The University and the Graduate Teaching Fellows Federation finally agreed on a two-year contract on May 2 that gives graduate teaching fellows higher wages, lower fees and extended healthcare.
The contract, reached after seven months of negotiations, will be in effect through the 2007-08 school year and includes a 10 percent wage increase: 6 percent next year and 4 percent the following year.
“Since we teach 30 percent of the classes and we’re only receiving 15 percent of the pay, there’s definitely room for narrowing there,” said David Cecil, organizer of the GTFF.
Cecil said the GTFF initially pursued a 20 percent salary raise after its research revealed the University’s 1,301 GTFs earned 13 percent less than the average teaching assistant.
“We were looking to raise wages to make up that 13 percent and adjust for future inflation,” he said.
Courtney Smith, political science GTF and incoming president of the GTFF, said the pay increase was a step forward, but there was still work to be done.
“We’re very, very much a source of cheap, contingent labor for the University,” she said. “So it’s hard to have them realize actually what we contribute to the University and not just be treated as kids on scholarship.
“(GTFs) who work really hard are not getting what they deserve, but a little more at least,” she said.
But Smith also said the new contract was great and having a strong contract would benefit both GTFs and the University.
“The better the contract we’re able to get, the higher quality graduate students the University will be able to attract,” she said.
Officials on the University’s side of the bargaining table were also satisfied with the new contract.
“We’re very delighted that we were able to settle and I think the UO management team feels it’s a fair settlement,” said Linda King, human resources associate vice president. “I think it’s important to the University because of the talent that comes to study and then become GTFs.”
That talent will now have lower term fees because of the contract. The GTFF had originally sought a 50 percent reduction of the current $230 charge over the next two years, but managed to get a $24 reduction instead.
“It’s not quite what we were looking for there,” Cecil said, “but it’s a lowering of fees.”
Healthcare was another key part of the contract and both parties agreed to extend the GTFs’ healthcare benefits without debate.
Under the current system, if healthcare costs go up, the University will pay increases of up to 20 percent.
If increases exceed 20 percent, the University pays for 90 percent of the increase and GTFs pay 10, Cecil said.
“When the GTFF picks up a percentage of the increase, obviously our members pay that,” Cecil said. “But we’re reasonably confident and I think the UO is reasonably confident that GTFs will not see any increase in their healthcare costs for the next year.”
One goal of the GTFF that did not go into the contract was improved office space, Cecil said. The sometimes rapid expansion of the University has left a dearth of working space in University halls.
“Unfortunately, departments are resorting to putting dozens of GTFs in large offices and sharing desks without the providing them the equipment we need,” he said.
Nevertheless, the new contract formed a committee to respond to GTF grievances and complaints. This, Cecil said, means GTFs have more say in their own affairs.
Although both parties have agreed on the contract, it must still be ratified by the full members of the GTFF who “ultimately decide if we’re done bargaining,” Cecil said.
Ballots will be distributed soon. For ratification to occur, 30 percent of all GTF ballots must be returned and a majority of those ballots must approve the contract.
The ballots are due on June 7, and Cecil said he strongly believes the union will choose to ratify at that time.
Negotiating will start again in October 2007 because the contract, if approved, will expire in late March 2008.
Cecil said the GTFF will focus on enforcing the contract in the months following ratification.
“Just enforcing the contract and making sure that all the provisions are supplied by the departments is the biggest thing,” he said. “If you bargain something and don’t enforce it, you’ve wasted your time.”