Student union strike: University of Oregon graduate employees rally as deadline nears

Despite the rainy weather, over 150 people gathered in support of University of Oregon graduate student employees on Thursday as the university and the union continued bargaining over the union's contract.

The Graduate Teaching Fellows Foundation held the rally and practice picket on the same day as a scheduled mediation session with the university. The rally, dubbed "UO's Last Chance" by organizers, was held on the Erb Memorial Union green, intending to be in the line of sight of those inside the bargaining meeting.

Still, as of the afternoon, GTFF and UO were still in negotiations.

"UO works because we do" and other chants echoed across the green. Several representatives spoke during the rally from GTFF and other local unions, including UO Student Workers and the Service Employees International Union Oregon Public Employees Union.

Picket signs read "ready to strike" and "Duck U pay us."

In November, GTFF and UO reached agreements on several terms of the contract, including health insurance and family and medical leave. But salaries have been a sticking point, especially pay for higher-ranking graduate employees.

GTFF's latest offer from November included additional increases to minimum wages, with gains of 35.1%, 20.5% and 14.5% over the next three years, with the lowest level GE's receiving the highest increase and the highest level receiving the lowest. Meanwhile, GTFF's counter asked for flat 37.8% increases across all three GE levels.

Despite there still being a significant gap in salary offers, Matt McIntosh, GTFF's vice president of organizing, said the union is not planning to budge.

"We're not going to be the one settling in the 11th hour to come down to something that they asked for in any meaningful sense," McIntosh said, who is studying history and has been involved with GTFF since fall 2022. "We have won things that the university has fought us on historically. Things like misgendering protections for GE's, things like Visa reimbursement for international GE's. Things like increased parental leave. But while we are extraordinarily proud of those wins that our rank and file has gotten, the university has hemmed and hawed and sat on its hands and stalled on money."

Will there be a strike?

The rally followed GTFF's recently announced intent to strike if no deal is reached on a new contract by Wednesday.

A previous union vote in November saw 97% of voters favor the authorization of a strike.

Whether a full-out strike will come to pass is still up in the air, though.

"We are preparing as if we'll have to withhold our labor," McIntosh said. "If we can settle a contract that works for our members that fundamentally changes our working conditions here, terrific, but we're prepared for both."

Coming to a strike would be a rare phenomenon for GTFF.

As one of the oldest graduate employee unions in the country, the union has only gone on strike once in its nearly 50-year-long history. GTFF went on strike for eight days in 2014, which resulted in a 10% increase in minimum pay.

"It's not that we want to strike. I think that is the last resort," said Gonzalo Bustamante, GTFF's co-chair for the Latinx Caucus who is earning his Ph.D in philosophy. "It has been difficult, but I think that there is still a possibility for UO to realize that this is in their own best interest, not in only ours."

Why now?

First founded in 1975, GTFF has a long history in Eugene. In recent years, there has been a renewed push for the organization. The discussion of significantly increased salary has been a repeat topic for several contracts.

In this contract, GTFF representatives seem ready to hold fast to its payment goals.

"Our GE's are fighting for ourselves in this moment, and we're fighting for a graduate school experience that is more inclusive of everyone across the country across Oregon and across the world," McIntosh said.

Bustamante said inflation and a surge in the cost of living in Eugene have both had an impact on the push to hold out for higher pay. He listed several other factors that also contributed:

• the COVID-19 pandemic and its effects on how people view labor

• several social movements gaining traction

• other unions making big moves across the country, including Starbucks workers strikes and strikes in Hollywood

"We're not struggling only for us, which would be enough, frankly," Bustamante said. "Our students, they deserve teachers who are not only committed and capable, as we all are, but that have the time, that have the energy, that have the stability, that have the emotional, personal, physical, and economical well-being to be the best teachers, they can."

UO's statement on negotiations

UO stated that it has received GTFF's intent to strike.

"Our top priorities are to bargain in good faith toward reaching an agreement, while also minimizing disruption to our students and research programs as much as possible," Angela Seydel, director of issues management for UO. "We value our graduate student employees and appreciate their contribution."

She confirmed that salary increases remain the only outstanding contract term left to negotiate.

UO provided a list of key points in its latest offer:

• A proposed minimum pay rate of $34.39 per hour, or $2,468.75 per month at 0.49 full-time equivalency.

• Coverage of full tuition and mandatory fees (except $61 per term) continues.

• Health insurance for all graduate employees, their partners and families, with UO continuing to pay 95 percent of the premium.

• A new model setting all GE levels to a unified minimum salary rate, with greater increases for those currently earning the least.

• Across-the-board increases for those earning above the minimum.

UO's website outlines the average minimum nine-month pay for an Association of American Universities graduate employee is $23,572. UO's latest minimum proposal was $22,219 to $34.39 per hour. However, UO's human resources page states that UO students would make about $1,000 more after fees and benefits than the national average. These rates apply to graduate student employees working a maximum of 215 hours per term, an average of 19 hours per week.

Miranda Cyr reports on education for The Register-Guard. You can contact her at mcyr@registerguard.com or find her on Twitter @mirandabcyr

This article originally appeared on Register-Guard: University of Oregon graduate employees rally as strike deadline nears