After three days of striking the latest mediation session between the GTFF and the University of Oregon administration did not yield an agreement. The GTFF will continue its strike until an agreement is reached, mediation will continue again Friday at 11 a.m.
The GTFF strike officially began Tuesday, Dec. 2 after a year of talks between the union and UO administration. Negotiations began in November of 2013, GTFF’s contract expired in March of 2014. Mediation took place Monday, but the two groups did not reach an agreement over paid leave. The GTFF announced the strike at a rally Monday night.
During Monday’s bargaining session, the university made two offers of either a $100,000 hardship fund per year and a minimum salary increase of five percent for two years or a $150,000 hardship fund and a minimum salary increase of five percent the first year and four percent the second year.
However, the hardship fund would be available to all graduate students at UO instead of specifically to graduate teaching fellows and would be an agreement between the University of Oregon and the Graduate School. Rather than an agreement between the UO and the GTFF. The GTFF want the fund to be a guarantee for graduate teaching fellows by including it in their Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA).