· Your Higher Education Bargaining Team
We Did It – We Have a New Contract!
We did it. Higher education members have overwhelmingly voted (97%) in favor of ratifying our new union contract!
If management had its way, we would have gotten 0% COLAs and lost critical workplace protections. Instead, we stood together, organized, built power and refused to give in.
Together, we won:
- COLAs: 3% on November 1, 2026, and 3% on November 1, 2027.
- Full steps each year
- Contracting out protections
- Layoff and bumping protections
- Increased access to new employee orientations
- And more
This victory belongs to every member who stood together, talked with coworkers, joined rallies and pickets, signed a strike pledge, voted to authorize a strike and prepared to walk out across all seven campuses. We didn’t just win a stronger contract. We built a stronger union.
This bargaining agreement shows what we can accomplish when classified workers stand together.
In unity,
Your Higher Education Bargaining Team
Read our local contract summary
What our new contract means: key dates and next steps →
From SEIU 503’s October 15 email, “We Did It – We Have a New Contract!” The October 2 union summary is the source for agreement details; it is not the complete contract text.