Dear Colleagues,
In case you haven’t heard, last month our classified staff at OSU (SEIU 503) declared impasse in their Collective Bargaining Agreement negotiations at the state level. While we certainly hope that the Parties can come to a fair deal that provides the stability and respect our colleagues deserve, SEIU 503 is holding a strike vote this week and may be headed for a strike at all public universities, including OSU, in the coming weeks.
As that date approaches, it is possible that your supervisors will begin discussing work coverage for those employees, especially in our labs and research stations. Consistent with the expectations of state labor law, and similar to the advice we gave during the recent CGE strike, you should engage in those conversations with your supervisors and use your best judgment about any requests to cover other employees’ work.
That said, we believe that the administration is not permitted to make unilateral changes to faculty workloads without negotiation with your union, and without ensuring consistency with our Collective Bargaining Agreement. Accordingly, we have informed admin that we believe they are obligated to bargain with us in advance of any changes to faculty workloads. As of now, we have not seen a response.
We know your workloads are already heavy. You have your own work obligations codified in existing work assignments that you are accountable to in reviews and promotions. As such, most faculty do not have room to take on any additional workload. In rare cases where essential work absolutely must be covered, faculty would require significant offsets or compensation.
So while you should engage with your supervisor about planning to cover for striking workers, it is also absolutely appropriate to firmly communicate to your supervisor that you have concerns or limitations in regard to taking on additional workload.
If you feel your supervisor is pressuring you to accept changes to your workload that are unreasonable in any way, please let us know immediately. You can email us at grievance@uaosu.org, or info@uaosu.org.
We are also following declaration of impasse by our faculty colleagues at both Western Oregon University (WOU) and Central Oregon Community College (COCC). After several months of difficult negotiations with their respective administrations both unions declared impasse in August. If those workers also move forward to a strike, you may start to see faculty job openings at both of those institutions. Please be aware that such openings are designed to help those administrations lessen the collective power of their faculty. They are designed to break strikes. We would strongly encourage our faculty not to take those positions and lessen the power of collective bargaining among higher ed workers in Oregon.
The faculty at WOU are asking allies to show their support by signing on to their community support pledge. As opportunities to show support for our classified colleagues at OSU and the faculty COCC emerge we will share those with you.
In solidarity,
Diana Castillo, UAOSU Secretary