PAGE 2 | September 18, 2015 | NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
Classified workers at Oregon public universities get contract
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By Stefan Ostrach
Special Correspondent
EUGENE — College students
in Oregon will return to cam-
puses free of labor conflict this
fall. The union representing
classified workers at Oregon’s
seven state universities agreed
to new contract terms following
marathon bargaining Sept. 8-9.
The contract between mem-
bers of Service Employees In-
ternational Union (SEIU) Local
503 and the seven universities,
which bargained jointly, is a
four-year deal with a reopener
after two years on economics
only.
“We are delighted,” said
Marc Nisenfeld, who led the
SEIU bargaining team. He
called the settlement “a pretty
significant victory.”
Approximately 4,000 SEIU
members cook and serve food,
operate power plants, maintain
equipment, grounds and build-
ings, do clerical work, run pro-
grams, and provide other serv-
ices at the University of Oregon,
Oregon State University, Port-
land State University, Eastern
Oregon University, Oregon In-
stitute of Technology, Southern
Oregon University, and Western
Oregon University.
Leading up to the Sept. 8-9
negotiations, the universities
had declared “impasse” and the
union was preparing a strike
vote. Issues included cost-of-liv-
ing adjustments (the universities
initially proposed a one-half per-
cent increase every six months),
health insurance expenses, and
contract language concerning
overtime and layoffs.
Prior to the settlement,
Eleanor Wakefield, vice presi-
dent of Graduate Teaching Fel-
lows Federation Local 3544 at
the University of Oregon said
“the universities would find out
how important the classified
staff are” if they went on strike.
“I can’t imagine all the services
not being done on the first week
students are back.”
[GTFF Local 3544 had to
strike for eight days last Decem-
ber before it could get an accept-
able contract.]
Apparently the university
bosses couldn’t imagine a strike
either, choosing to make a good
offer even though two more
meetings were scheduled before
the start of school.
Among the gains, according
to Nisenfeld, are 2.25 percent
cost-of living raises in each of
the two years; maintaining em-
ployer payment of 95 percent or
97 percent of health insurance
premiums for full-time employ-
ees; three-quarter-time employ-
ees (.75 FTE) now qualify for
“full coverage” health insur-
ance; and shift-differential pay
for part-time employees.
“For the first time we gained
on making up for past sacri-
fices,” said Nisenfeld.
Going into negotiations,
some 1,200 of the 4,000 mem-
bers of the SEIU bargaining unit
statewide were making less than
$15 an hour. Nisenfeld could not
predict how many of them
would make above $15 as a re-
sult of the contract, but he said
the union would continue to
push to raise the minimum wage
at the Legislature or through a
ballot measure. He expressed re-
gret that his team was not able
to win a “wage floor,” but he did
note that they negotiated “selec-
tive salary adjustments” for
seven job titles, including a two
salary range jump for early
childhood educators—pre-
school teachers who were paid
between $10.43 to $15.28 an
hour.
The union beat back all take-
aways proposed by the univer-
sities (contracting out, layoffs
and overtime).
SEIU members will vote on
the tentative agreement by mid-
October.
Another union at the Univer-
sity of Oregon—United Aca-
demics (American Association
of University Professors and the
American Federation of Teach-
ers)—reached a tentative agree-
ment Aug. 17 on a three-year
contract. Just two weeks prior,
the faculty union had warned
members on its website of “the
very serious gap we face at the
bargaining table.”
Asked how the “serious gap”
was bridged in less than two
weeks, United Academics Presi-
dent Michael Dreiling said 150
faculty showed up for bargaining.
The administration saw that
the union had strong support,
“and we were prepared to take
negotiations into the fall,” said
Dreiling, an associate professor
of sociology. “We didn’t want to
do that, and the administration
surely didn’t want to do that.”
The new contract provides
for 8 percent salary increases
over three years. It also builds
on groundbreaking language in
the first contract to improve job
security for non-tenure track
faculty.
“Including our first contract,
we’ve now guaranteed raises for
faculty five years in a row,”
Dreiling said. “I’ve been at the
UO for 18 years, and I’ve never
seen anything like that before.”
The contract is subject to rat-
ification by the membership.