Our union is as strong as each of our participation. Join the bargaining, organizing, comms, legislative and political action, and grievance committees here.
Legislative and Political Action Committee
Since the April 3rd PSU AAUP rally to stop the cuts at the Board of Trustees meeting, our hard work secured letters of support against layoffs from 7 Oregon senators, 9 Oregon representatives, a city councilor, and a candidate for the Oregon House of Representatives. We also approved a process for political endorsements and made our first set of recommendations for political endorsements by our union. The Legislative and Political Action Committee has more exciting work on the horizon, such as participation in a May Day on the Park Blocks and coordinating members to record their own messages about what funding higher education in Oregon means to them. If building political power for our union and engaging in solidarity with other education workers here in Oregon sounds interesting to you, feel free to join the committee to support our work! Meetings are held over Zoom on Tuesdays at 3pm.
Grievance Committee
The PSU-AAUP Grievance Committee has been working hard to protect our contract and defend faculty rights amidst ongoing university restructuring. We’re focused heavily on both ongoing cases of individual and unit level contract enforcement and centering our fight against the impacts of the upcoming cuts and Article 22 retrenchment. The committee has recently filed a formal Step Three grievance regarding the university’s adherence to Article 22 (Retrenchment) procedures. We are concerned about the administration’s failure to provide a comprehensive, institution-wide analysis of the university’s financial health. We believe that by withholding certain financial data, the university is preventing a meaningful evaluation of whether proposed layoffs and unit reductions are truly necessary.
In addition to work on Article 22 strategy, the Grievance Committee continues to work on ongoing member cases such as actively resisting unilateral attempts to increase teaching loads, which bypass formal bargaining or regard for historical departmental norms. The committee is defending faculty rights by ensuring investigations into academic freedom remain neutral and free from procedural bias, while pushing for stronger protections against external harassment. We are monitoring restructuring to enforce contractual notification requirements and addressing pay discrepancies to ensure equitable compensation.
We remain committed to transparency and fighting for member rights. If you have concerns about your specific situation, please reach out to janrjh@gmail.com.
Organizing Committee
The Organizing Committee builds our union through turnout for events, recruiting unit reps, one-on-one conversations, new employee orientations, and more. Additionally, it’s helped the membership stage powerful actions that have pushed back against the administration’s managed decline and captured significant press coverage. In 2025, we experienced the best year of organizing for our local chapter in its past 34 years, gaining 30+ new unit representatives and 90 new members. Through this organizing work, PSU-AAUP has the highest membership density of any academic institution in Oregon. Additionally, we reinvigorated the unit rep system by spearheading unit rep check-ins to cultivate departmental leaders. By phone banking in departmental meetings, statehouse visits, and targeted email campaigns, PSU-AAUP members effectively got the statewide agency that determines higher ed funding (HECC) cut down from 5% to 0%. If you’re interested in getting involved, email EllisHews@gmail.com.
Collective Bargaining Team
The CBT is focused on protecting core contractual rights and minimizing layoffs. To reduce involuntary layoffs and better support affected members, we have advanced four key proposals. First, a time‑limited Retirement Incentive Offer (RIO 2) for 2026-27 would give eligible members a choice between a one‑time cash payment or a subsidized “health bridge” toward pre‑Medicare coverage, funded by a joint AAUP–University pool. Second, a Voluntary FTE Reduction (VFR) pilot would allow eligible instructional faculty to elect temporary or permanent FTE reductions, with tiered incentives, explicitly aimed at minimizing layoffs. Third, we are clarifying “good faith” and “reasonable” effort obligations in Articles 17, 18, and 22, adding concrete placement examples, a Joint Placement Committee in larger layoffs, and stronger notice and follow‑up for laid‑off members. Fourth, we are clarifying severance options under the existing Article 22 layoff-notice MOA so members have clearer choices about severance timing, outside employment, recall rights, and incentives for working through the full notice period.
If you are interested in the work of the CBT, and possibly joining the team in preparation for the next round of contract negotiations, send email to dtkpdx@gmail.com.