December 7, 2023
Yesterday we had an almost full day of bargaining with WSU Admin. It is clear that our Direct Action on Monday is showing results as we saw increased urgency from Admin and to movement toward agreement on key issues.
TLDR on what happened in bargaining yesterday:
- Admin gave us two proposals today, on Accommodations and Health Insurance. Via email, Admin passed us a Respectful Work Environment and Accommodations while withdrawing their Employee Rights and Responsibilities proposal.
- Our ASE team presented proposals on a Respectful Work Environment, Employee Rights and Responsibilities, and Accommodations
- We reached tentative agreement on Housing and Respectful Work Environment
- We had productive discussions on Professional Development and Career Counseling and Anti-Discrimination and Harassment
To find 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,, take a look at a Summary of Proposals & RSVP to attend upcoming bargaining sessions (December 11th, 13th, and 15th) here.
In total, Admin has 13 of the remaining 18 proposals on their side. They have scheduled additional bargaining dates next week in response to our sit-in on Monday, but just setting more dates is not enough! We need to keep pressure on them to make meaningful movement on economic issues, such as Wages, Leaves, and Childcare. To keep up the pressure, come to our next Direct Action tomorrow, Friday December 8th from 10am to 2pm. Fill out this RSVP form to receive information on the details and meeting location.
Our ASE bargaining team started off the day strong by reaching tentative agreement on our Housing proposal and discussing our Health Insurance proposal to remind Admin that they have not given us a response since we first passed it in June. We want to ensure that ASEs and their child dependents have access to affordable healthcare in the community in which they work and live.
Our ASE bargaining team passed back a counterproposal Respectful Work Environment and within a day we were able to TA the article! This article ensures that ASEs have protections in the workplace that shield us from abusive conduct and provide us with resolutions that allow us to continue to work and learn.
We followed up these proposals by having productive sidebar discussions with admin to talk through our mutual interests for Professional Development and Anti-Discrimination and Harassment (with a focus on gender-inclusive restrooms).
Our team passed back Admin’s proposal called Employee Rights and Responsibilities but noted that much of the language felt restrictive and unnecessary. In the end, Admin agreed with us on our original stance that the entire article was unnecessary and they withdrew the article! In addition, both sides passed counters on Accommodations, where we’re getting closer to a tentative agreement.
We will continue to apply pressure on Admin through direct actions, community-centered methods, and political outreach. Sign up to join a committee via this link.
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)