Corvallis, OR – Chants rang out across the steps of Memorial Union on the campus of Oregon State University (OSU) Sept. 8, as 100 graduate workers, staff, professors and students rallied in support of a fair contract for the graduate employees. “Who does the work? We do! Who are we? C-G-E! What do we want? Contract!”

The rally, organized by the Coalition of Graduate Employees (CGE) Local 6069, comes after eight months of bargaining with the OSU administration. At stake are two core issues for the CGE: increasing the base salary to the minimum amount recommended by OSU's Graduate School and retaining a $300 per term fee relief.

“The minimum base salary has stayed as it is too long,” explained Michelle Zellers, the vice president of organizing for the union. “We might make as little as $9000 per year. We can't support ourselves. We're taking out loans and taking on extra jobs. It's difficult to give students all the attention they deserve when we're struggling to get by financially. We need a living wage.”

In fact, OSU pays the second lowest minimum graduate employee salaries compared to its peer institutions, said Rob Hess, president of CGE Local 6069. The minimal salary hasn't changed since 2006. “People are working at near poverty wages now,” said Hess, “and that's not something we will accept.”

Zellers told Fight Back! that the CGE was rallying support of the OSU community to demand a fair contract. According to Zellers, over 15 department chairs at OSU are supportive of CGE's efforts to raise the minimum stipend and retain the $300 per term that graduate employees receive to help pay their fees; a member of the Associated Students at Oregon State University (ASOSU) spoke at the rally in support of the graduate workers; and professors, staff, and members of other unions on campus have rallied behind the CGE.

After the rally, the protesters marched to Kerr Administration Building to present their demand that the administration sign a fair contract with the CGE. Chants of “C-G-E” and “What do we want? Contract!” echoed off campus buildings while students passing by waved and honked car horns in support. The demonstration marched up six flights of stairs to President Edward Ray's office. There, graduate employees and students confronted President Ray over the university's failure to implement a fair contract.

Michelle Zellers presented the union's demands and President Ray responded with vague answers. When President Ray tried to use the argument that the poor state of the economy was to blame, the protesters pointed out that the University has the money to pay the wage increases, but that it is choosing not to.

President Ray refused to make any specific commitments on the contract, but promised that he would work to resolve the problems within “the next several days and weeks.” The protesters left the building unimpressed with the lack of commitment, but prepared to continue the struggle for a fair contract, a living wage and just working conditions.

Rachel Brinker, graduate teaching assistant in the Women's Studies program, “Today's rally showed that our graduate employees are united. We demand to be taken seriously as employees of the university, and unfortunately in eight months of negotiations, that hasn't happened. We hope that will change starting now.”

#CorvallisOregon #CorvallisOR #StudentMovement #CoalitionOfGraduateEmployees #OregonState

Corvallis, OR – Over 300 students, campus workers, professors and community members rallied at Oregon State University on May 12, to protest the racist SB 1070 law in Arizona. Chanting “The people of Arizona are under attack, what do we do, stand up fight back!” the demonstrators marched from the Centro Cultural César Chávez to the center of campus, with banners and brightly-colored signs denouncing SB 1070, as well as another racist bill, HB 2281, which bans schools in Arizona from teaching ethnic studies.

Rocío Acosta, one of the leaders of the demonstration and a member of Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlán (MEChA), told Fight Back!, “SB 1070 is a ridiculous law. It is racial profiling.” Acosta continued, “As an organization, we believe in equal rights. We've been fighting for our people, for equal rights and education for everyone. This law is unfair not just to Latinos but to everyone.”

A broad coalition of student organizations worked together to organize the rally. The march was spirited and multi-national, uniting Chicano, African-American, Asian American, Native American, Filipinos, and whites—together in solidarity. It was a strong showing in the face of racist attacks against immigrants.

Speakers expressed outrage at the racist SB 1070 bill and the attacks on ethnic studies. This call resonated strongly among the protestors, as Oregon State University has an ethnic studies program and numerous cultural centers – Centro Cultural Cesar Chavez, Native American Longhouse, Black Cultural Center, Asian/Pacific Cultural Center, the Pride Center and the Women Center – that were won through decades of struggle, and which demonstrators promised to defend should attempts be made to attack ethnic studies in Oregon.

The Oregon State University demonstration is the latest in a wave of demonstrations sweeping across the United States in solidarity with immigrant families under attack in Arizona, and to oppose and overturn SB 1070 and now, HB 2281. More protests are being planned locally and nationally.

#CorvallisOR #ImmigrantRights #StudentMovement #AsianNationalities #ChicanoLatino #HawaiianNation #IndigenousPeoples #OregonStateUniversityOSU