5-15-23 Bargaining Summary

May 17, 2023

TLDR;
We had a short but productive bargaining session on Monday morning.

We presented a new proposal for ASE Workload expectations.
We received two counter proposals from Admin on Retirement and Accommodations.
We returned a counterproposal to Admin on Retirement.

As always, these proposals and counter proposals can be viewed on our online bargaining portal.

Here is more detail on what happened on Monday:

We presented a new proposal on Workload, which will protect the time that ASEs work in our assistantships and hourly responsibilities, ensuring that ASEs are not burdened by unpaid work. Our proposal introduced an expedited grievance procedure for workload-specific disputes so ASEs are not left waiting for answers on important and time-sensitive issues about overwork and unpaid work. Admin raised concerns about how to distinguish what parts of ASE work might qualify as “employment” and what parts might qualify as “academic”, particularly for RAs. They have signaled that the ambiguity between these two sides of our roles at WSU will make this a contentious conversation. If you have experiences or context you would like to add to this conversation, please join us at our bargaining committee meetings (2pm on Friday), our next bargaining session (May 24th 9-12) or share your experiences via email.

We received a counter on Retirement and sent a counter back to admin. In summary, we are bargaining to have these retirement benefits made more clear & available in an onboarding process for all ASEs. We do have access to retirements savings accounts as ASEs, but a majority of ASEs are unaware of this benefit because most of us are not adequately informed about it.

Admin presented a counterproposal to our Accommodations proposal with a great number of changes. We are continuing to review their counterproposal; here are a few key points so far:

Our proposal introduced a new interactive process to determine appropriate accommodations, in which the ASE and appropriate supervisors maintain contact to continue to assess appropriate options and success of accommodations.
Admin’s counterproposal removed the input we suggested to make the process & forms required for applying for accommodations more navigable. They also rejected our proposed timelines to ensure ASEs receive accommodations in a timely manner.
Admin’s counter aimed to return to bare minimum legal obligations e.g., in the case of sexual harassment accommodations and pregnancy-related accommodations, demonstrating a lack of care on their part. As a collective bargaining unit, we wish to create a safer and more equitable work environment premised on providing support beyond bare minimum legal obligations.

At the beginning of the meeting, we asked to hear more about their current position on our health insurance plan. We find it very clear that Admin must bargain health insurance with us. Yesterday, they indicated that they are unclear on their bargaining responsibilities and continued to gesture toward a law (RCW 41.56.20) that doesn’t apply to us. We tried to follow up on what this meant to us during bargaining, but they didn’t provide any further explanation or reasoning. The healthcare workgroup will continue working to propose a strong healthcare plan for 2024-2025 and beyond; you can sign up here if you would like to get involved. In addition, please continue to talk to your colleagues inside & outside of your department so everyone is aware that WSU has prevented us from bargaining a significantly better healthcare contract for 2023-2024.

Bargaining Continues!
This summer, we will continue to bargain for better employment standards for all TAs, RAs, GAs, tutors, graders, and other ASEs. We have new bargaining dates for the summer:

May 24th (9-12PM), May 30th (10-5PM), June 6, Jun 21, July 12, July 20, August 2 (10-5), August 15 (10-5)

*Unless otherwise specified, these days run from 9AM to 5PM.

As always, all ASEs are welcome to participate in bargaining by RSVPing here. You are welcome to come for any amount of time and participate however you feel comfortable; stopping by just to listen in is great too! You can also join workgroups or the weekly bargaining committee meeting by RSVP’ing here.

Don’t see a way you’d like to get involved in bargaining & organizing? Have other questions? Email contact@wsucase.org, and someone will be in touch soon!

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)
Coty Jasper, Integrative Physiology & Neuroscience (Vancouver)
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)