Come to the final bargaining session!!  

If you haven’t had a chance to make it to bargaining over the past year here is your last chance! This bargaining session is crucial because it is our last opportunity to demonstrate our unity and desire for change at the bargaining table.  

Before this session we will be having a rally through the park blocks. Be sure to wear your union shirts/buttons and bring a friend! Your attendance here can put pressure directly on PSU. If the PSU administration sees that GEU members like you show up and are willing to argue for their rights, then they are more likely to listen to our bargaining team!

To rally and march, join GEU in-person in the park blocks between Fariborz Maseeh Hall and the Karl Miller Library at 9 am Tuesday 10/27 for rallying. The march itself will begin at 9:30.

To attend bargaining, join GEU in-person from 10am-1pm in RMNC room 326 (Mt. Jefferson) or join via zoom

Even if you can’t make it the whole time, hop in when you can!!!

General Membership Meeting (GMM) Recap

This past Friday (10/16) We had our first GMM of the year! We had an awesome turnout and were able to present some important updates.

• Our bargaining team and contract action team have been hard at work trying to secure livable wages, healthcare, and protections for graduate assistants over the past year. For updates on previous sessions, check out the bargaining tracker.
• We want you to know your rights as employees. For example, our collective bargaining agreement (CBA) states that you have a right to know important information like what your expected duties and hours are, what your salary, tuition remission, and benefits will be, and you should be notified of this kind of information at least 4 weeks before the term starts. If PSU has violated these rules of our CBA, you may be able to file a grievance. Check out these links to learn more about what your workplace rights and Weingarten rights are.  
• The PSU administration continues to avoid and delay progress on the healthcare front. They are ignoring the timelines that they agreed to, and then argue against our proposals because they are “out of date.”
• Our organizing team has presented promising numbers about membership! We have many new faces in our ranks and we invite you to join a committee or team. If you are well connected in your department, we are looking for stewards. If you want to bargain (because there is still work to be done) you could join the Contract Action Team (CAT) or the bargaining team (B-team).

Upcoming events and other resources

• Check out the basic needs hub to learn more about resources such as the food pantry, assistance for applying for SNAP, housing services, health & wellbeing, as well as child & family assistance.
• Climbing Social! Come climb with your fellow grads! Every Thursday from 4-5:30 pm at the campus climbing center – Rec Center 3rd floor.

Find more events at the GEU Calendar page!

Did you know that the GEU hosts a number of social events as well as our general membership meetings each term?
These events are open to all graduate employees, regardless of union membership! Check out our calendar here, or read more about what we have coming up below!

Coming up next!

GEU Open House – Thursday, October 2nd 1pm-4pm
Come down to our office in Fariborz Maseeh Hall Basement 134 and meet the executive board, chat with your fellow graduate employees, and ask any questions you may have about the GEU!

Mean Girls Day GEU Social – Friday, October 3rd 4:30pm-6:30pm
Join us at Schmizza Pub & Grub on 415 SW Montgomery St on campus for a casual meet and greet and social event. We are hosting a start of term social on Friday- Let us buy you pizza!

GEU General Membership Meeting – Friday, October 17th 11:30am-1:30pm
This will be our first general membership meeting of the 2025-2026 year! Join us at Fariborz Maseeh Hall Basement 134 to discuss bargaining and CAT (Contract Acton Team, the folks focusing on organizing and working hand in hand with the bargaining team). Learn to join the B-team or CAT. Non-member graduate employees welcome, you can sign up for membership at the meeting if you’d like to join a committee/team!

GEU is excited to be partnering with Innovation Law Lab to host a Know Your Rights training! Supervisory Senior Attorney Kelsey Provo will be presenting on everyone’s rights as a US resident, and how to assert those rights when interacting with immigration enforcement, police, and other officials.

Innovation Law Labs work with Equity Corps Oregon and other partners to provide legal aid, advocacy, and assistance to immigrants and refugees. You can check out ILL’s know your rights materials as well.

Register Here: https://pdx.zoom.us/meeting/register/Tvg7hQ1vQtuIYYCGW3Ws5w

We’re working on getting more direct resources for y’all, but in the meantime here’s some we as graduate students, employees, and Portlanders have access to.

Legal Resources

• PSU Student Legal Services – since we pay (through our work) for student fees, we have access to Student Legal Services. They can’t help with conflicts with PSU students, faculty, admin, or staff, but they can (and do) help with immigration related questions.
• IMIrJ Accompaniment – From the Interfaith Movement for Immigrant Justice, if you want a volunteer to go with you to immigration-related appointments, someone can go with you.
• Latino Network – reliable legal help, information, and other resources.
• PSU also recommends Immigration Counseling Service, Catholic Charities of Portland Immigration Legal Services, and SOAR Immigration Legal Services.

Immigration Enforcement can be reported to Portland Immigrant Resource Center at 1-888-622-1510. If you see ICE officers or other individuals doing immigration related enforcement in our area, call it in!

Also remember, ICE is not allowed in any place on our campus that is not open to the general public. Classrooms and research labs and offices are not open to the general public. PSU is currently recommending that you call campus safety (CPSO, emergency #503-725-5911) or the office of general counsel (#503-725-2636) for assistance in dealing with any outside immigration agents.

We as a union can stand up on these issues, if folks come to help us do that. We have an International Caucus if you’d like to spend some time in solidarity with your fellow international graduate workers, and for everyone who wants to organize, we have our Organizing Committee.