GTFF and UOSW members gather on the steps of UO’s Johnson Hall in protest for contract revisions and fairer pay. (Eliott Coda/Emerald)

In the morning of Nov. 20, members of the Graduate Teaching Fellows Federation gathered in Johnson Hall for a sit-in to protest the University of Oregon’s failure to provide livable wages to the Graduate Fellows.
Last week, 97% of GTFF members authorized a strike. On Nov. 20, GEs hoped to put pressure on UO’s administration before the potential beginning of public strike on Nov. 27, though a legal strike can only start 10 days after GTFF gives notice to UO for a strike.
“We believe that as we put more pressure on the university, we see the kind of movement that we need at the bargaining table,” GTFF’s VP of External Relations, Emily Beatty, said. “So this [sit-in] is just one next step, as we continue to build pressure, so we can get those key financial asks, especially leading up to a potential strike,” Beatty said.
Beatty said that hosting the sit-in will hopefully pressure UO’s administration to meet GTFF’s proposals before a potential strike.
Approximately 30 GEs gathered at the lobby of Johnson Hall, holding signs saying “Fair Wage Now” and “Graduate employees are ready to strike for a fair contract.”
The union workers have been negotiating with the UO administration since March for an increase in wages and better working conditions.
Many attendees spoke on their demand for salaries that meet the minimum cost of living in Eugene. The graduate employees are asking for approximately a 25-30% total increase of wage, across the next three-year contract, as GEs are only allowed to work between 19.5-20 hours per week.
“We’ve been facing massive inflation. We don’t have enough money to make ends meet,” GTFF’s Rank-and-File member, Andrew Ducharme, said. “I think it’s really ridiculous and insulting that the university is not willing to keep with what they’ve been paying the GEs in the past,” he said.
The university has offered a 9% raise to the above-minimum wage salary of graduate students.
Graduate employees are also pleading for wage increases to support the international GEs.
“Our international students are not allowed to work outside of the university,” Chair of the International GEs, J.Y. Lim, said. “If we cannot get a working contract during the summer, that means that we [GEs] will have no income.”
Lim explained how international graduate employees will have no source of income if negotiations are not met.
According to Beatty, GTFF and UO have made progress in terms of some of other asks, such as GTFF being able to secure accommodation requests and protections against misgendering GEs in the workplace.
“Everything that we are asking for financially, like salary increases and other financial support from our particularly vulnerable GE’s have been much harder won,” they said.
In roughly a week, union members can go on strike or the UO administration can strike a contract with the union.
“It’s the choice on the part of the university’s administration about whether they’re going to give fair pay to graduate employees,”  GTFF’s Steward of Linguistics, Wesley Jones, said. “ So, the students are behind us, a lot of the faculty are behind us [and] even a lot of department heads are behind us.”
Jones emphasized that students and UO faculty are in support of GTFF going on strike Nov. 27.
“We want to be clear that this [strike] is not meant to be something that is going to negatively affect students.” “It will disrupt UO operations,” Jones said.
Later in the day, GTFF held a rally to further pressure the UO administration.
“We are ready to do whatever it takes,” Jones said.
In a Nov. 21 statement, the university said that in a Nov. 20 bargaining session with GTFF, “The university increased its previous offer by adjusting the across-the-board raises to 4 percent in Year 1 and 3 percent in Year 2 and 3 (previously 3.5 percent, Year 1, and 2.75 percent, Year 2 and 3), which ensures that all GEs receive increases.”
The statement said that GTFF countered on the salary bargain “by maintaining the current structure, three levels at different minimum pay rates, and applying the same percent increase to each – Year 1 = 20 percent, Year 2 = 10 percent, Year 3 = 7.75 percent.”
The next bargaining session will be on Nov. 30.