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
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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
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