OHSU Graduate Students Fight For Union Recognition

Breanna Caruso was among the OHSU graduate students at Thursday's rally, which was meant to put pressure on OHSU to drop its formal objection to the students unionizing. BLAIR STENVICK

Breanna Caruso spends her days searching for a cure for cancer.

As a second-year Ph.D student at Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU), Caruso researches how the immune system interacts with cancer cells, with the hope of finding a way to fight cancer more efficiently and with fewer patient side effects. She spends about 70 hours a week in the lab.

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On Thursday morning, Caruso joined about a hundred fellow OHSU graduate students and their supporters to rally at OHSU. The research students—about 250 altogether—made steps to unionize with AFSCME Council 75 in August. In September, OHSU’s legal counsel submitted a formal objection to the Oregon Employment Relations Board (ERB), the state authority on collective bargaining law.

The research students’ reasons for unionizing include needing to earn a living wage through their stipends and wanting more bargaining power for negotiating benefit coverage.

Caruso said she knew she wanted to be part of a union after OHSU recently raised graduate students’ annual stipends by about a thousand dollars a year, a sum that was disappointingly low to her.

“Housing prices are really rising in Portland and the cost of living here is increasing, so having a voice in situations like this where they’re talking about our future stipend is really important to us,” Caruso said.

She said the medical coverage she receives through OHSU is also lacking.

“Having a union would give us a voice on the types of benefits we’re able to receive," she said.

OHSU’s formal objection argues that graduate students cannot be classified as public employees under Oregon labor law. The objection cites a previous case involving Oregon State University, in which the Oregon Employment Relations Board ultimately sided with the students.

Oregon State University graduate students successfully unionized in 2012. That leaves OHSU as the only graduate school in the state that is not unionized.

“It was strange to us that they cited this case, because that case was decided in favor of the graduate workers,” said Jesse Koklas, an AFSCME organizer. “We believe this case has already been decided, but OHSU has a vested interest in stalling and preventing these folks from unionizing.”

Fifth-year graduate student Marc Meadows said that OHSU’s formal objection made him “feel like I’m not valued here as a worker," despite the fact that research students' work helps garner recognition and grant dollars for the school.

“A lot of the decisions that are made surrounding graduate students are made unilaterally, and made without our input at all,” Meadows added.

Another reason OHSU graduate students cite for unionizing is the impact that the #MeToo movement has had on the sciences. There haven’t been any recent reported cases of sexual harassment at OHSU, but unions can provide protections for students who might want to come forward with allegations in the future.

“We are inherently tied to our mentors … so it’s really hard to make complaints,” Caruso said. “Having a union would allow us the opportunity to really clarify and write out exactly what the steps would be for any issues that we as students would have.”

The point of Thursday’s rally, Koklas said, was to put pressure on OHSU to drop its objection before the case goes to a hearing next month. AFSCME plans to host a social media day of action for the campaign on Dec 5.

Caruso said that if the situation comes to a head, she and her fellow students are prepared to strike.

Update, 11/16: OHSU sent the Mercury this statement about its graduate program's unionizing efforts:

"OHSU is committed to supporting all of our graduate student colleagues as they pursue their Ph.D. degrees. This includes ongoing efforts to ensure stipends are competitive and to address concerns in regard to the quality of the educational environment. We’re also evaluating opportunities to enhance the benefits that they are currently provided.



As stated in our response to the Oregon Employment Relations Board, 'OHSU objects to the petition because the proposed unit of graduate students seeking Ph.D. degrees who receive stipends are not ‘public employees’ as defined by ORS 243.650(19) and ERB precedent. See: Coalition of Graduate Employees, Local 6069 v. Oregon University System, Oregon State University, Case No. UC-04-12, 25 PECBR 356 (2013).'



Regardless of what the ERB decides, OHSU is committed to continuing to work with our graduate students to address their concerns."