9.23.26 – Back to School with Your Union

A Welcome From Your President

It’s the start of a new academic year this week and a set of brand new classes for many of us. Welcome back! 

By now, you’ve heard most of our university leaders talking about the challenges we are facing: reduced federal grant funding, less public trust in higher education, program reductions or eliminations, attacks on academic freedom, etc.

I’m reminded of something my favorite sci-fi author, Ursula K. Le Guin, said in 2014 when she was awarded the National Book Foundation Medal. She said that so many of our big political and economic systems, along with their problems, seem set in stone. We can’t imagine how things could be different than how they are now. But she reminds us that these systems are not natural and inevitable. They were created by people like us. And people like us can change them (as has happened in the past) by imagining and working together for better futures.

Over the last few months, our state affiliates, AFT-Oregon and AAUP-Oregon have worked steadily to shift our conversations around higher education in Oregon. Oregon is currently 46th in the nation for public university funding. Union members throughout the state have been lobbying our legislators to change this and it has paid off. Elected leaders have promised to reorganize priorities and increase higher education funding, recognizing it as an important investment in future prosperity. 

 

We need to ensure we can maintain pressure on our political leaders to follow through on these promises. To that end, here at UAOSU, we have created a political action committee to harness the energy and commitment of our members for the work ahead. Please get a hold of Ron Mize, our VP of External Relations, if you would like to become part of discussion both locally and at the state level. Our Executive Vice-President, Marisa Chappell, has more to say about this later in the newsletter.

 

Likewise, in the next few weeks, you will probably hear from one of our members asking you to take part in a survey. We want to find out what issues you consider most important at OSU, including political organizing, prepping for midterm elections, as well as campus budget discussions. This information will help us identify the priorities for action and what you most would like to see change here at OSU.

 

I know that the temptation for many of us is to say that the challenges facing higher education are so big and complicated. We want to just focus on our own teaching and research because that is what we can control. I want you to know that you are more powerful than you believe, especially if you can work with your faculty colleagues to identify strategies for change. We might not be able to fix all of higher education (even though we are solving many problems right now), but I know that our efforts to build a strong union today are laying the foundation for a better future. Most importantly, I know that if we choose not to work together for transformation now, then challenges do tend to become much more stubborn difficulties down the line. 

 

There are so many places at UAOSU that you can tap into conversations for change: you can join our union if you’re not yet a member, you can come to a union meeting to connect with fellow faculty, join a UAOSU committee, become a member of the Representative Assembly, get involved in one of our caucuses, or just email us and tell us you want to get involved. 

Have a great term and we look forward to hearing from you.

In Solidarity,

Joseph Orosco, UAOSU President 

UAOSU Fall Picnic

You’re invited to kick off the new academic year with your union on Saturday, October 3 from 3-6pm at the Thompson Shelter in Avery Park! The Fall picnic is one of our favorite events each year and a great way to connect with academic faculty from across OSU. All academic faculty and their families are invited, so be sure to invite your faculty colleagues and friends to join you.

Burgers (including vegetarian/vegan options) and drinks (alcoholic and non-alcoholic) will be provided. We invite you to bring a side dish or dessert to share. Please RSVP at uaosu.org/picnic so we can prepare. Click here to add this event to your calendar.

Upcoming Events

• Fri 10/16 4-6pm – Odd Friday: Join us at Common Fields on Fridays during weeks 3, 5, and 7 of the term for a casual, family friendly, gathering with ample food and beverage options. Stop by and connect with other faculty!

• Wed 10/28 3-4pm – Instructor Promotions: Hybrid workshop in the Thought Lab (room 215) at the Memorial Union hosted by Amanda Granrud, UAOSU Chair for Membership & Organizing. RSVP at: uaosu.org/instructors

• Thurs 11/5 5:30-7pm – Fall General Membership Meeting: At the Memorial Union Journey Room. RSVP at: uaosu.org/fallgmm
• Fri 10/30 4-6pm – Odd Friday
• Fri 11/13 4-6pm – Odd Friday
• Thurs 12/3 12-1pm – FRA & RA Promotion Info Session. Zoom workshop hosted by Eliza Smith, UAOSU VP for Non-Tenure Track Research Faculty Affairs. RSVP at: uaosu.org/fraras

Campus Labor News

As we shared last week, our classified staff colleagues are gearing up for a potential strike at OSU and all seven public universities in Oregon. Members of SEIU 503, the union for classified workers at Oregon public universities, voted overwhelmingly to authorize a strike and last Friday union leaders notified the upper admin at each campus of their intent to strike starting Monday, September 28th, if the administration bargaining team doesn’t settle a fair agreement with them. You can read more about their negotiations on their higher ed bargaining site and show your support for our union cousins by sending a message to the university presidents calling on them to reach a fair agreement here.  

In addition to the labor actions of our classified colleagues, student athletes across the country are organizing, including here at OSU. In August, members of the OSU women’s basketball team filed for union recognition with the Oregon Employment Relations Board (ERB), seeking fair compensation for their work as student athletes. We were disappointed to see that OSU refused to voluntarily recognize their union, which is part of the United College Athletes Association (UCAA). Currently, the administration is arguing that the student athletes are participating in “extracurricular activities”, ignoring that their labor is what powers the reformed PAC 12.. This college sports labor movement also comes at a time when Congress is attempting to radically restrict how student athletes are treated and compensated. Currently, the Oregon Employee Relations Board is reviewing the UCAA petition for recognition and conducting  hearings to decide if student athletes are university workers with access to collective bargaining rights. We will report back with any additional updates or opportunities to show solidarity with these workers.

Workday Transition

Looking for your position description, current salary information, or pay stubs? As of July, it’s all housed in Workday! Some folks have noticed errors in their recent merit raises, salary rates, and leave balances that occurred when the university transitioned the information to Workday over the summer. Please take a moment to check that all this information in your profile is correct. If you notice errors, reach out to us at info@uaosu.org. You can access Workday by going to my.oregonstate.edu and logging in with your ONID. Once you’ve logged in, click the link to Workday on the front page.

Merit Raise follow-up 

Hopefully, you’ve either already seen your AY26-27 merit raise applied (in the July paycheck for 12-month positions) or will see it soon (in the September paycheck for 9-month positions). Please be sure to check your pay stub in Workday to ensure that your raise has been properly applied.

You may recall that we raised concerns last spring about HR’s direction to supervisors to limit raises above the 2% minimum to faculty who performed “transformative work.” We were clear to administration that merit raises must be based on actual evaluation of job performance, not an excuse to give minimal raises to accommodate tight budgets. The administration assured us that they agreed.

Although we objected to the “transformative” language, our primary concern is the actual assignment of merit raises. This summer we worked with Employee and Labor Relations (ELR) to develop a process for reviewing and addressing merit decisions that may violate the CBA – for example, merit raises that do not align with an employee’s annual review or a supervisor uniformly giving 2% (or close to it) across an entire unit or college leadership constraining or overriding unit-level merit decisions.

If you have concerns about your merit raise, please reach out to us at info@uaosu.org as soon as possible.

A Step in the Right Direction for Oregon Higher Ed Funding

Did you know that Oregon ranks 46th in the nation in per-student funding for universities and spends just 59 cents on the dollar against the national average? This is one reason university administrators repeatedly insist that students and employees must endure tuition increases, program closures, layoffs, and paltry wage increases.

Your state labor federation, AFT Oregon, is working to change this. As Governor Tina Kotek sought election endorsements this summer, AFT Oregon’s leadership urged her to commit to pursuing progressive revenue reform and significant increases in higher ed funding. Our position was bolstered by Oregon’s Higher Education Coordinating Commission’s strategic plan, which concluded that meeting Oregon’s goals would require more than doubling the higher education budget, providing annual increases of approximately $700 million to universities alone!

Our pressure worked. In late August, Kotek wrote to Oregon’s academic labor leaders committing to pursuing policies to align Oregon’s higher ed funding with levels in California and Washington (that’s the more than doubling that HECC proposed)!

AFT Oregon is now working with other major public employee unions and coalition partners on a campaign to win these policies in the next 2-3 years. By electing committed legislators, developing convincing and effective revenue mechanisms, and mobilizing in our communities, we can make higher education more affordable for students, fund crucial academic programs and student services, and ensure that higher ed workers get fair compensation and benefits.

Want to pitch in? Building strong locals is key, and there is a place for you in UAOSU, where you can serve on a committee, run for the Representative Assembly, attend union events, and keep your colleagues informed about your union’s efforts. As a UAOSU member, you are also a member of AFT Oregon, a state federation of 27 union locals representing more than 19,000 workers in K-12, community college, and higher education. AFT Oregon provides organizing, bargaining, and training support to locals and gives us a collective voice to champion the interests of education workers and public higher education in the legislature and governor’s office. AFT Oregon members are welcome and encouraged to participate in the federation’s work, whether by running for office, attending events and trainings, or joining the Politics, Policy, Legislation and Solidarity (PPLS) Council. – Marisa Chapell, Executive Vice-President