The Graduate Teaching Fellows Federation will soon start the bargaining process on their pay and benefits contract for 2006-08. The current contract expires in March 2006.
While the GTFF and the University have both submitted formal written contacts announcing their intent to negotiate, a negotiations board for the University has yet to be selected. The bargaining is expected to begin later this month or early November and may last through spring term.
A strike was narrowly averted in August 2004 after the University and GTFF reached an agreement following nine months of bargaining. The agreement came one day after the GTFF held its “Empty Campus Day” in which they taught their classes off-campus to demonstrate their contributions to the University.
At the time, the GTFF was concerned about student fees and about the University hiring undergraduates to lead discussion sections and grade papers.
They were also concerned that a requested pay raise was not approved, which the University attributed to a state wage freeze.
This year, concerns are similar.
“As always, we plan to focus on making working conditions better for GTFs – with higher wages and lower fees,” Julian Catchen, the president of the GTFF, wrote in an e-mail.
Catchen wrote that although tuition is waived for GTFs, they still must pay fees to the University, which can swallow up to 10 percent of their pay.
Marian Friestad, associate dean of the graduate school, said GTFs are “well compensated,” especially considering that their tuition is waived.
Friestad noted that at the University of Iowa, although GTFs have a higher wage, they still must pay tuition.
“They turn around and give all their money back to the school,” she said.
David Cecil, the organizer of the GTFF, said a true tuition waiver would include fees.
“For undergraduates, they lump tuition and fees together. It’s only for the GTFs that they’re separate,” he said. “We want the elimination of student fees for GTFs because we believe the tuition waiver they were promised when they came to U of O should be a full waiver.”
Despite the disagreements, both parties said they expect talks to go relatively smoothly.
Catchen said “hopefully, nothing” will stand in the way of the GTFF’s requests. “We look forward to working with the University to obtain a fair contract for our members,” he said.
Friestad expressed similar optimism.
“I think that all of the parties are trying to come to an agreement that is fair and realistic,” she said. “I think that any negotiation has a potential to be difficult, but I don’t think it has to be.”

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