The Graduate Teaching Fellows union and The University of Oregon are approaching the end of a month-long cooling off period. The parties meet Tuesday with a mediator. If no agreement is reached, the GTFs will go on strike next week.
Graduate Teaching Fellows are asking for paid leave and a salary increase. The University's latest offer is for 2 weeks of flex time, which GTF Federation president Joe Henry says is unacceptable.
Henry: "I'm teaching 6 back to back discussion sessions so that I can have my spring term available for field work. I'm already maxed out so if something bad were to happen to me, I would not be able to make up that time."
Henry is a doctoral student in Anthropology. He says last year a couple of GTFs were in bike accidents involving cars. One of them was told by his doctor to take 3 weeks off to heal.
Henry: "But he couldn’t do that for fear of losing his wages."
The union wants 2 weeks paid sick time and 2 weeks paid family leave. It's also asking for a 5.5 percent salary increase. GTFs teach a third of all instructional hours at the University of Oregon.