Bargaining Update: April 24, 2023

In this email

What happened at the April 21 bargaining session...
...and what to expect when we come back next week.
Your bargaining memes!
Resources and dates to stay informed and get involved.

First off, our team would like express our deep gratitude to those who shared their testimony during last Friday’s bargaining session. Thank you for entrusting us with your stories, for revisiting the painful memories, and for providing us insight to your experiences at UO. Second, thank you for all who attended the session both in person and via Zoom. We love all of the support and look forward to seeing you in future bargaining meetings!

Despite the powerful testimonies that international GEs shared about their experiences, including the sacrifices they continually make to study and work at UO, the administration’s team ended the session insensitively by stating that they are "pretty happy with the contract as-is." These stories underscore the need for major changes to the contract, including GTFF’s proposal of a new article focused on support and resources for international GEs. Yet UO seems to want to remain complacent.

Meme with two panels in the "'This is fine' dog" format. The first panel shows a drawing of a dog with wide eyes and a vacant expression, sitting at a table with a cup of coffee in a room filled with smoke and flames. Text boxes labeling the flames and smoke read, "Rent prices up by ~20 percent," "~12 percent inflation," and "International GEs in debt." The second panel shows a close-up of the dog's face with a speech bubble that says, "This is fine." The word "Contract" is inserted after "this" and the dog is labeled "UO team."

If you weren't able to attend, here's what happened:

GTFF proposed a new article titled Support and Resources for International GEs. Here is a brief summary of what it includes:

Reimbursements for SEVIS, visa, and employment authorization fees, as well as for certain travel costs
Free access to state and federal tax filing software for international GEs
Additional paid training for international GEs on cultural and other issues
Reserved housing units for international GEs, as well facilitation of a sell and swap procedure.
Hiring units providing and managing a mailing address for international GEs.

Our team also proposed expanding the Graduate Student Assistance Fund, and increasing the amount of money that is in the fund, so that it can be accessible to more GEs and in more situations.

The big question heading into this session was whether UO’s team would follow through on the promise they made two weeks ago to bring proposals to the table. They did bring a proposal--to change references to “The Graduate School” to “The Division of Graduate Studies” throughout the contract.

Though UO had a few more things to say, like confirming that they won’t be coming after our health insurance, suggesting fewer copies of the contract be printed, and asking our team for help to solve their challenges with recruiting students to come to UO, they made it clear that they weren’t interested in making meaningful changes.

You can follow along with all the active proposals on our Trello board and by clicking the button below.

Bargaining Hub

What happens next?

The next bargaining session takes place at McKenzie 221 on May 5th, from 12–3pm. Remember that you're welcome to attend for 3 minutes or the entire 3 hours! Our top priority will be introducing a new article that increases support for parents and caregivers. We'll most likely be presenting a few counter-proposals to UO.

We’ll also be sharing more stories from members throughout the bargaining process. Please fill out this form if you’d like to share your testimony about how the provisions of our contract impact you.

Do you like to make memes? We want to see them!

Keep the memes coming! This week we are featuring memes from Abhijeet, Ben, Kristina, and Adam that were made during the April 21 bargaining session. We love seeing GTFF’s creativity and humor in response to UO’s remarks during the meetings! If you have a bit of inspiration, feel free to share your memes by tagging us on Instagram, adding them to the #bargaining channel on Slack, or sending them to our VP for Member Communications, Rosa, at member.communications@gtff.net.

Meme with black text on a white background. Text reads, "Admin trying to find who's responsible for the terrible offer letters that can't compete with other institutions." The accompanying image shows Spongebob Squarepants squinting suspiciously at a poster that reads "Wanted Maniac" and shows an image of himself.

Meme with two panels of image and text in the "Drake approves/disapproves" format. The top panel shows Drake frowning and pushing away text that reads "The Graduate School." The bottom panel shows Drake smiling and pointing to text that reads "The Division of Graduate Studies." In both panels Drake is labeled "UO admin."

Meme with three panels showing an illustration of a person riding a bike on a path. In the top panel, the person is riding the bike while holding a stick. Text reads, "UO admins: 'the salary increases in the offer letters are harming the amount of grad students we can recruit.'" In the middle panel, the person bends over to place the stick in the spokes of the bike's front wheel. Text reads, "*offering an effective pay cut during bargaining.*" In the bottom panel, the person is lying beside the path clutching their knee after having fallen off the bike.

Resources and Dates

To send comments or questions to the Bargaining Team, fill out our Feedback Form.

For more on our bargaining platform and the process of negotiations, read our FAQ page .

Our next bargaining session with UO is Friday, May 5,12–3pm in McKenzie 221. Be sure to check out the #bargaining Slack channel to chat with other members about the negotiations.

Contract Action Team (CAT) meetings are Thursdays 5–6:15pm in the GTFF office and on Zoom. To get more info, you can join the Slack channel or email our VP for Organizing, Lillian, at organizing@gtff.net.

Weekly internal Bargaining Team meetings are Tuesdays 6–8pm in the GTFF office and on Zoom. Members are welcome to attend!

If you have questions or would like additional GTFF updates, email Rosa at member.communications@gtff.net.

Stay connected! Join Slack, our members-only community space, and follow us on Instagram.

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