Coalition of Graduate Employees

After about a year and a half, the 2008 $34 Summer Session Tuition Base case is closed, and the conclusion is a CGE victory in arbitration.  Under the arbitrator’s decision, OSU must reimburse all grad employees who were in the bargaining unit during Summer Session 2008 for the cost of the $34 charge.

The arbitrator’s written decision lays out that, because of the way the money from the summer session tuition base is used, the charge is really tuition and not a fee and is thus subject to remission under the tuition waiver guaranteed by our contract. Because arbitration hearings are generally precedent-setting, this reasoning may actually become a useful tool for CGE in fighting fees going forward. The decision itself is an interesting read, and I’d recommend it for anyone who has the time (it’s about as long as a regular academic conference paper).  You can download it below:

• Arbitrator’s decision on the 2008 $34 Summer Session Tuition Base case

There are about 130 or so grad employees who were in the BU during Summer Session 2008 who will be reimbursed under this decision.  Unfortunately, since OSU is not legally bound to apply contract protections to those not in the BU, the approximately 230 grad employees who were out of the BU during Summer Session 2008 and were forced to pay the $34 charge will not be reimbursed under this decision.  (This is just one more example why the OSU administration should agree to include all grad employees in the BU, as CGE has proposed in bargaining this year.)

If you are in the class of employees who will be reimbursed as a result of this decision, you will soon receive a check for $34, regardless of whether or not you are still at OSU.  Those in the affected class of employees should also expect to receive more detailed individual correspondence regarding this matter from CGE in the near future. If you believe you should be reimbursed and do not receive a check within the next few months, please contact CGE.

Today, CGE and OSU held an arbitration hearing over the $34 Summer Session Tuition Base grievance.  Though we can’t discuss specifics, we were happy with the way the hearing went.

We and OSU will submit briefs (summaries of our respective cases) to the arbitrator on Dec. 10.  After that, we will have up to 10 days to decide whether to submit a rebuttal to OSU’s brief and to do so if we so choose.  Then, the arbitrator will have up to 60 days to reach a decision.  That means that we should receive a decision on this case some time in February.

We are looking forward to receiving the arbitrator’s decision and will keep everyone up to date.

In an unexpected turn of events, OSU has repudiated the settlement they themselves had agreed to earlier in the summer over the $34 summer session tuition base grievance.  Their refusal to sign the agreement came after CGE filed a new grievance because grad employees were again forced to pay the summer session tuition base for the 2009 Summer Session.  Considering the fact that the settlement contained language specifically reserving CGE’s right to grieve over future violations related to the summer session tuition base, we see OSU’s repudiation as  retaliatory, and for this reason, we are considering filing an unfair labor practice against OSU.

In the meantime, we will proceed to take the 2008 grievance to arbitration.  A hearing on this case is currently scheduled for November 23.  We will also continue to push the 2009 grievance through the grievance procedure outlined in our contract.

After more than one year of fighting through the grievance and arbitration process over the $34 Summer Session Tuition Base Grievance, CGE has agreed to a settlement with OSU over the matter.

Under the terms of the negotiated settlement, OSU will reimburse all members of the CGE bargaining unit who were wrongfully charged the $34 Summer Session Tuition Base for the 2008 Summer Session.  Those employees who are still students at OSU will be reimbursed through a credit to your student accounts.  Employees who were wrongfully charged the $34 but who are no longer at OSU will also be reimbursed.  CGE currently has scheduled a meeting with OSU for July 29th to determine the mechanism by which former employees will be reimbursed.

We see this settlement as a victory for CGE.  As far as we know, this is the first time in CGE’s history in which a grievance has resulted in members being reimbursed for a fee they were wrongly charged. (Continue reading...)

Quick update on the $34 Summer Session Tuition Base grievance.  We just found out that the OSU administration deferred to the Oregon Department of Justice to handle the grievance for them in arbitration.  In other words, little old CGE is going to be arguing the case against well trailed lawyers whose job is to know Oregon law.  Doesn’t matter.  It’ll make it that much sweeter to win the thing.

Those of you who are interested in this grievance, start getting fired up.  We’re going to need all the member support we can get for this.  Though we don’t know if it’ll be possible, our goal is to have members be able to attend the arbitration hearing.  I think we might be able to put the DoJ folks off their game a bit if sea of grads show up sporting their (new, black) CGE t-shirts and beanies.