Before heading into summer contract negotiations with the University, members of the Graduate Teaching Fellows Federation claimed that the University does not care about its employees’ health at a rally Friday.
“We’re not going to take it anymore” was the theme of the rally, in which approximately 100 GTFs and students gathered in front of Chapman Hall, the building that houses the graduate school, to demanded better health insurance coverage. At the rally, GTFs performed a small skit and sang songs, including “You gotta fight for you right to health care,” a version of a Beastie Boys hit.
“The University doesn’t care about our health care,” GTFF President Paul Prew said. “I haven’t seen this kind of attack on GTFs since I’ve been here. How do they get away with this?”
The GTFF said its insurance provider raised the premiums by more than 60 percent and is concerned that the University will refuse to pay the $700,000 increase. While the University already pays more than $1 million per year for GTF insurance costs, GTFs are still forced to pay a $200 deductible for medical care. Many of the 1,200 GTFs cannot afford this, Prew said.
“The University thinks that sick GTFs can still grade papers and still give students a good education,” GTFF Vice President Ed Taylor said. “GTFs need quality health insurance. We are not going to go gently.”
Graduate school Dean Marian Friestad, who represents the University during negotiations, said she was surprised that the GTFF decided to have the rally because the two groups haven’t recently communicated about the health insurance issue.
“It felt a little funny because we don’t know what they want,” Friestad said.
Friestad also said that she felt uncomfortable that the GTFs portrayed the University as uncaring because the University has supported the union in the past.
Prew said he is concerned that if the University does not cover the increased rates, GTFs will have to either “suck it up or all bets are off and we lose our insurance.” There is also the possibility that a strike could occur if the GTFF is not satisfied with the contract, he said.
At negotiations last year, Friestad said that the University agreed to pay for all of the GTFF insurance costs, which had just risen by 90 percent.
Additionally, the University is still waiting to hear back from the GTFF about an agreement concerning health care that was reached in March. The GTFF was supposed to vote on the contract and go back to the University with the results within 30 days, Friestad said.
“I’m puzzled as to why they haven’t voted,” Friestad said. “It’s unfair to us because they agreed to sign. I’m hopeful that something will be done soon.”
With benefits such as tuition waivers, the average GTF makes $27 an hour, Friestad said. About 60 percent of graduate students are not holding a GTF position, and Friestad said her job is to make sure that all graduate students are fairly represented.
“I have to look out for all graduate students, not just the GTFs,” she said.
In April, the GTFF filed an unfair labor grievance against the University with the Employment Relations Board, a state agency that decides labor issues. The GTFF claims that the University unlawfully refuses to provide information on GTF positions.
The GTFF opposes the University’s decision to implement a waiver system to release information on GTFs’ employment conditions.
“Unless we know that, we can’t monitor our contracts and protect our members,” Prew said. “There is this concerted attack to weaken our position. This is information about us, for us and they’re denying it to us.”
The GTFF’s grievance with the state is still being processed.
Friestad said that the University’s negotiations team is prepared to meet with the GTFF at the end of this month.
“We’re totally committed to finding the right package,” Friestad said. “We will try to come out with a fair, appropriate agreement.”