The University of Oregon and the Graduate Teaching Fellows Foundation have reached a tentative agreement after months of negotiations over wages, benefits and working conditions for graduate student employees.

The union confirmed the tentative agreement on Monday evening, two days before a strike was set to begin.

The GTFF had announced on Jan. 5 its intent to strike if no deal was reached on a new contract by Wednesday. A previous union vote in November saw 97% of voters favor the authorization of a strike. As recently as Thursday, the GTFF held a rally with more than 150 participants gathering in support of the union’s efforts.

The GTFF and UO scheduled one more negotiation meeting for Monday, and the two sides reached a tentative agreement on a three-year contract.

According to GTFF, the deal will bring the minimum salary of graduate employees at the UO up to $2,550 a month — based on 0.49 FTE — with pay increases ranging from 19.0% to 45.3% over the next three years.

GTFF called this agreement “historic.”

The deal could transform the university’s approach to graduate programs, making advanced degrees more accessible to a larger and more diverse group of graduate employees for years to come, Leslie Selcer, GTFF president, said in a news release.

“This fight has always been about more than just us,” Selcer said. “We want the UO to fulfill its mission as a public university that serves students from all backgrounds, not just privileged ones. We are proud to say that our union has pushed the entire institution forward today.”

University of Oregon happy to reach tentative agreement

The university released a statement Tuesday morning saying the administration was grateful for the work both UO’s and GTFF’s bargaining teams put in to reach an agreement.

“We are very pleased to have reached a tentative agreement that demonstrates commitment to GEs and the critical work they do supporting academic and research excellence and invests financially to maintain graduate programs that are successful and competitive now and in the future,” stated Angela Seydel, director of issues management for UO.

According to UO, the agreement provides diversity and inclusion protections, increased summer employment, support for international GEs, support for GEs with families and a competitive compensation package to attract and retain top talent.

UO provided a list of key points in its latest offer:

• Minimum pay of $35.52 per hour, which is $2,549.51 per month at 0.49 full-time equivalency.

• A new minimum pay salary structure, which includes the minimum pay for all GE I, GE II and GE III, set at the same rate, which is proposed to be 10.5% higher than the current GE III rate.

• UO continues to pay all GE tuition and fees, except $61 per term.

• UO continues to pay 95% of the premium on health insurance for all GEs, their partners and families.

For more information on the tentative agreement, UO’s human resources website is expected to soon post more details.

No UO graduate employee strike for now

The next step for GTFF is a vote to ratify the contract, which requires a quorum of at least 30% of members voting. GTFF will be holding a meeting to launch the process later this week, then will send the vote out over email.

“Initial reactions to the deal from our membership are positive, and we’re looking forward to talking over the details with more of our members,” GTFF stated in an email.

The vote will be open for at least a week. Graduate employees will remain at work while it is in progress.

Miranda Cyr reports on education for The Register-Guard. You can contact her at mcyr@registerguard.com or find her on Twitter @mirandabcyr

This article originally appeared on Register-Guard: University of Oregon, graduate workers reach tentative agreement