USF Grad Assistants To Protest Stalled Contract Talks Amid COVID-Reopening Planning

From the Florida Phoenix:

By Issac Morgan

July 6, 2020

With public university campuses set to reopen in the fall, the University of South Florida has yet to reach an agreement with graduate assistants over pay, health care, and other benefits, according to their union.

The administration refuses to bargain on better pay and “dismissed concerns about graduate assistants’ precarious financial realities” during the last bargaining meeting on June 23, the USF Graduate Assistants United said in a written statement.

“I personally think it’s not reasonable to expect a person to spend months on end not knowing if they’re going to be able to pay rent,” graduate assistant Kelly Osterman said during the meeting, as reported by the union in a press release.

According to a previous Florida Phoenix report, the union had been trying to reach an agreement for several months. The last contract expired on June 30.

Because of the negotiation hold-up, the union plans to protest on Saturday outside USF President Steve Currall’s house on campus to “demand a living wage, safe and healthy work conditions, dignity, and respect.”

“We encourage all graduate assistants and members of the public to come to the president’s home and honk their horns in solidarity with the GAU,” the union said.

In light of the pandemic, the union argued that “graduate assistants are more financially vulnerable than ever” and that they are “being pressured to return to campus” despite safety concerns about USF’s on-campus measures to tackle COVID-19.

This story was originally published by the Florida Phoenix. For more stories from the Florida Phoenix, visit FloridaPhoenix.com.