American Federation of Teachers President Sandra Feldman encouraged the Graduate and Fixed-Term Employee Organization to continue its efforts to unionize at Penn State during a rally yesterday.

Feldman offered the group, comprised of about 35 supporters, an assessment of the unionization process at Penn State.

"(Graduate students) must be treated as professionals," she said. "Today at Penn State, that is not the case."

Graduate students offer essential services to the university by being involved in the instruction of the core curriculum and in research, Feldman said.

Despite this, graduate students often don't have resources such as office space and computers available to them, she said.

During the rally, which was held outside of the GFTEO office at 234 E. College Ave., Feldman discussed the recent proposal by the university to increase health care coverage for graduate students.

Although the proposed changes for graduate students represent gains overall, Feldman expressed her disappointment that the GFTEO was not involved in the process of developing the changes.

"All workers have to have a voice at work," she said.

"That voice is the American way of life," she added.

Even though the GFTEO did not have a voice in the development of the proposal, the group was responsible for the changes being made by the university, she said.

Feldman also said that unionization by graduate students would not raise the costs for the university as well as its students.

"I think that gets raised by the administration as one of the reasons not to organize," she said.

The unionization would actually help improve the quality of undergraduate education at the university by providing graduate students with better resources for instructing, Feldman said.

"It won't be just GFTEO members that benefit from this change," she said. "That's what unionism is about."

The American Federation of Teachers is a national labor union that has provided assistance to the members of the GFTEO in their efforts to unionize the organization.

Jay Silverstein, GFTEO director of organizing, said that he thought Feldman's remarks were, on the whole, very accurate.

"She's able to really articulate a lot of the concerns," he said. "This is about Penn State. It's not about us as individuals."

Chad Lavin (graduate-political science) also offered praise for Feldman's address.

"I'm glad she's here," he said. "She gave a good assessment of education at Penn State."

Feldman also presented a public speech last night, during which she discussed the challenges that are currently facing labor unions due to a changing economy.