March 31, 2023
Overview of yesterday’s bargaining session (TL; DR):
- The WSU budget presentation by Kelly Westhoff has been rescheduled to 1PM on Monday (4/03)
- New Tentative Agreements on Recognition, Intellectual Property, and Travel
- We presented a counter proposal on Discipline
- Received counter proposals on Union Rights, Intellectual Property, and Health/Safety
Yesterday (3/30), we had our 5th bargaining session with WSU Admin! To see the proposals mentioned here, visit the WSU-CASE website.
- We reached Tentative Agreement on the Travel article, which ensures that ASEs will receive reimbursement for travel expenses and per diem.
- After a long back and forth, we also reached Tentative Agreement on an Intellectual property (IP) article. Although our TA generally allows for IP disputes to be navigated through the process outlined in Executive Policy 38, we added language to ensure that any ASE dismissal that occurred as a result of alleged IP violations would be subject to the grievance procedure, as this would provide more protection for members of our unit.
- We presented a counter proposal on Discipline. In this counter, we reiterated our interest in strong protections for ASEs, including notifications for investigatory and pre-discipline processes, a definition of administrative leave that clarifies when it may be used, and rights to notification and meetings for ASEs facing all types of discipline (rather than exclusively termination and suspension as management had proposed).
- Admin presented a counter proposal on Workplace Safety. We voiced some questions and concerns about their language before adjourning, and will continue to analyze their proposal in the coming few days. Healthy and safe work environments are a top priority. If you want to help fight for healthy and safe work environments, please respond to this email to get looped in!
- Finally, Admin presented a counter proposal on Union Rights. Management continues to hold the position that it’s not their responsibility to provide an ASE with a copy of their union contract, nor is it their responsibility to provide ASEs with the necessary information for joining the union with their initial hiring paperwork. We strongly disagree on this point as we believe every new ASE should be adequately informed of their rights under our future contract and should have the necessary information to join upon being hired. As a result, we will keep pushing for this language to be adopted in the union rights article of our contract.
If you want to get involved, there are three major ways you can participate and help this process move forward.
- Take the bargaining survey and pass the link on to make sure you and your peer’s priorities are incorporated into contract proposals! The survey takes only about 10-15 minutes to complete – in particular, we are hoping to hear about your anti-discrimination and harassment priorities so we can continue to assert to WSU Admin that these vital areas must be included in our contract!
- RSVP to attend a bargaining session. Our next session is Monday, April 3rd, with caucus starting at 9am and bargaining itself starting at 11am. Note: Kelly Westhoff will present on WSU’s budget at 1PM on Monday (4/03).
- Join a workgroup! Each workgroup develops proposals on specific subjects that we wish to negotiate. These subjects range from parking and wages to healthcare and harassment, and everything in between.
Is there a different way you’d like to get involved? Send an email to contact@wsucase.org to share your ideas on how you can contribute.
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)