December 20, 2023
Yesterday, we had a short (2-hour) last minute bargaining session where Admin made clear that they unfortunately had not put together a substantive response to our proposals to address economic insecurity for ASEs.
TL;DR:
- Admin spent significant bargaining time arguing against ASE’s being paid a livable wage.
- They also questioned why we think TAs who are sole instructors of their course should be paid a higher wage.
- We reached tentative agreement on Workload, Holidays, Sexual Harassment Prevention Training (EPIC), and Child and Dependent Care via email
As a reminder, you can review all of the full proposals that were presented in the Bargaining Center.
We will continue to push for a fair agreement regarding ASE Wages, Fees, Healthcare, and Leaves. Admin’s most recent Wages proposal offers promising movement but it still does not come close enough to what ASEs deserve and require in order to live a dignified life and conduct their work for the university effectively. Admin have not moved on their Fees or Leaves proposals, they still propose no additional fee waivers other than what is waived by current practice, and no improvements on current parental leave. Due to Admin’s failure to bargain over health insurance in May, Healthcare benefits remain on the table. It is essential that Admin work with us to achieve a healthcare benefits plan that improves cost-sharing provisions and benefits like vision, gender-affirming care, and mental health care. We look forward to discussing this during a newly scheduled bargaining session on Thursday, 12/21.
It is clear that Admin are not responding seriously to our proposals, and that we need to work towards strike readiness. Our strike deadline is January 17th. Admin knows that all they have to do to ensure that we do not go on strike is wrap up the contract, but instead, they insist on wasting our time.
Here’s what you can do today to apply pressure to the bargaining process and ensure that we are able to win a fair contract:
- Join the conversation on slack – ask questions about strike readiness, and start figuring out how to get your department strike ready.
- Join a strike readiness committee: Picket, Community Engagement Committee, Direct Action, Political Work Group, Communications, and Collective Action Team at this link.
- Come to future bargaining sessions (sign up for information here).
- Co-host a Strike Readiness Meeting for your department, working group, or campus/REC to start discussing what a strike will look like for your group. If you haven’t already started speaking to your peers about this and would like help doing so, please reply to this email (or email contact@wsucase.org), and we will connect you with organizers that can help get you ready. If you HAVE hosted and can help other departments, reply to this email and we will connect to departments that need organizing help.
In Solidarity,
WSU-CASE Bargaining Committee:
Acacia Patterson, Physics & Astronomy (Pullman)
Adam Bozman, Carson College of Business – Finance (Pullman)
Andre Diehl, Comparative Ethnic Studies (Pullman)
Arianna Gonzales, Psychology (Pullman)
Aurora Brinkman, Psychology (Pullman)
Chelsea Mitchell, School of the Environment (Puyallup Research and Extension Center)
Chia-Hui Chen, Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences (Spokane)
Claudia Skinner, School of Languages, Cultures, and Race (Pullman)
Cody Lauritsen, College of Veterinary Medicine (Pullman)
Dano Holt, School of the Environment (Pullman)
Evan Domsic, Crop and Soil Science (Mount Vernon NWREC)
Gavin Doyle, English (Pullman)
Hannah Cohen, Veterinary Clinical Sciences (Pullman)
Kartik Sreedhar, Physics & Astronomy (Pullman)
Kayla Spawton, Plant Pathology (Mount Vernon NWREC)
Kelsey King, School of Biological Sciences (Vancouver)
Miles Hopkins, School of the Environment (Pullman)
Miranda Zuniga-Kennedy, Clinical Psychology (Pullman)
Naseeha Cardwell, Chemical Engineering & Bioengineering (Pullman/Tri-Cities)
Natalie Yaw, Chemistry (Pullman)
Ninh Khuu, Plant Pathology (Prosser)
Peter Obi, Pharmaceutical Sciences (Spokane)
Raymond Bennett, Psychology (Pullman)
Rebecca Evans, Biology (Vancouver)
Shawn Domgaard, Communication (Pullman)
Tazin Rahman, Electrical Engineering & Computer Science (Pullman)
Tholen Justin Blasko, Animal Sciences (Pullman)
Victor Moore, History (Pullman)
Victoria Oyanna, Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences (Spokane)
Whitney Shervey, Sociology (Pullman)
Yiran Guo, Mechanical and Materials Engineering (Pullman)