salary has been a prob lem this year because of a statewide wage freeze on all state employees. However, the state has authorized a "fighting fund" that would allow uni versities to raise the salaries of top-level faculty who might be lured to other universities. Lindgren said that if the Universi ty can afford to raise professor salaries, then there isn't really a wage freeze in place. Linton said the University's share of the fighting fund would only be about $125,000 and would not be imple mented unless it passes the State Emer gency Board in September. He added that despite the wage freeze, the Uni versity did give GTFs their contractually obligated 4 percent raise last fall. The GTFF has also been negotiating for a larger fee reduction. GTFs currently have to pay 10 percent of their paycheck back to the University in fees every term. "It's our position that fees should be zero," Lindgren said. Linton said the University has of fered a 16 percent reduction in fees for GTFs and offered to increase the University's fee burden by 25 percent. This increases the burden on the University to more than $350,000 a year. The offer also in cludes a pledge by the University to cover any new fees that might come up before the next round of contract negotiations. Linton said the Univer sity will focus on fees this year and will negotiate salary in 2006 when the wage freeze ends. Linton also said the University will continue to give a full tuition waiver to GTITs in the face of rising tuition costs and almost across-the-board budget cuts. No comparable schools provide a full tuition waiver, he added. "What we have on the table is reflec tive of a strong University commit ment," Linton said. "From a University perspective, we've worked very hard." Unton said the total University offer ing, including fees, tuition and health insurance, amounts to a 3.5 percent to 7 percent increase in take-home pay. Lindgren said the GTFF does not want to strike, but if negotiations fail, he is confident a strike vote would pass. He said the union will not take the decision lightly, because a strike It’s nearly Fall! Here’s what’s happening in the Oregon Daily Emerald as we approach Fall: ONLY 2 REGULAR ISSUES REMAINING! Tuesday, August 10: Includes Sports Thursday, August 12: Includes Pulse Regular Monday-Friday publication resumes Monday, September 27 SPECIAL SUPPLEMENTS Classifieds included in all special supplements August 18: Law School Edition September 10: Game Day - Ducks vs. Indiana September 17: Game Day - Ducks at Oklahoma September 20: Back to the Books September 24: Game Day - Ducks vs. Idaho www.dailyemerald.com News content updated on publishing days Classifieds updated daily on non-publishing days . nfvfifak rrrtl 019537 Oregon Daily Emerald The campus, newspaper for the University of Oregon community Erik R. Bishoff Online & Photo Editor A graduate teaching fellow who wishes to remain anonymous teaches class in the amphitheater behind the Koinonia Center during Empty Campus Day Wednesday afternoon. would suspend salaries, health insur ance and tuition waiver. A strike could take a number of forms, Lindgren said. The first would be a grade strike in which GTFs would refuse to submit their students' grades. After that, there might be a i one-day or half-day strike. If those tac tics fail, the GTFF would move on to a full walkout strike. If a strike goes through, it would be the first GTFF strike in the Univer sity's history. benbrown@dailyemerald.com Groups: Don t miSS out on the opportunity to be part of the Oregon Daily Emerald’s Back to the Books issue. Let students know who you are, what you have to offer and how they can participate. The Back to the Books issue features six sections, has a print circulation of 12,000 COpiGS and is sure to reach the entire student population. ifr$6io Deadline to advertise is Wednesday, August 18. Reserve space now. Contact a sales representative at 346-3712 or stop by our offices on the 3rd floor of the EMU, Suite 300. Oregon Daily Emerald •.« Jbe campus newspaper for tfee University of Oregon community ■VAVVMAV^VVV\VV,AAV^M-VV,-^V-AV,,V,.«./.AV.
