Striking graduate students at the University of Oregon triumphantly ended their walkout on Dec. 10 after eight days on the picket line.

The roughly 1,500 students, who work on campus as graduate teaching fellows, walked off the job on Dec. 2 after more than a year of failed contract negotiations stretching back to November 2013.

Talks had stalled over family and medical leave. The graduate students, represented by the AFT-affiliated Graduate Teaching Fellows Federation, wanted two weeks annually of paid family and medical leave. The university offered none.

But after a marathon 22-hour mediation session, the two sides reached a tentative agreement including the creation of a $150,000 hardship fund to support students who must take off work for medical or family reasons.

Under the agreement, each student would be eligible to receive up to $1,000 for medical leave and $1,500 for parental leave; denial of benefits would be grievable; and students would control a majority of seats on the seven-member panel created to oversee the fund.

Students would also receive a 10 percent wage hike over two years.

The graduate students must now vote on whether to ratify the proposed contract.

In These Times, Dec. 12
The Nation, Dec. 12
The Oregonian, Dec. 10