Members of the Graduate Teaching Fellows Federation (GTFF) at the University of Oregon used dark comedy last week to highlight the serious issues they are facing in their latest contract negotiations.

On April 8 union members laid to rest copies of their "dead" agreement--which expired March 31--in a coffin set up in an amphitheater, then carried the coffin in a funeral procession to the foyer of university president's office building.

The lack of a contract "fundamentally shows that we are not being respected for the work we do," GTFF negotiator Chris Goff told rally participants.

Negotiations for a new contract began in November, but the administration has refused to compromise on several issues, including the requirement that graduate teaching fellows continue to pay student fees of $275 per term, which amounts to 9 percent of the average graduate employee salary.

"That the university asks us to pay back a good portion of our salaries is unconscionable," said Jey Strangefeld, lead negotiator for the GTFF. "Our salaries fall below the poverty line as it is. GTFs just cannot afford givebacks to the university."

The administration is also eroding the duties and responsibilities of bargaining unit members by having undergraduates replace graduate employees in the classroom as teachers and graders for minimal hourly wages. The union wants to put a stop to the long-term practice of the university hiring GTFs on a term-by-term basis and make it a more stable, secure position. They also want to limit the university's ability to pay graduate employees low hourly wages for their work.

GTFF now says that unless the administration moves on some of these issues, the union may call a strike, possibly as early as June 30, during the summer session. "We don't want to have to strike," said Goff. "If the university refuses to give us the respect we deserve in bargaining, however, we'll have to demand it on the picket line." [Brian Dolber]

[April 14, 2004]