November 17, 2023
We had an excellent Post-Strike Authorization Vote (SAV) Town Hall on Tuesday with productive discussion on next steps to keep pressure on WSU Admin in order to win a fair first contract. Over the next week we’ll be continuing these conversations and planning logistics for our pressure campaign. Here’s how you can get involved:
- Monday 11/20: Bargaining session with WSU Admin @9am-5pm via zoom.
- This is a good chance to see if Admin will work to prevent a strike by bargaining with us in good faith. All ASEs are welcome to come; you can come any time for as long or short as you’d like, and you’re welcome to sit in to listen (no active participation is required).
- You can RSVP to receive the zoom link here.
- Tuesday 11/21: Strike Readiness Town Hall @ 6pm via zoom
- After having completed two bargaining sessions (11/16 and 11/20) with WSU Admin in the time since our successful SAV, this Town Hall is a crucial moment to come together and discuss whether Admin’s recent bargaining behavior demonstrates the necessary improvements, or if we will have to move to strike.
- Register for the Town Hall here.
- Let’s make sure we’re prepared to strike if we need to! Join the Community Engagement Committee, Direct Action Committee, or Picketing Committee here.
Our ASE Bargaining Team also had a busy day of negotiating on Thursday, 11/16. You can read a summary of the current status of most proposals here and the full proposal texts here. Here’s some of the highlights:
- Our ASE Bargaining team started the day by asking Admin to schedule bargaining sessions every day starting Monday 11/27. We are serious about winning a fair contract now and will bargain all day every day if that’s what it takes! Admin laughed our proposal off, saying that “obviously” they cannot bargain every day. We do not see this as a joke and will continue to press the matter.
- Rather than agreeing to more bargaining dates, Admin continued to state that they cannot see a way forward without a mediator. Our team was looking into mediators who could positively contribute to the process, but Admin decided to go to the State Labor Board (PERC) and ask for a mediator without us.
- We had a discussion regarding the Summer Session article. Admin continues to characterize our work as “opportunities” for ASEs, ignoring that ASE work is what keeps WSU running over the summer. Our team believes ASEs should be paid at the same rate if they’re doing the same work as during the academic year; Admin has said this is “not a model that’s going to work” for them.
- Admin passed counterproposals on Holidays, Anti-Discrimination, Leaves, EPIC, and Professional Development. Notably, in the Leaves article they have moved toward us on providing longer unpaid leave with maintenance of health benefits, but continue to push back on any longer paid family and medical leave benefits. In the Anti-Discrimination article, Admin have moved closer towards us by expanding protected classes beyond their current policies. However, they remain unwilling to expand the grievance timeline for cases of discrimination and harassment.
- Both sides passed counterproposals on Accommodations and Childcare. Admin has continued to reject the concept of a childcare subsidy, but after some discussion we feel there may be a path forward to that goal.
- Both sides reached a tentative agreement on our team’s last Immigration proposal! Among other things, this proposal will guarantee that ASEs have access to an annual workshop on resources related to visas and immigration and that ASEs may have foreign travel expenses associated with obtaining a visa reimbursed.
If you have any questions, please respond to this email.
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)