With nearly 700 signed strike pledges, the Teaching Assistants Association confirmed its willingness to strike Thursday. The TAA will distribute paper ballots today to approve the planned walkout and grade strike.
The proposed strike is a result of failed contract negotiations between the TAA and state legislators.
Under the proposed contract, members of the TAA would be required to pay a $9-a-month premium for health-care benefits, a fee which would increase by 22 percent after the first year of the contract, according to Boian Popunkiov, co-president of the TAA.
The contract would also freeze TA and Project Assistants salaries in the first year, and provide a 1 percent increase in the second, with an additional dime-an-hour raise.
Karen Timberlake, Director of the Office of State Employment Relations, says the large state budget deficit makes the situation more difficult.
\The reality is that the state is still in the midst of trying to deal with a more than $3 billion budget deficit for this biennium,"" she said.
Still, she said, there have been many efforts by the state to reach an agreement with the TAA.
However, Jonathan Puthoff, Publicity chair of the TAA, said the state has not come out in an open session and made the TAA any offers.
""Again and again they reaffirm their willingness to meet with us in the middle,"" he said.
""There has been no progress made [by the state] to meet the demands of the TAA,"" Popunkiov said.
According to Popunkiov, the state's offer to the TAA has not changed in six months.
""A lot of people are going out and saying 'The TAs should just accept the $9 deal,'"" he said.
Puthoff said the ongoing debate is about much more than the $9.
""We want to take back our university from legislators who simply don't know what it means to fund a public institution,"" he said. ""This is starting to become a social justice issue for all the students.""
Failure to resolve the contract debate would result in a two-day TA walkout, followed by an indefinite grade strike, according to Popunkiov.
""This is the biggest thing we've ever done as a union,"" Puthoff said. ""This is as organized as we've ever been, we have more participation than we've ever had.\
