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SEIU 503 HIGHER ED BARGAINING UPDATE Read in Spanish

Workers rally at WOU as bargaining moves toward OSU

Members, students and supporters rallied at Western Oregon University before our team exchanged proposals on layoffs, contracting out, AI and more.

By SEIU 503 Higher Ed Bargaining Team

Published

Western Oregon University workers hold signs supporting students and classified staff.
Image courtesy of SEIU Local 503.

We met late last week for our second bargaining session with university management at Western Oregon University (WOU) in Monmouth – university members, students and supporters got us motivated to head to the table by rallying and marching on Thursday, March 5 (see video here). Shout out to WOU and sublocal 82 for hosting this session and to Johnny Earl, a higher ed member and our union President, for being there to support the team!

We meet next at Portland State University on Thursday, March 19th (register to rally here) and on Tuesday, March 31st at Oregon State University in Corvallis (register here). If you are unable to rally at either of these events, you can still support bargaining by purpling up, showing solidarity with your fellow university workers as well as observing on Zoom.

Here is what happened at the bargaining table

  • Management presented the finalized executive summary of the market study at the table; if you have questions about the study, please follow up with a local union leader/CAT member.
  • Management proposed changes on Article 18 (Grievance and Arbitration), Article 19 (No Discrimination), Article 31 (Trial Service), Art 37 (Bereavement), Article 43 (Vacation), Article 48 (Reclassification).
  • Our team made proposals on Article 13 (Contracting Out), Article 16 (Personnel File), Article 44 (Layoff), Article 46 (Academic Year Positions), Article 54 (Computer Work Stations), and we proposed a new Article (65) on Artificial Intelligence.

Important information

Salary selective trainings are underway. If you attended the first session, please remember to attend again on March 10.

Zoom Observation Update

We invite you to join us virtually on Zoom to observe bargaining during our next sessions. You’ll get the sign-in information in your email shortly before the session begins with instructions on how to plug in on Zoom. Show your union pride by updating your Zoom profile pic (this is the small photo that shows up when you have your camera off) with our Higher Education campaign logo and safeguard your identity by using an anonymous, but respectful name (a fun video game character, a favorite pet, etc.). Instructions on how to update your photo can be found here. When a lot of members observe these sessions, we show just how powerful our union is!

Keep your eyes out for an economic survey in your email inbox next week - we will need your feedback as we continue to negotiate with management.

Keep building our power

Sign the strike pledge, talk with coworkers and follow the bargaining hub for the latest actions and updates.

Sign the strike pledge View the bargaining hub

Source note

This update was originally published by the SEIU 503 Higher Ed Bargaining Team and is republished here in Local 083's news format. View the original bargaining page.