Articles by Kristy Hammond

November 22, 2019

Faculty and Students should come before Administrative Flexibility

Dear Colleagues,  During recent remarks to the University Senate, President Mike Schill alerted the campus to yet another potential budget crisis. He identified four reasons for his concern about budget “fragility:” the ongoing difficulties with PERS funding, the decrease in international students, low reserves, and the loss of “flexibility” due to faculty unionization.  We were surprised to have President Schill cite United Academics as a cause of budget fragility. In the summer of 2015, UO President Michael Schill and then-UA President Michael Dreiling negotiated a two-year salary extension to the faculty contract, with raises of 2.0% and 2.125%. We agreed…

November 22, 2019

UA’s First Bargaining Session

Our first session will be on January 9, 2020. We will be introducing most of our economic bargaining planks at that session. These include our salary/raise proposals, our child care proposal, and more. We’re hoping for a big turnout on day one, so put January 9, 12-3 PM on your calendar. You are welcome to drop in for a few minutes or stay the whole time! Please stop by the UA Office for fliers to add to your building’s bulletin boards or you can download a PDF here.Download

November 13, 2019

National Day of Action in Defense of Grad Rights

On November 14th graduate workers and their allies in higher education, the labor movement, and their communities will gather in Chicago, Boston, and Washington D.C. to protest the National Labor Relations Board’s attack on their rights. Ahead of this day of action we are aiming to collect 3000 comments to the NLRB.  Encourage friends and colleagues to submit comments on this page.

November 7, 2019

AFT-Oregon 2020 Scholarships and Awards are open for applications.

The AFT-Oregon 2020 Scholarship and Awards are open for applications. The deadline for the applications is January 31, 2020. An overview of the various scholarships and awards can be found here. Applications and additional details can be found on the website: http://or.aft.org/

October 17, 2019

Faculty Responsibility during a GE Strike

Dear Colleagues, As you know, the rumblings of an impending GE strike are growing louder, and questions have been raised about the expectations and obligations for faculty should that happen. Before any decisions are made about the University’s “Academic Continuity Plan,” I would like to share some thoughts to inform our discussions. To start, let me underline some of the information we shared with you in an August 27 e-mail. Some administrators incorrectly assume that faculty will cover for striking GEs. This is not necessarily so. Our collective bargaining agreement (CBA) requires faculty to “consult” about how work performed by a…

October 7, 2019

It’s Not About the Massages

The UO Administration has been spreading the rumor around campus that the GTFF is about to go out on strike because they love their free massages. This is bullshit.Before I became UAUO’s Executive Director in 2014, I spent 10 years working for the GTFF. So I know their contract, their health insurance program, and what is important to graduate employees on our campus.I hope you won’t mind a little history. In roughly 1999, the members of the GTFF fought to have a real, employment-based health insurance plan. They were able to get the administration to agree to pay for a…

May 29, 2019

Down to the Wire: Let Legislators know what we need!

On May 15th, Oregonians received some good news in regard to our financial outlook. Short version: the State has roughly 770 million dollars more than they expected for the biennium budget (despite a 1.4 billion kicker, but that’s another story). However, much of that will be put into reserves for the predicted economic downturn heading our way. We need to contact legislators in order to make sure we can get the Public University Support Fund (PUSF) funded at 120 million. That would mean students would see a less-than-5% increase to their in-state tuition. Of course, we should still be asking…

May 23, 2019

SB 1049-A passes out of Senate, heading to House

May 23, 2019 SB 1049-A has moved out of the Senate in a 16-12 vote and is now headed to the House. Shenanigans continue as well as a complete and utter disregard for process: The Bill was scheduled for a vote tomorrow, then re-scheduled for a different time tomorrow, and then ended up on the Senate floor as “special business.” More details below, as well as a link to the full-text of the Bill. Word on the legislative street: more Dems in the House (vs. Senate) are primed to vote no. Keep the calls and emails flowing… SB 1049-A Latest…

May 23, 2019

UA President’s talking points to the Board of Trustees

The Board of Trustees at the University of Oregon is in an untenable situation. The people ‘below you’ on the organizational chart—represented by the people in this room—are supremely unhappy with the financial management and strategic vision of the university. Simultaneously the people above you, legislators and political appointees, are supremely unhappy with the financial management and strategic vision of the university. It seems the only people happy with university leadership on budget issues are donors (and trustees themselves). The mission of the university, approved by this body, is: The University of Oregon is a comprehensive public research university committed…

May 22, 2019

Actions this week

 Events happening this week. We encourage you to participate! 1) UA t-shirts: We have new t-shirts at the union office. We are taking donations to help cover their cost (they cost UA about $11 each). Swing by, pick one up, and show your solidarity to campus! 2) Rally at the board of trustees.  Wear your new UA t-shirt! DON’T BALANCE THE BUDGET ON OUR BACKS! Meet us at the Ford Alumni Center to take over the Board of Trustees meeting! Members of LERC, GTFF, SEIU, UAUO, and ASUO will sign up to speak to the BOT about the proposed cut to…