Coalition of Graduate Employees

Dear campus community:

Recently, you may have seen articles in the Barometer, the Gazette-Times or the Oregonian regarding the efforts of the Coalition of Graduate Employees to represent all graduate employees at OSU.

CGE has been the labor union representing most graduate employees at OSU since 1999. We negotiate collective bargaining agreements that have greatly improved the working conditions of graduate employees over the last ten years. Graduate employees now have health insurance coverage, a guaranteed tuition waiver for those working more than a few hours a week, and workload protections. Most importantly, CGE gives graduate employees a voice in their working conditions and in how university decisions are made that affect us.

CGE does not represent any undergraduates, even if they are working as paid teaching assistants (or residence hall assistants). We also do not represent any Faculty Research Assistants. Our representation is exclusively graduate employees — graduate students who receive a monthly paycheck from OSU.

But CGE doesn’t represent all graduate employees. Of the approximately 1600 graduate employees on campus, close to 800 are excluded from union representation. These excluded workers are predominantly graduate research assistants, not graduate teaching assistants.

Many of these unrepresented workers desire the benefits of contract protection: the guarantee of health insurance, the protection of a grievance process and a formal non-discrimination clause, and a say in the terms of the contract through the collective bargaining process. What CGE recently delivered to the state Employment Relations Board were several hundred cards signed by a decisive majority of these non-represented workers, authorizing CGE to be the labor union representing them.

If you’re a graduate employee on campus, you’ve no doubt seen us — probably even more than once — as we worked to gauge support and collect authorization cards. Of utmost importance to us was that all workers understood the implications of union representation. We spoke with 90 percent of them, even if it sometimes meant coming back to offices time and time again. The majority of unrepresented workers have spoken and chosen CGE as their union.

What does this mean for the rest of OSU? Graduate employees will continue to study hard and work hard. But since our working conditions are the learning conditions for the undergraduate students, protection of our rights as employees allows us to focus on providing excellent education. Protection of our rights allows us to focus on providing the quality labor that helps fuel the success of research at OSU. Protection of our rights will allow OSU to continue to grow, to attract top students and strive for excellence.

We all want OSU to be the best place to work, study and learn. All graduate employees should be treated equally. It’s about fairness.

Please support your local graduate employee who has chosen union representation and wants to be recognized as a worker in service to this university that we all call home!

In Solidarity,

Mindy Crandall

President, CGE, AFT Local 6069
Ph.D. Student in
Applied Economics

We encourage you to demonstrate your support for the valuable work that graduate employees do for OSU by calling President Ray (541 737 4133) and urging him to voluntarily recognize the choice unrepresented grad workers have have already made to be represented by CGE.

Today, representatives from CGE and AFT-Oregon delivered our petition, and stack of authorization cards, to the Employment Relations Board in Salem!

This is the next step in our goal of ensuring that ALL graduate employees have the same rights – that we’re all protected by the same contract – that we’re all told our work is valuable and of service to the university.

Each card represents a conversation, a coffee meeting, an email, a phone call, an office visit, a home visit, an outreach by members of the Organizing Committee to contact all non-represented employees and ask them: Do you want to be represented by CGE?

A majority said yes. And today, we asked the state to recognize ALL graduate employees of Oregon State University as workers covered by our contract.

Great work, everyone – members, volunteers, organizers, Organizing Committee members – EVERYONE!

Mindy Crandall, President, CGE

Two of our officer positions are currently being held by interim officers. We will be formally electing people to fill these two positions at our Winter General Membership Meeting, January 27th. Any member in good standing for at least 3 months is eligible to hold office.

External Relations Chair

This person maintains CGE’s relationships with external organizations such as ASOSU, SEIU, AAUP, AGEL, and AFT-Oregon.

This is a position best suited for someone who is quite familiar with CGE, as they need to be able to represent CGE to external organizations. Prior EC members, bargaining team members, or active reps would be well suited to the position.

Duties:

• Maintain a relationship with campus coalition activities via email
• Attend Campus Coalition meetings or campus group meetings as necessary with our colleagues in AAUP, ASOSU, and SEIU
• Help plan and promote joint events sponsored by coalition groups
• Attend CLC meetings monthly (Albany)
• Participate in the monthly AGEL conference call
• Arrange and attend quarterly meetings with President Ray
• Liaison with the ASOSU Grad Affairs Task Force Director
• Liaison with AFT-OR and other AFT-OR locals when necessary
• Develop further union connections with other labor unions in Corvallis
• Report on all activities to the CGE EC
• Attend Faculty Senate meetings as needed

Vice President for Communications

This person is responsible for communications with CGE members and developing an overall communications strategy that keeps CGE in the forefront of members’ minds.

This is a good entry-level position for someone who is not necessarily as familiar with CGE as other folks but who can write and communicate well. Graphic design and technology skills, along with new ideas and creativity, are all a plus.

Duties:

• Update the CGE website regularly
• Update the CGE Facebook page (including adding new members)
• Use the Twitter account as necessary (i.e., in support of bargaining)
• Photograph, or arrange for photography, at events
• Develop and distribute (to bulletin boards) CGE promotional materials
• Develop other outreach and communication methods (monthly columns, etc)
• Develop and maintain media contacts
• Write and send press releases as needed
• Write and email the monthly digest
• Write and email out the quarterly newsletter
• Design promotional materials
• Develop newsletter team/committee
• Keep in touching with bargaining, etc. to keep up with everything

All EC members are expected to attend and participate in regular EC meetings (weekly during the academic year, less frequently during breaks); check in and respond over email when decisions need to be made that way; and participate in all the regular business that keeps the union running. This includes participating in quarterly membership drives, helping deliver short orientations to all incoming graduate students at the beginning of the academic year, attending AFT-Oregon convention in April, and attending the annual planning retreat in the summer. The EC works directly with CGE’s staff organizer and business manager to ensure that the daily tasks that keep the union going are completed. The time commitment varies over the year and by officer position, but in general, EC members should anticipate spending several hours a week on CGE related activities.