Author Archives: GEU Communications

Bargaining Weekly on Mondays 11 am – 3 pm: https://pdx.zoom.us/j/89575632910

How much does PSU value GAs?

Good news! We can finally put a number on how much a single GA’s needs are worth to PSU administration. By dividing their proposal of a $10,000 emergency relief fund – that’s right, you counted those zeros correctly– with the number of GAs, we can give a precise measure of how much your university cares about you. $18 per year…

Feel valued yet? Keep in mind that this offer is in lieu of any health benefits, any childcare support, or any support for DACA and international GAs. We would normally say something here to get you riled up, but as they say, a picture says a thousand words.

However, if you’d like to express your feelings on how $18 a year will cover your needs as a GA, we are continuing our letter writing campaign until the end of the 27th. The form to complete a letter is here: https://forms.gle/6iwa22MSxNgNF2RP9 

You can also send your own letter directly to info@pdxgeu.org. And of course, if you’d like to see the minor miracle of our bargaining team holding back our eye rolls, you can attend bargaining sessions at the link above!

Weekly on Mondays 11 am – 3 pm:https://pdx.zoom.us/j/89575632910

Still no firm proposals from PSU

Hi GEU folks! Let’s dig into what’s going on in bargaining. We’re getting into the big issues today: healthcare, childcare, and assistance with DACA and visa fees. Three crucial issues, which happen to live in the same part of the contract: Article 21. You’ll be hearing about Article 21 a lot!

After over a month with no reply from PSU, it’s apparent their team had not even looked at our last proposal for article 21. They had even forgotten that the GEU team had presented it! Once PSU had finally reviewed the proposal, they suggested a vague “creative solution” rather than consider it. Details are sparse, but here’s the gist: still no healthcare support, still no childcare support, still no fee assistance… but instead, a single pool of money to use as an assistance fund for GAs with acute needs. Rolling all of these important and unique issues into a single blanket fund? Acute solutions for chronic needs? Consider us skeptical.

We’ll need to see the details, but there’s likely a long way to go in these negotiations. Perhaps this can be the start of a more fruitful conversation on all of the issues. Especially if all GAs stand up now to let PSU know how important the issues are for us.

Today in bargaining we made our case about healthcare. The verdict: PSU’s student health plan is bad! We compared it to its equivalent at University of Oregon and OSU, and it is significantly worse in every dimension. Our premiums are up to 11 times higher than the competition, and our out-of-pocket maximum up to 7 times higher. We don’t get dental or eyecare, or options to buy insurance for our dependents.

TL;DR – we pay much more, for much less health coverage. For details, take a look at our slides HERE

We have proposed that PSU fully subsidize our plan, and collaborate with GEU to select better plan options for future years, with more and better coverage. Now we wait for a response! Keep coming to observe our sessions every Monday from 12-3pm and stay up to date! Check your email for the link!

Other topics

We also heard from Becca Lawrence, incoming Assistant VP for Equity and Compliance, about some of the challenges of dealing with equity complaints and investigations. Welcome to PSU, Becca! We appreciated hearing from you. Also, special thank you to our speaker on Healthcare, Glenn! We appreciate you so much!

Next week we will present our arguments about childcare! Join us!