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RSVP to our next negotiations: Vanport Building (VP 515) 9/19 8:30am - 4:30pm Reduced Tuition Benefit The teams spent the morning discussing the staff fee privilege, which gives employees a reduced tuition rate. Administration made it clear that they are not interested in allowing laid-off employees to access the benefit while on the recall list. Pointing to the IELP layoffs as proof of concept, Administrators explained that they would prefer to bargain layoff benefits on a case-by-case basis. This would cause us to have to fight over benefits every time there are layoffs. We believe that is not only ineffective and inefficient, it would also lead to inconsistent outcomes, with some groups of laid employees getting better (or worse) deals than others. PSU argued that there could be different circumstances in each layoff, so bargaining each time could address those differences. However, they could not articulate the various circumstances that would make it necessary to bargain each time. And it is important to understand that individual bargaining for each layoff process gives those laid-off employees much less bargaining leverage than in full contract bargaining. Think about how much attention and support - across campus - we have in bargaining right now. Once this bargaining process is over, if a small group of employees gets laid off, it might be challenging to build the same level of solidarity and power across the membership, and so there would be less pressure on management to give them a decent deal. Under administration’s proposed scenario, members wouldn’t have the same ability to get an advantageous outcome from their piecemeal departmental layoff bargaining. Layoff Protections Because we could not get any movement from administration on the staff fee privilege, we shifted to a broader discussion of how to provide members with assistance if they get laid off. The members of the bargaining team presented options that would provide for more notice prior to layoff, improved job placement efforts, broader recall rights, and severance pay. Administration had a few questions about our options but did not have many solutions of their own to provide, other than the idea that we create a sub-group that works away from the table, and goes through the layoff matters at a later date. Over several sessions PSU management has made clear their preference to utilize a recall list instead of the layoff protections our bargaining team has proposed, however, Administration conceded no AAUP members have been brought back from a recall list since at least 2016. This topic also stalled out and so we had to move on. Extending NTTF continuous appointment deadline Then the administration brought up the idea of giving NTTF the option to extend their continuous appointment deadline if they are on FMLA. This is something that tenure-track faculty already have. Our colleagues on the bargaining team agreed to this almost immediately, as we are interested in moving the process of bargaining the working conditions we deserve as quickly as possible. Keeping our wages ahead of inflation Next, our bargaining team offered economic information showing how our pay increases have failed to keep up with inflation, especially since 2020 (see charts below). The gap between earnings and the cost of housing was especially stark. Despite the serious impacts on our ability to live where we work and to recruit and retain talent in our departments, there was little comment and no solutions proposed from the administration team. Our contract expires in 86 days To close the day, we discussed topics for our September 19th bargaining session. Administrators claimed to be unfamiliar with the specifics of our release time discussion from our previous bargaining session and wanted to revisit it before having a response. Due to the number of sessions administrators haven’t had responses, our bargaining team reminded the administration they could check the notes from the last session to draft their response and that our contract expires in 86 days. When bargaining resumes on September 19th we will be 72 days from contract expiration. Bargaining is not moving as quickly as members and our bargaining team would like. To show administrators they need to respond more satisfyingly to the bargaining priorities a supermajority of PSU-AAUP members voted for in bargaining surveys and departmental listening sessions, let’s make sure we have robust PSU-AAUP member turnout. RSVP to our next bargaining session in Vanport Building (VP 515) 8:30am to 4:30pm and recruit your coworkers to attend as well  Annual inflation rate for each month. Hovers around 1-3% up until Covid. In Covid recovery, prices increase and gradually return to normal levels. The orange dots are adjustments to salaries in our current contracts. In Covid, we had extended contract negotiations. We missed a pay increase and had two 1% increases. By the second, the inflation rate was up by 9%. In our 2022 contract reopener, we had an average COLA of almost 6%. That was the average. And this past January/February we had a COLA of 3.5%. When you look at these low COLAs and even though we return to tracking inflation rate, the gap between COLA and inflation rate is lost purchasing power.  The blue line is CPI (price index). Prices generally go up. The orange line is the COLA adjusted salary index. The trendline starts at 100 and salary is tracking, we step up one percent and then another. And then it’s flat. The widening area is lost purchasing power.  The green line, HPI, is Portland’s Home Price Index. The blue line is CPI (price index). The orange line is our COLA adjusted salary index. |
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Sept. 5, 2024 PSU-AAUP Bargaining update
September 06, 2024 / PSU-AAUP