In the Valentine’s Day spirit, the tooth fairy – wand in hand – found her way to the University of Oregon campus to voice her support for the the Graduate Teaching Fellows Federation in a rally outside of Johnson Hall today, Feb. 14. The mid day rally was intended to raise awareness for the union’s current bargaining proposal for major dental insurance.
GTF’s gathered outside the administration building were also joined by campus organizations including United Academics, Service Employees International Union and Student Labor Action Project, as well as students and community members.
The graduate student union is currently in bargaining negotiations with the University administration over their contract, set to expire March 31. Since their first session in late November, the union has outlined their proposals for increased in wages, paid parental leave and an expanded health coverage plan that would include major dental care.
According to GTFF bargaining team member Steve McAllister, the university currently provides its GTF’s with some dental coverage that often covers a portion dental procedures, as well as teeth cleanings and some fillings depending on what filling is used.
As a graduate student himself, McAllister expressed the difficulty in paying for his own dental procedure last year after having an emergency root canal. He was able to use his health insurance to pay for some of the procedure but was unable to cover the expense of the crown that needed to be placed on top of the tooth.
“I could not not get it done, I was in a lot of pain,” McAllister said. “The dentist told me I was in danger of having a really bad infection so I just went into debt for it.” McAllister used a credit card to pay for the procedure.
The graduate student union conducted an internal survey in the first half of the negotiation process indicating that one in three respondents had current dental problems that are not being covered through the current health insurance provided.
“We’re talking about 500 people in our bargaining unit right now are wandering around campus with some kind of hole in their head that they can’t get treated because the dental coverage plan doesn’t cover it,” McAllister said.
The graduate student union is also alarmed by the University’s proposal to replace their health trust for another plan on the market that would be equal to comparable to that of their current health plan.
“The health care trust means that it is administrated by the GTFF and it’s a nice streamline process. If we have a problem we go to (them), and (they) fix it,” said a GTFF representative. “If you get dropped by your insurance for some reason because of a technical error, they take care of it. Large institutions are always going to be harder to negotiate than a small GTFF run organization.”
UO’s Chief of Staff Greg Rikhoff was present during the rally to accept and deliver the support statements from different union members to President Gottfredson.
“At the least we feel our message will be delivered to the President’s office. It’s just a matter of him listening to that and make changes to the bargaining table,” GTFF President David Craig said.
The GTFF also hopes to showcase support through their online petition found on their website.
“We feel this event was kind of a benchmark for us. I feel it went very well and so hopefully in the weeks ahead it continues to move forward,” Craig said.
SEIU Labor Choir member Dorothy Attneave was one of many union members that came to stand with graduate students today.
“In general, I know GTFs are hardworking and need to be paid enough to survive until they get their degree,” she said.
Attneave, who works for the UO’s department of Planning Design and Construction, recalls the amount of support the GTFF gave the SEIU during their contract negotiations last year.
The University administration and the GTFF are set to met this evening in Gerlinger 302 to discuss issues rallied for at today’s demonstration and plan to meet every Friday for the next two weeks to arbitrate compromise.