Direct Action Gets the Goods for Graduate Researchers’ Health Insurance

— guest post by Graduate Researchers United president Scotty Farley —

Perhaps the most urgent issue Graduate Researchers United has faced over the last year is maintaining consistent health-insurance coverage for our membership. The fragility of GRU’s health-insurance coverage was first demonstrated in April 2021, when our entire bargaining unit was mysteriously kicked off our PacificSource plan. Union leadership met with the OHSU’s benefits office and HR and were told that this was a one-off mistake on the provider’s end — that it would never happen again, don’t worry about it.

Over the next year, it became painfully obvious that this was not a one-off mistake. From our stewards we heard of case after case of graduate researchers being dropped from coverage, of being unable to pick up medication, of being told at doctors’ offices that they had no insurance, of receiving dire notices from PacificSource and alarming calls from bill collectors. 

Last November, GRU suggested a contract addendum that would have mandated regular audits of our coverage, obligated Benefits to provide basic information about our plan and ensured that no one would have to pay out of pocket for expenses they never should have had. We were stalled and put off by OHSU — told that this addendum was simply impossible and there wasn’t even really a problem, don’t worry about it.

So when I walked into the lab one morning in mid-February and heard from two of my labmates that they couldn’t access their health insurance, I was frustrated, but our union was ready. As it became clear that this was due, once again, to a bargaining-unit-wide lapse in coverage, it also became clear that this was an opportunity for direct action: an opportunity to make it clear to management that we — all of us — were fed up with this perennial, unacceptable failure to provide our members with basic benefits. GRU steward officer Rose Goueth and her team of stewards leapt into action, and by the end of the day they had filed grievances on the behalf of nearly ninety graduate researchers. Management was finally listening.

The direct action of our members — their willingness to step up — has produced more movement on this issue than we’ve been able to generate in a year of meetings with OHSU. Suddenly the contract addendum — including all of the provisions mentioned above — became not only possible, but obvious and necessary. Also obvious and necessary are procedural safeguards on PacificSource’s end, to verify with OHSU Benefits before they drop any of GRU’s members from coverage. These remedies may not solve all the issues — I would be astonished if they did — but they are concrete, grievable safeguards. And come the next round of bargaining, we may have more leverage to get a better health-insurance provider, which is arguably the best long-term solution.

The power of collective action within the membership of one union is only strengthened when unions act in solidarity with each other. GRU appreciates all the support and solidarity Local 328 has given us over the years — and the actions we have taken together. We’ll update on this situation as it unfolds if there is a need and opportunity for further support, and we look forward to supporting Local 328 in your efforts to bargain a new contract this year. 

In solidarity,

The GRU Executive Board