By NATHAN WILK/KLCC News
EUGENE — The University of Oregon’s faculty union has announced its intent to strike as early as Monday, the start of Spring Term, unless it can reach a deal on a new contract.
UO’s Office of the Provost said it will not cancel the term if a strike happens, and doesn’t plan to cut individual classes. Here’s how students could be affected by the changes.
Students at UO will begin their next term Monday with a new schedule of 11-week-long classes. But the vast majority of the university’s lecture and seminar courses are taught by career faculty, who could be on the picket line.
Mike Urbancic, President of United Academics, said the union has collected over 700 strike pledges so far. He said as many workers need to be ready to participate as possible.
“The broader the strike, and the deeper the strike, the shorter the strike,” said Urbancic. “So the more disruption that can be caused, then the more the management sees this is not worth doing, and it would actually be easier to give a fair contract than to continue trying to muddle through this.”
Urbancic said in addition to professors being absent, students could find that no course materials are available online. He said faculty don’t have to publish an outline of their course on Canvas until the first day of the term.
Ahead of a potential strike, the Office of the Provost has promised that students will be able to drop untaught courses at any time during the strike, receiving a full refund. It’s also said it may extend the last day to add classes past the regular deadline of April 7.
“We won’t know who is teaching and who isn’t until a strike begins. No one is required to participate in a strike,” said UO spokesman Eric Howald in an email to KLCC. “We recommend that students stay enrolled in their courses and do not alter their class schedule during Week 1. Beyond that point in the term, we will work with students as needed.”
However, the strike could create complications for students with scholarships, which can require full-time enrollment. That means taking 12 credits, or the equivalent of three typical classes.
According to UO, financial aid will be locked in on April 7. After that point, students could largely still switch which classes they take without penalty—but they could lose financial assistance if they drop below 12 credits, and they wouldn’t be able to get more money if they increase their classload.
Some classes wouldn’t be directly affected by the strike, such as those taught by graduate educators, or department heads.
However, Urbancic argued these staff wouldn’t be able to fully compensate for the loss of striking faculty. He also said UO could find it challenging to hire temporary instructors, since many other universities are in the middle of their semesters right now.
“Only really in the last two or three weeks did we hear any inklings of efforts made by the various schools or colleges [at UO] to start talking about replacing some of that labor,” said Urbancic. “For most of the last term, it seemed like the administration didn’t have a contingency plan were a strike actually to happen.”
UO representatives didn’t respond to KLCC’s questions about whether it plans to have management or other non-union staff teach classes that would be affected by a strike.
Negotiations between the union and the university are ongoing, with sessions held Thursday and Friday. Urbancic said that could continue throughout this weekend.
Howald said the university’s focus right now is on securing a contract. Currently, the parties still disagree about wages and pay structure.
Urbancic said it’s difficult to be hopeful, as he’s frustrated by how negotiations have gone.
“I and hundreds of my colleagues are worried and wondering, and that’s not ideal for us,” he said.” It’s not ideal for the institution, and again, most fundamentally, it’s not ideal for our students.”
If negotiations are unsuccessful, the union’s bargaining unit would have the power to choose the start time of a strike.
This isn’t the first time that UO workers have come this close to the picket line. Last year, the Graduate Teaching Fellows Federation reached a tentative agreement just two days before a strike was set to begin.
Comment Policy