City Paper: You've said that negotiations broke down over "the enforcement of work hours." What does that mean?

April Logan: The contract provides that graduate employees work a maximum of 20 hours each week. But sometimes, someone will be working above that, and there's no way to enforce the rule. We're basically just asking for a process to police these work hours and some dialogue about that.

CP: Does it seem like the university would prefer to think the union doesn't exist?

AL: The overall sense I've had is the administration sort of tolerates the existence of the graduate employees union. It is still very difficult to get them to engage in discussion of noneconomic issues. They don't believe we should have a say or voice in the work environment here. If we're overextended, that not only affects us, but students are going to get shortchanged.

CP: Are you also discussing economic issues?

AL: We're asking for some type of equitable raise, because although things are better since we formed the union, we're still not at a living wage.

CP: Temple has a new president coming in. Does that affect the negotiations?

AL: It probably does complicate matters in ways we're not necessarily aware of. Do we deal with the [current] president [David Adamany] or with [incoming president] Ann Weaver Hart?

CP: Are you considering a strike?

AL: We would do everything else in our [power] to try to avoid a strike.