The approximately 1,800 graduate employees (GEs) at Oregon State University (OSU) perform the necessary day-to-day work that allows the university to fulfill its core mission. According to OSU, the university seeks to “provide a transformative educational experience for all learners, demonstrate leadership in research, scholarship, and creativity, and strengthen impact and reach throughout Oregon and beyond,” none of which would be possible without the labor of its graduate employees. GEs work in labs, secure cutting-edge grants, and teach and mentor thousands of undergraduate students each term, making them vital to OSU’s vibrant campus environment. The Coalition of Graduate Employees (CGE) has been bargaining diligently over the past year to secure the wages and benefits necessary for OSU graduate employees to continue that work.

The current minimum salary for OSU GEs of $1762/month ($21,114 a year) is not enough for GEs to meet their basic needs. No employee at a public university should be struggling to feed themselves, their family, or struggle to pay for rent. According to Oregon’s own Severe Rent Burden calculations, Corvallis is the most rent burdened city in our state with 37.1% of households spending 50% or more of income on rent. Under-represented and historically marginalized communities, including low-income and first-generation graduate students, feel the deepest impact of low wages.

We urge the university to ensure that all its employees can afford to live and contribute to the community in which they work. We ask that the university reach an agreement to that effect as soon as possible in order to avoid a strike and the ensuing disruption to the education of the ~30,000 undergraduates the university serves. We support wages and benefits that rise to meet inflation and ensure every employee and their children are housed, fed, and secure.

For Oregon State University to fulfill its mission to our community and state and to retain–and truly serve–its diverse student body, it must start compensating graduate employees fairly.

We, the undersigned, request OSU to increase the budget and compensation for GEs:

Representative Julie Fahey, Speaker of the House

Representative Ben Bowman, House Majority Leader

Representative-Elect Sarah Finger McDonald

Representative Dan Rayfield, OR Attorney General-Elect

Representative Khanh Pham

Representative Farrah Chaichi

Representative Zach Hudson, Chair of the House Committee on Higher Education, Union Member

Representative Rob Nosse

Representative Nathan Sosa

Senator Michael Dembrow

Senator Sara Gelser Blouin

Senator Kayse Jama, Incoming Senate Majority Leader

Corvallis City Councilor Charlyn Ellis