The Graduate Teaching Fellows Federation staged a rally Monday afternoon in the EMU Amphitheater to protest stalled contract negotiations with the University.
On Monday, dozens of GTFs and supporters arrived at the EMU donning T-shirts and hoisting signs with slogans such as “Quality Contract for Quality Education” and “I’m a student and a teacher.” Amid sporadic chants of “Fair Contract Now!” several GTFF members also addressed the crowd with short speeches highlighting their grievances both with the contract and with the operation of the University in general.
“The University is losing sight of the goals of higher education,” College of Education doctoral student Shelley Jensen said. “The administration showed phenomenal effort when it came to raising funds for a new sports arena to benefit athletes; it should show the same level of effort for the rest of the student body.”
Normally, the GTF employment contract is reviewed and revised through negotiations between the University and the GTFF every two years. However, deliberations for the 2010-2011 and 2011-2012 contract terms, which began with the exchanging of contract proposals in September, ground to a halt in late June over a series of hotly contested issues. Feeling that the talks could not continue constructively, the GTFF chose to involve the state’s Employment Relations Board, which will be sending an official to mediate the remainder of the negotiation process.
“We didn’t feel that the University was willing to proceed in a way that would have produced a fair contract,” GTFF President Sam Bernofsky said. “A mediator will be able to work between the two sides to come to an equitable solution. We have been prepared to find ways around this, and the University, although not necessarily unprepared, has been kind of dragging their heels.”
The GTFF is a member-run labor union for graduate teaching fellows, graduate students who elect to help teach undergraduate courses or conduct research in exchange for financial benefits such as tuition waivers. The GTFF represents nearly 80 percent of GTFs at the University, a total of more than 1,300 student instructors, according to the GTFF’s website.
Deliberations over the contract are slated to resume August 13, and GTFF members are hoping to demonstrate enough resolve to pressure the University into a reasonable settlement for both sides. In a press release for the rally, the GTFF stated that if a contract for the coming school year is not reached by September 16, the group’s ability to “teach students effectively” may be impacted.
“I’m thrilled at the turn out and positive support,” GTFF Vice President of Organizing Chet Lisiecki said after the rally. “GTFs from almost every department were here today and quite a few that I’ve never met before, not just the people who are usually involved. We are not trying to attack the University, but we want respect for what we do and what we care about, and that respect has to be reflected in the University’s actions.”
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