The Portland Tribune
By Shasta Kearns Moore
May 19, 2016
Graduate student employees are unionizing at Portland State University over what they see as poor working conditions and inadequate pay.
In a surprising twist, PSU management doesn’t seem too concerned about the new union joining the fray.
“We have been supportive of the work that they do,” says PSU Provost Sona Andrews, who is also vice president of Academic Affairs. “The administration and the faculty are looking forward to working with them.”
The Graduate Employees Union, which recently submitted its authorization cards to the state Employment Relations Board, would organize alongside the American Association of University Professors and the part-time faculty union, the Portland State University Faculty Association.
Ted Cooper, a graduate research assistant in computer science, says he wants to be in a union after seeing a dramatic increase in class sizes in that department over the last three years.
“I’m seeing my friends do twice as much work for the same pay and I want to do something about that,” Cooper says.
Anandi van Diepen, a graduate research assistant in urban studies and planning, says a university career has become increasingly difficult to attain.