After more than a year of staunch deliberation and a summer of idling, the Teaching Assistants Association and the Office of State Employment Relations agreed to resume negotiations for a new contract today.

Hoping to put aside past grievances, including an OSER-led push to implement a paid-premium health-care plan, the two organizations agreed to bargain again for the first time since April through a third party, the Wisconsin Employment Relations Committee — a common facilitator of employer-employee labor relations.

University of Wisconsin TAs are currently working on an extension of their 2001-03 contract, which includes a zero-premium health-care plan.

Until the negotiations are underway, it is uncertain what each group plans to ask for, but it is clear they both look forward to getting the ball rolling again.

"I think we're both just really anxious to get discussions going again," TAA Co-President and College of Letters and Science English TA Samaa Abdurraqib said. "We're both eager to reach a settlement both sides can be happy about."

Abdurraqib added "out of respect" for the process, she could not identify what the organization plans to bring to the bargaining table this time around.

Clashes between the association and the state began in late April of 2004 after OSER, among other issues, demanded the TAA agree to a paid heath-care plan. Rejecting the offer, UW TAs went on a two-day strike and threatened to not release final grades for the semester.

Since then, negotiations slowly burned out until after another impasse, wherein the TAA filed an unfair labor practices claim with the WERC stating the state was not bargaining in "good faith," compelling the commission to step in and help facilitate the process.

WERC Chairman Judith Neuman said by the commission mediating the process, she hopes both groups can "get past the emotional issues" and begin working with one another on a common ground.

"That's what we do — we try to settle labor disputes," she said.

OSER Executive Assistant Susan Crawford said while she cannot discuss any "specifics," the group hopes to reach an agreement as soon as possible.

"The state wants to reach a contract and we think at this point, it will help having a facilitator there," she said.

Meanwhile, the results of the bargaining will depend on the major dynamic of the feud, the TAs themselves, many of whom do not favor doling out paycheck dollars for health care.

Sociology TA and first-year graduate student Tod Van Gunten said the idea of administering a paid-premium heath-care plan is "unreasonable" considering the amount of money the service already costs in Wisconsin.

"Given the minimum benefits we get, I don't see why we should get less benefits, which is what it would be to me," he said. "My sense is most other TAs and TAA members would not be paying a premium for health insurance … most people feel our health benefits are meager."

Van Gunten, who holds a master's degree in humanities and social thought from New York University, said he is optimistic about the proceedings, but remains critical of OSER based on past experiences.

"I have a lot of faith in the TAA," he said. "I can't say I have a lot of faith in the state or university for that matter."

While at NYU, Gunten said the university held a "paternalistic stance" with himself and other graduate students but later turned on them, reducing heath care altogether, adding the university is currently seeking to eliminate the teaching assistants union there.

"That experience really showed me as a grad student, you can't really trust the university you work for," he said.

Yet Gunten said he loves to teach, and despite any discrepancies, the aesthetic of the job remains the same.

"None of us would be doing this if we didn't love the work," he said. "On that level, I love the job."