Graduate Employees Union of Portland State University

The Associated Students of Portland State University, the Graduate Employees Union at PSU, PSUFA AFT local 3571, PSU-AAUP, and SEIU Local 503 Chapter 89 reject the premise of the federally directed investigation into antisemitism at PSU. This investigation emerges not from a specific complaint from a PSU community member, but instead from the Trump administration’s desire to intimidate higher education writ large into compliance with the administration’s highly partisan goals and agenda by threatening select institutions with having their federal funding revoked. To achieve this end, the Trump administration has decided to weaponize a highly controversial and contested definition of antisemitism that conflates criticism of state policy with discrimination in order to suppress free speech, political dissent, and the academic freedom that is essential to a rigorous college education. 

We reject, and call on PSU leadership to reject, this and all other efforts by the Trump administration to characterize student, staff, and faculty protest against war and genocide as antisemitic or supportive of terrorism. Protests against state violence which has been identified by the international community as long-form crimes against humanity is not antisemitism, nor is support for Palestinian peoples facing genocide.

 We also reject harassment of any kind, particularly of our Jewish and Palestinian students, co-workers, and colleagues. We call on PSU leadership to protect students, staff, and faculty in response to this baseless investigation. We have a duty of care to all of the students who come to PSU and trust us with their education. It would be a failure of this duty to allow our students to be targeted by this spurious investigation. The stakes of this investigation for campus workers are high and the administration has an obligation to protect the campus community against baseless political investigations that seek to chill academic speech and freedom of expression.

Signatories

• The Graduate Employees Union at PSU (AFT/AAUP # 6666)
• SEIU Local 503, Chapter 89 (PSU)
• PSUFA AFT local 3571 
• Associated Students Of Portland State University
• PSU – AAUP

March 7, 2025

Millar Library Graduate Hub

Food 12:30pm

Event 1:00pm

RSVP Here to let us know you’re coming!

We need volunteers! Set up, Clean up, Flyering… Sign up to volunteer for the GMM here

You can find all these tools and more at our PSU Union Solidarity page.

We at GEU stand in solidarity with our fellow PSU unions, PSU-AAUP, PSUFA, and SEIU. All of us are committed to creating a safe, nurturing learning environment for students, faculty, staff, and community members. If you’re interested in helping, you can sign a letter of solidarity with PSU-AAUP.

Solidarity includes supporting our fellow PSU unions when they need to strike. You have the right to support in the following ways according to the GEU contract:

• Section 27.3 – Inability to Work During Strike of Another Bargaining Unit
  • ln the event that an employee is unable to perform their assigned duties because equipment or facilities are not available due to a strike, work stoppage or slowdown by any other employees, such inability to provide work shall not be deemed a lockout and GAs shall not suffer any subsequent loss of pay or benefits.
• Section 27.4 – Temporary Assignment During Strike of Another Bargaining Unit
  • In the event of a strike by other employee bargaining units, GAs may be asked to temporarily perform work that is not normally in their regular work duties, with the understanding that GAs will not be required to perform work that they believe is outside their area of experience, beyond their capabilities, beyond their FTE, or that they consider unsafe.” 

https://pdxgeu.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/GEU_CBA_2022-2026_0-1.pdf

One of the most powerful things you can do to show solicarity, and to advocate for yourself, is to track you hours. Tracking hours helps you to show what you work on and for how long, in order to ensure that your employer is not going against contract by requiring you to “perform work that they believe is outside their area of experience, beyond their capabilities, beyond their FTE, or that they consider unsafe.” 

Here’s a GEU Hour Tracker Template we’ve created to make it easy!

February 7, 2025

5:30 PM

Worker’s Tap

101 SE 12th Ave, Portland OR 97214

We’ll bring snacks, you bring yourself and your friends/family to hang out and talk union power.

By transit from main campus, take the 12 or 19 bus north to E Burnside and SE 12th Ave.

The Tentative Agreement (TA) GEU made with PSU on December 5th during our economic reopener negotiations has been ratified. With 80% of members participating, GEU has voted by 93% to approve the agreement (5% opposed ratification and 2% abstained). Thanks to our members for turning out to vote.

Summary of Ratified TA Changes:

Salary:

• 9% increase to minimum salary as of 12/16/24 to $20.57 (for the remainder for this school year); 5% increase as of 9/16/25 to $21.60 (for the 2025-26 school year)
• 3.5% Cost of living adjustment (COLA) applied 12/16/24 for the 2024-25 school year; 3.5% COLA increase applied 9/16/25 for the 2025-26 school year
• Anyone below the minimum currently or after COLA increase will have their salary increased to the new minimum
• $500 Fall term retroactive COLA one-time payment for current employees
• Removed language requiring GA to be in the same employing unit as prior year to receive COLA

Graduate Assistance Fund:

• $45,000 added for 2025-26 school year and all unused funds will roll over year to year
• Funds will be distributed monthly on paychecks (previously this was only distributed quarterly)
• Added language to allow coverage of expenses specific to international students (eg. fees charged each term).

Health Care Memorandum of understanding:

• PSU will hire a consultant to obtain information about options for and all costs related to providing either a GA group health plan or an ICHRA (Individual Coverage Health Reimbursement Account) to GAs as a benefit of employment. And will study the impact of these options on GAs who have their own coverage through another plan or the Oregon Health Plan
• Data and report from the consultant will be provided to GEU by 10/3/25.
• This info will inform successor bargaining which will begin in Jan 2026 instead of in March 2026 to allow for more time to negotiate our next full contract.

The full updated portion of the ratified contract can be found on our Contract, Constitution and Bylaws page here.