A Strike Authorization Vote (SAV) is a vote whether or not to give our bargaining team the authority to call a strike if circumstances justify. If a two-thirds (⅔) majority of Academic Student Employees (ASEs) votes Yes, this would allow the CASE Bargaining Team to call for a strike if circumstances justify, and when they decide such a step is necessary. A Strike Authorization Vote does not automatically mean we will go on strike, nor does it mean a strike would be called immediately following the vote.

ASEs have been trying to reach a fair agreement with the WSU since November 2022. We have bargained in good faith with the University and have made well-researched, evidence-based proposals based on priorities expressed by ASEs throughout the bargaining unit: livable wages, good healthcare, and strong, enforceable protections against harassment and discrimination. While we have made some progress (see the full-text and status of our proposals and Tentative Agreements here) the University is not engaged in good faith bargaining.

For example: WSU completely failed to negotiate over healthcare. They instead withheld information necessary to bargain the ASE healthcare plan, then presented a rushed unilateral decision which made it impossible for us to determine good alternatives to the current plan that would expand the provider network and make other key improvements. We have filed an Unfair Labor Practice charge against WSU for this failure (read details here). They have further failed to provide information about other critical bargaining topics, and have repeatedly canceled or shortened existing bargaining sessions. This bad faith negotiating needs to stop.

A strong majority of ASEs voting Yes in the SAV will send a powerful message to the University that we are united and prepared to go on strike should circumstances justify. Giving our bargaining team the authority to call a strike is a way to tell management in no uncertain terms that we deserve better. We hope the University works quickly to do better and work to reach a fair agreement with ASEs. However, should they fail to engage in good faith, we need to be prepared to exercise our legal right to strike. We are holding them accountable, and there will be consequences if they continue to bargain in bad faith.

In order to authorize a strike, a two-thirds (⅔) majority of voting ASEs must vote Yes. A vote would be conducted via secret ballot.

The more ASEs who vote, and the more ASEs who vote Yes, the stronger the message we send to WSU Admin that we will not back down until they bargain in good faith with us for the fair pay and benefits we need. 

This vote authorizes your bargaining team to call a strike in the future if circumstances warrant. A strong Yes vote will increase the likelihood that WSU will bargain in good faith to reach a fair agreement by sending them a powerful message from united ASEs. Should the bargaining team decide that it becomes necessary to strike, that decision will be informed by additional conversations about the timing and manner of a strike, and they will communicate that separately and clearly.

A Yes vote in the SAV does not obligate you to participate in a strike. However, a strike will only be successful with mass participation. The more united ASEs are, the stronger we are, and the more we can win.

A strike is a complete work stoppage. During a strike, ASEs do not perform our work duties (teaching, research, and all related duties), but instead participate in picket lines in and around our campuses to increase the visibility of the strike. ASEs will continue organizing in departments and across campuses to plan for the details.

In Washington state, strikes by ASEs are not prohibited by law. The statute governing our collective bargaining neither prohibits strikes by public employees nor grants the express right to strike. Because of this, it is likely that WSU Administration will claim that a strike is “illegal.” Yet many public sector unions in Washington—including other ASEs within our own union—can and do hold strike authorization votes and go on strike to win fair contracts.

ASEs at the University of Washington voted to authorize and then executed a one-day strike in 2018 and a 15 day strike in 2001. Just this year, over 2,000 Postdocs and Research Scientists/Engineers at UW went on strike for 9 days. UW Librarians participated in a one-day strike in 2022, and many public school teachers (like K-12 teachers in the Seattle School District recently) have carried out successful strikes in Washington State.

No UW ASE, Postdoc, Research Scientists/Engineers, or member of UW Librarians  was fined or disciplined, and no union was sued. As with all other union actions, our commitment to each other and our willingness to stand together in public is our best protection: our greatest strength is in our numbers and our solidarity. We will support and protect each other, and work with UAW leadership and representatives from our larger union to navigate legal or other challenges as they arise. 

Yes. International and undocumented workers can and do participate in union activities–up to and including voting in a Strike Authorization Vote and going on strike–to the same extent that domestic workers can and do.

Decisions about the date and length of a strike will be collective decisions made by ASEs. ASEs across all campuses are organizing and will continue meeting to discuss what it looks like to withhold labor and to ensure mass participation in picket lines and other strike activities. If you are not already connected with other organizers in your area, reach out to contact@wsucase.org to get connected and involved!

Absolutely. ASEs make WSU run by performing the work of its core mission: quality teaching and research. Not only would a strike shut down the University’s central activities, but it would also be highly visible. Workers, community members, and elected officials across the state and country show up to support striking workers, and many members of other unions will support by refusing to cross the picket line. There would also likely be significant press coverage, which can exert pressure on management by putting their bad faith tactics in the spotlight. By putting pressure on the WSU in multiple ways, an ASE strike would definitely have a major impact.

No. By refusing to agree to a fair contract, the University has forced ASEs to feel that we need to choose between our dedication to our work and our need for fair working conditions. WSU can choose to agree to a fair contract at any time, and when they do, we will all be able to do our teaching, research and more in a university that supports us much better.

Going on strike is a collective choice to put our work on hold in the short term in order to make our working conditions, our University, and higher education better for everyone in a lasting way. A strike does mean we would put our work on hold, but it doesn’t mean we would need to throw away research. ASEs care about our work, and we will work together to discuss how we can strike in a way that allows us to win what we deserve and get back to doing the teaching and research we care about. We will be following in the path of many other ASEs and other academic workers who have gone on strike and won huge improvements at the University of Washington, University of California, Rutgers, Harvard, University of Michigan, and many more.

You are expected to continue making academic progress. Academic obligations that you miss while on strike may have to be made up after the strike.

WSU can lawfully refuse to pay us for the work we don’t do while on strike. In the event of a strike, ASEs who complete our strike duties will be eligible for $500 per week of strike pay from the UAW strike fund. The strike fund exists because of the hundreds of thousands of workers across the UAW who contribute membership dues, allowing all of us to have this collective resource that builds our power.

As workers represented by UAW, we have access to UAW’s Strike and Defense Fund after losing pay for participating in a sanctioned strike. Strike benefits are $500 per week in strike pay, along with medical benefits in the event that WSU withholds healthcare benefits. We can also establish a hardship fund that can provide further assistance to workers who experience emergency financial hardship due to lost pay.

Yes. Strike pay of $500 per week is available to all workers, regardless of citizenship status. Support from the strike fund is not categorized as wages from employment and does not interfere with work limitations associated with student visas. 

It’s ultimately the WSU’s responsibility to make sure that any basic necessary maintenance happens during a strike. There are also ways that you can prepare for a potential strike. These plans could include advance-planning your experiments or informing supervisors that they may need to make alternative plans to take care of these subjects.

Our working conditions are our students’ learning conditions. Until TAs are treated fairly and equitably, our students are worse off. Fortunately, students have been expressing broad support for our campaign for a fair contract. In other ASE strikes, undergraduates have organized support by turning out to picket lines, creating petitions, and more–this kind of solidarity can increase the power of a strike and help put pressure on WSU Admin to agree quickly to fair working conditions.

TAs can prepare our students by talking to them about what’s going on and what they can expect during a strike: the normal work a TA would perform would be left undone for the duration of the strike. It can be helpful to remind ourselves and our students that ultimately, WSU Admin has the power to avert or end a strike by offering fair wages and working conditions so that TAs and other ASEs can focus on their work without scrambling to support themselves in other ways.