[Read the post before this one for a summation of the UO's offers on economics, then come back here.]
[UPDATE: When I first posted this, I relied on some back-of-the-envelope calculations that have proved less than accurate. I originally estimated that the UO spent around $13M a year on GTF compensation. I now believe that $18M is a closer figure. So, when I was using the $13M figure, I believed that the UO's economic offer of an additional $300,000 in wage compensation was 2.3% of their total outlay for GTFs. Of course, if the UO spends $18M on GTFs, then the $300,000 represents only a 1.67% increase to GTF compensation. I have corrected the post below.]
The more I think about the UO's offers, the more pissy I get. They offered a 4% raise to the minimum in the first year. According to my calculations, this will cost them about $300,000. They offered to pay $100 a term for children's health care. I estimate this will cost them about $16,000 per year. So $316,000 in new benefits.
But they proposed raising fees on aprox. 1330 GTFs by $2 per term. This is $8000 a year in money back to them. They also proposed lowering the amount of money they pay for COBRA administration by $10,000. So in their proposal, they save $18,000.
They did also offer to pick up health care increases up to 20%, but we won't know how much money that is, if any, until May at the earliest, so that's a wash for now.
So they offered to increase total GTF compensation by around $300,000. They currently spend approximately $18 million on GTF compensation (wages, fees, health care). So their proposal would increase total GTF compensation by 1.67%.
1.67%.
GTFs teach 30% of the instructional FTE on campus. GTFs do the shit academic work on campus. We grade papers, spend all night in labs, lead discussion sections, file paperwork. We do all the jobs that professors don't want to do, freeing them up for the research, conferences, and all the good parts of an academic career. The UO gets all of the shit work done for about $18 million dollars a year. That's on an institutional budget of $400,000,000.
So when they walk in and say that $300,000 and 1.67% is all they have for us -- and then pat themselves on the back for their generosity--I start to get fired up.
Hope you do, too.
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3 comments:
Because I can rarely get childcare, this was one of only two bargaining meetings I have been able to attend this go around. I have to say it was way more ENTERTAINING than I had imagined. But what stood out most to me (besides their lack of reality) was that which affects me as a parent.
I am curious how many GTFs out there have kids, and how they might react to what is supposed to be 'our' take home out of this package.
The reason is thus: Due to our below poverty line wages, most of us who are actually trying to live off those wages have children that qualify for OHP (a state run health care program that is free). (We could also technically qualify for food stamps, but the state disqualifies students who do not receive work study compensation--shall we try to squeeze that into our child care schedules too?).
My take on the 'child care benefit' is that it is symbolic at best. It does absolutely NOTHING for many of us with children. What we could use is real live money to pay for child care while we are teaching discussion sections, holding office hours, going to lectures, and trying to accomplish a bit of our research.
BTW: Because most daycare programs make us buy time slots (5 hrs for mornings is the mim. at a UO daycare), it is often impossible to get around spending upwards of $1000 a term to put our children in a holding tank while we do the university's shit-work.
What another GTF-with-child suggested was to have one of those spending accounts that allows us to pay for such costs before taxes are pulled out of our paychecks (maybe a childcare and a healthcare acct. would be nice so we could pay for our spouses or our summer insurance before Uncle Sam smelled our money). OR bring back the original grant that WE proposed in the first place rather than displacing it somewhere arbitrary.
Those are my thoughts, I'd like to know what other parents think.
i get food stamps and am a single parent GTF without work study. i'd talk to another case worker. good luck.
In response to:
GTFs teach 30% of the instructional FTE on campus. GTFs do the shit academic work on campus. We grade papers, spend all night in labs, lead discussion sections, file paperwork. We do all the jobs that professors don't want to do, freeing them up for the research, conferences, and all the good parts of an academic career. The UO gets all of the shit work done for about $18 million dollars a year. That's on an institutional budget of $400,000,000.
the reality for many of us is that we work many more hours than we're supposed to work but feel stuck. if we complain to the professor, we're the problem GTF, who's not willing to go the extra mile. maybe some single GTFs can go the extra miles, but as a single parent, it becomes much more difficult. but we try anyway, spending every day of the week working, in hopes that we might be able to get a good rec. out of the professor-- you know, the professor we're working for who specializes in our area, the only professor in the department from whom we really need a good recommendation.
in reference to workload and comps, i've heard more than one faculty member say, "well, it was much harder back when i was getting my Ph.D."
okay.
times have changed. we're basically in a recession. family dynamics have changed. maybe you, oh wondrous faculty member, weren't a single parent. walk in my shoes for a month, and i'd bet you'd change your tune. and if you didn't have a change of "heart," then you have no soul.
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