Petition to Re-instate 0.49 FTE for Graduate Employees in the College of Engineering at OSU
Scott Ashford, Dean of Engineering, Oregon State University
The College of Engineering at Oregon State University just slashed the hours of hundreds of Graduate Employees by 18% and reduced their workload by 0%! Help us fight to reinstate a 0.49 FTE for all Graduate Employees in the College of Engineering!
Petition by
To:
Scott Ashford, Dean of Engineering, Oregon State University
From:
[Your Name]
Dear Dean of Engineering Scott Ashford,
In Fall 2022, hundreds of College of Engineering (COE) Graduate Employees had their hours cut from 0.49FTE to 0.40FTE without a reduction in workload expectations. While we have been informed that there was an attempt to communicate this change with department heads, the vast majority of COE advisors were not informed of the FTE cut, and the workload for GTA and GRA positions does not reflect these changes. Overwhelmingly, Graduate Employees throughout the COE are still working just as much as we were prior to the FTE reduction, well over 16 hours a week. If we are still bearing the workload of 0.49 FTE, then we deserve to be paid at 0.49 FTE. If the intent of the FTE reduction was to actually reduce our hours, then the COE would be losing approximately 18,000 hours of graduate labor per quarter, and we have not seen any grant timeline extensions in order to accommodate these reduced hours.
This is a problem because the COE is treating FTE as a dial that can simply be turned up or down to balance their budget. This is not the case; FTE is a meaningful metric for how many hours Graduate Employees are contractually obligated to work and how many hours we are paid for. Additionally, the reduction in expected work hours does not reduce the work required for graduate degree completion and could extend graduation timelines. If the COE sets a precedent of adjusting work expectations without informing Graduate Employees or grant providers, this endangers the COE’s research productivity and exacerbates the risk of Graduate Employee exploitation.
Given all the issues described above, we demand the following:
1. All COE Graduate Employees are reinstated to 0.49 FTE immediately
2. Accurate, informative, and timely position descriptions as mandated and outlined in our Collective Bargaining Agreement
a. Our FTE accurately reflects the number of hours of work expected from us
3. A seat at the table for Graduate Employees when new policies around FTE, pay, or workload are considered
Sincerely,
COE Graduate Employees