March 7, 2023
Yesterday, we had our second bargaining meeting with WSU admin. Throughout the day, your bargaining committee continued to advocate for open and transparent bargaining, presented new contract articles, and discussed the severability counterproposal from management. Please read on for a more detailed summary of today’s bargaining meeting. Further updates and all of the proposals mentioned here can be found on the WSU–CASE website.
The first item on the agenda was continuing to discuss ground rules. Since the start of negotiations, admin have argued that keeping bargaining open to all ASEs would cause disruption and that sharing proposals prior to tentative agreement may lead to confusion. Understanding the importance of transparency, we continued to hold firm to the commitment to keep this an open and participatory process. In addition, we discussed release time for Bargaining Committee members. This would support their ability to fully participate in the process without penalty or punishment. Ultimately, we were able to reach a tentative agreement with management regarding ground rules in which they dropped their objection to member participation in bargaining! This was an important win in maintaining a transparent and participatory process.
We also discussed the counter proposal on severability and presented new proposals regarding the following six topics:
- Holidays
- Voluntary Community Action Program (VCAP)
- Intellectual Property
- Dismissal & Discipline
- Layoffs
- Appointment Letters
As we continue with the bargaining process, WSU admin noted that they will present additional proposals and counter proposals but some may be delayed until they see more proposals to create a comprehensive agreement. For example, they would like to see our proposal on wages before returning a counter proposal on holidays. Similarly, they wish to come to agreement on our Grievance proposal before considering the proposal presented yesterday on intellectual property. Most proposals will require additional study from WSU admin thus they had few questions at the time of our presentation but some questions that were addressed regarded appointment letters for our TA and RAships. Our presenters did an excellent job fielding questions on these proposals!
Our next meeting with WSU admin is scheduled for March 20th. Between now and then, there are four big ways that you can get involved. First, is by taking the bargaining survey to make sure your priorities are being heard. Second, is by RVSPing to attend a bargaining session. Third, we highly encourage you to join one of our workgroups. Each workgroup focuses on one specific subject that we wish to negotiate. These subjects range from parking and wages to healthcare and harassment, and everything in between. These groups craft proposals that will be presented to LR. Fourth, is coming to the monthly meeting; keep an eye out for more details on this soon! These are all great ways to make your voice heard!
Is there a different way you’d like to get involved? Send an email to contact@wsucase.org.
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)