Graduate teaching fellows strike UO
EUGENE — University of Ore-
gon (UO) graduate teaching fellows
(GTFs) put up strike picket lines
Dec. 2, the week before final exams,
and just before this issue of the Labor
Press headed to the printer.
Marathon bargaining with a state
mediator was held Nov. 25-26, and
again Dec. 1, without success.
It’s the first-ever strike for the
Graduate Teaching Fellows Federa-
tion (GTFF) Local 3544, founded in
1976. The union’s 1,500 members
are graduate students who teach
classes and run discussion groups
and lab sessions. One-third of UO
courses are taught by GTFs.
The union — an affiliate of Amer-
ican Federation of Teachers — has
been in contract negotiations since
November 2013. Its previous con-
tract expired in March.
The dispute centers on wages and
Donations needed
for labor agency’s
holiday party
Labor’s Community Service
Agency (LCSA) and the Northwest
Oregon Labor Council are accepting
donations of toys and cash for the
18th annual Presents from Partners
Holiday Toy Party. The event — for
families of unemployed union mem-
bers and those facing temporary
hardships — will be held in mid-De-
cember at the Sheet Metal Workers
Local 16 Hall in Northeast Portland.
Entrance is by ticket only. Members
must be referred by their union. Re-
ferral forms must be returned to
LCSA by Dec. 9.
Toy donations also will be ac-
cepted through Dec. 9. Donations can
be dropped off at IBEW and United
Workers Federal Credit Union, or the
Northwest Oregon Labor Council
(Suite 305), or LCSA (Suite 211). All
of the offices are located in the same
building at 9955 SE Washington St.,
Portland.
UO’s refusal to add paid medical and
parental leave to the union contract.
GTFs work a maximum of half-
time (219 hours per academic quar-
ter) for a minimum pay of $4,090 per
quarter ($4,619 with a masters, and
$4,878 for doctoral candidates.) Lo-
cal 3544 is proposing two annual
raises of 5.5 percent; UO is propos-
ing raises of 5 and 4 percent. The dif-
ference would be $220,000 over the
life of the contract, Local 3544 esti-
mates — at a university that just gave
outgoing president Michael Got-
tfredson $940,000 in “severance.”
The other issue is paid medical
and parental leave. GTFs currently
have 12 weeks of unpaid leave for
the birth of a child or serious medical
condition. The union proposed to
make two weeks of that paid, and es-
timated it would cost UO $52,000 a
year. UO proposed an alternative —
a $150,000 hardship fund that any
grad student could tap for $1,000 or
$1,500 in the case of illness or the
birth of a child. Local 3544 agreed,
but UO refused to specify in the con-
tract how the hardship fund would
operate. Ironically, UO Interim Pres-
ident Scott Coltrane is a sociologist
who has appeared on NPR and in the
Atlantic Monthly for academic re-
search on paid paternity leave.
The relationship between the two
sides is frayed. Local 3544 Vice
President Richard Wagner says the
union’s volunteer-led bargainers
have had to contend with sarcasm
and disrespect from UO’s $300-an-
hour private attorney. The attorney,
Jeffery Matthews, is with the Har-
rang Long Gary Rudnick firm, which
employs former UO president Dave
Frohnmayer.
Strikes are volatile, and a lot may
have happened by the time this issue
reaches your mailbox. For further de-
tails, look to our Dec. 19 issue, or
follow us online at nwlaborpress
.org, on Facebook at facebook.com/
nwlaborpress, or via Twitter at
@nwlaborpress.
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NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
DECEMBER 5, 2014