Graduate assistants stepped up their unionization efforts yesterday with a rally sponsored by the Graduate and Fixed Term Employee Organization (GFTEO) on the steps of Old Main.

"One, two, three, four, Spanier open up the door! Five, six, seven, eight, why won't you negotiate?" GFTEO members chanted in a crowd of about 75.

The rally began GFTEO's authorization card drive, the first legal step in attempting to form a graduate union. Thirty percent of the bargaining unit -- graduate assistants -- must sign the cards in order for the state to allow an election to take place. If an election proceeds, the majority of graduate assistants must vote in favor of a union for it to be formed.

Nick Peterson, a representative from the graduate union at Temple University, told rally participants that Temple graduate assistants now receive substantial raises and benefits.

"Before the contract we had no control over our working conditions or our labor time," Peterson said.

He said the ultimate goal of graduate assistants should be that they do not work without a union contract.

Frank Snyder, a representative from the American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO), reiterated GFTEO allegations that the administration has been engaging in union-busting tactics by deceiving other graduate students.

"Tuition waivers and stipends do not give this university the right to exploit you for all the work you do," Snyder said.

He also said that Penn State has been using university funds to fight unionization efforts.

"I'll be damned if you [Spanier] think the residents of this great commonwealth will allow you to spend [money on union busting]," Snyder said.

Justin Leto (senior-computer engineering) addressed the students as a concerned undergraduate student.

He said resources for graduate research and teaching assistants have been spread thin and overstretched.

"It's starting to affect my education," Leto told the crowd.

He also said he is confused why the administration is saying they are doing more with less money in the midst of budget cuts.

"When Spanier is making $400,000, he is doing more with less!" Leto said sarcastically.

The administration has said a union would hurt relations between graduate assistants and administration and faculty.

But E. Paul Durrenberger, a Penn State anthropology professor, told rally participants there is no evidence from other graduate unions in the country that this will happen.

"Some people I've talked to wonder where that collegiality is now, without a union," he said.

Four universities in the Big Ten have graduate student unions, and Temple's union is fairly new. GFTEO organizers hope this will drive the momentum for a union at Penn State.

There are approximately 3,600 graduate students on assistantships at Penn State.

After the rally at Old Main, GFTEO members and supporters marched up Pattee Mall to Kern Building.

The protesters delivered a neutrality agreement to Eva Pell, vice president of research and dean of the Graduate School, and Penn State President Graham Spanier. The document asks them to sign their names in a pledge that they will not use "intimidation, harassment or retribution" to prevent graduate assistants from forming a union. It also asks them not to interfere with students' "free choice" to join a union, encourage faculty to fight the union or use university money to argue against a union.

Pell said she will not sign the document.

"The union organizers claim in this pledge that the only way for this debate to be held fairly is for one side to promise not to use its right of free speech," Pell said in a statement following the rally.