The university and the Graduate Teaching Fellows Federation met again Aug. 1 with a mediator in an effort to establish a new collective bargaining agreement. 

Both parties exchanged updated economic proposals. Key highlights include:

• Incremental changes to proposed salary increases.
• The university is no longer pursuing a reduction in its contribution to health insurance in order to increase salaries. The latest offer provides the same level of contribution under the current contract, which is 95 percent of the 2018-19 academic year insurance premiums.   
• Continued discussion on summer assistance and family and child care support.

More information about the university’s and the federation’s proposals, as well as updates from previous mediation sessions, are available on the HR website.

The bargaining teams will continue to exchange offers on both economic and noneconomic proposals in pursuit of an agreement that serves both the university and graduate employees at the next mediation session Aug. 21.

The University of Oregon and the federation began the collective bargaining process for a new contract in November 2018. Mediation began in April. The current three-year contract expired March 31. The university will continue to honor the expired contract until a new one is in place.