Negotiations between Kansas University and its graduate teaching assistants hit another wall Monday.

Negotiators declared that they were at an impasse, unable to continue tackling salary, health care and other issues without the help of a mediator.

“It’s not good for us,” said Kyle Waugh, co-president of the Graduate Teaching Assistants’ Coalition. “And if it’s not good for us – since we’re teaching so many classes at the school – it’s not good for the students either.”

KU spokeswoman Lynn Bretz said the university regretted the outcome. Bretz said the negotiations could have hammered out salary increases for the GTAs if negotiators hadn’t gotten hung up on nonmonetary issues.

“It’s unfortunate that they chose to focus on these non-economic issues when the average GTA would like to see the salary increases,” she said.

Bretz said KU had proposed raising the salary minimum from $10,000 to $11,000 next year and $12,000 by the 2008-09 school year.

Katy Martin, a GTAC negotiator, said the student negotiators were working on behalf of the students’ interests, and KU’s salary proposal was too low for students to accept.

“It’s not like we’re pursuing our own personal agendas,” she said. “We’re just doing what they asked us to.”

GTAC is pressing for a repeal of the 10-semester limit, which bars graduate students from working as teaching assistants for more than 10 semesters.

They’ve also asked for time to speak to GTAs at orientation sessions as a way, members say, of making students aware of their rights and the conditions and terms of their employment.

Bretz said orientation is for pedagogical issues, not for exposing students to external organizations.

“I know what happens at the orientation session,” Waugh said. “Everything is not pedagogical at that orientation.”

The battle continues with both sides suggesting the other is unyielding.

“They have not come in our direction on any of things that we want at all,” Waugh said. “They have ignored the issues that are important to us.”

Negotiations officially began in May, but the students say they aren’t paid to negotiate over the summer break, so negotiations really got going in August.

Negotiations for the last contract lasted 22 months.