Northwest Labor Press has an article out this week on the gains of Graduate Teaching Fellows Federation (GTFF) Local 3544, a union which covers the graduate teaching and research assistants at the University of Oregon. After ten months of unsuccessful contract negotiations (and a contract that expired in June of last year) a strike was planned which would have begun on Wednesday, January 17th—however, it was tentatively averted on the 15th.
Northwest Labor Press writes that:
At UO, graduate employees can work no more than half time, or 216 hours per academic quarter. Under the previous contract, if they worked the maximum hours, UO had to pay them at least $1,934 per month. Graduate employees can earn more if they are farther along in their degree program; the more schooling, the higher “level” they are on the salary scale.
The tentative agreement would increase the minimum salary to $2,550 per month, with cumulative increases ranging from 18.98% to 45.32% over three years, depending on a worker’s level and existing pay rate.
Workers also won an additional four weeks of paid leave and a number of new benefits such as reimbursements for visa and exchange program fees in this tentative agreement. A ratification date is to be determined, but seems like a formality for this contract. The union is very pleased overall with it.