Bargaining Summary 9.8.23 and STRIKE Town Hall

This past Thursday was a long day at the bargaining table. 

Here’s the TL;DR:

To find out more details about proposals discussed at bargaining, read on below. As a reminder, you can review all of the full proposals that were presented in the Bargaining Center & RSVP to attend upcoming bargaining sessions (September 13 and 19) here.

This past Thursday, our ASE team presented a counterproposal for Leaves, maintaining our long-term leave for ASEs that are not eligible for PFML. Admin had previously proposed only 4 weeks of parental leave (our current benefit), which we know is not nearly enough for parents and doesn’t adequately cover ASEs who need long-term medical leave. Our proposal moved toward WSU by matching short term sick leave benefits with those held by other WSU employees.  

Admin presented a package proposal including Title IX, Grievance and Arbitration, Discipline, Appointment and Reappointment Notice and Job Descriptions, and Management Rights in response to our package from last week. Admin made movement toward us in Grievances, Discipline, and Appointment Notices, which will help to establish important new rights for ASEs. The most important outstanding issue in this package is admin’s concerns about conflicts between Title IX and our grievance and arbitration procedure. Our ASE team will continue to assert the crucial right for ASEs to have strong protections against harassment and discrimination in our contract. 

Admin presented a proposal for Immigration, where we are still far apart on issues including housing support for ASEs who relocate from outside the U.S. and support for visa costs necessary for ASE employment. Admin insist that visa issues only occur pre-employment. Admin also insist they cannot sign up to contractualize existing University immigration resources including legal workshops that are already being provided by Undocumented Initiatives. 

Our ASE team presented a counterproposal on Parking and Transit. This proposal moved towards Admin’s proposal on the cost of parking pass discounts, and maintained a focus on sustainable and safe transportation options such as including a commuter parking discount, emergency ride home program, and free transit passes at every location.

When our team presented our Anti-Discrimination proposal, a conversation around protections for ASEs ensued. As mentioned before, it is our adamant goal to enshrine language in a CBA that protects ASEs from harmful othering and discrimination. In opposition to this, Admin posit that language around Anti-Discrimination ought to reflect existing university policies, on the premise that ASEs should not be an exception if certain class protections are not extended to all employees at the university. Clearly this is an insulting argument that underscores a lack of protections across the university, and ignores the countless testimonies we’ve presented recounting incidences of discrimination and harassment that have occurred under current policy. 

Admin passed a counterproposal on Layoffs. The aim of our proposal is to ensure that ASEs whose appointments are reduced or eliminated get either an equivalent position or equivalent compensation regardless. Admin’s proposal limited this guarantee to a single semester of funding, removed provisions about reduction of work, and excluded hourly ASEs from these benefits entirely. ASEs will continue to discuss this counter in the coming week. 

Our ASE team asked Admin questions regarding their non-committal language around union orientation for new ASEs in their Union Rights counterproposal. Our proposal provided a union orientation as a part of existing orientations and onboarding events at the University, Hiring unit or departmental levels, with the intention of providing a dedicated and accessible environment for ASEs to learn about their legal rights and the CBA. Admin’s counterproposal rejected this language and instead suggested discussion of opportunities to place union orientation outside of existing events. Admin suggested events such as the Grad School Meet and Greet, which provides an orientation for hundreds of members of our unit, are inappropriate venues for ASEs to learn about our union because there are also non-ASEs in attendance. Our ASE team is prepared to counter this proposal again to guarantee an accessible and convenient environment for ASEs to learn about their legal rights under the CBA, and to meet with their union reps and fellow ASEs.

Join us at our Strike FAQ Town Hall Meeting on 9/12 at 6 pm to discuss Admin’s comments and to learn about the logistics of creating pressure to win what we need in our first contract. We will discuss what actions we can take and learn about the logistics of striking, strike authorization votes (SAV), and how collective action can help us use our power to win a strong first contract! RSVP here. To RSVP for bargaining sessions, bargaining committee meetings, or join our WSU CASE Slack, click here.

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)