Spring Bargaining will be bi-weekly on Mondays, 4:00-6:00pm at Westminster House (April 2, April 16, April 30, May 7, May 21, June 4)
After one term of bargaining, CGE has made a lot of progress submitting the proposals our members want in their contracts. Below is a summary of everything we have submitted so far with the status of where this proposal currently stands.
CGE Proposals (We will make more proposals in our upcoming Spring Session, but these are what we’ve submitted so far):
Salary, Child Care, and Financial Hardships: We submitted the following financial proposals to OSU; a 4% salary increase; Pre-tax deductions for child care with the first $100 matched by OSU; creation of a GA position for researching and developing programs surrounding family issues; Establishment of a “Hardship Fund” to start January 1, 2019 with a baseline of $50,000 in the fund to be used by members with qualifying financial hardships.
OSU has only commented that they feel it “inappropriate” to include any benefits for our working parents. Their claim is that since we have an existing Letter of Agreement in our contract, which is set to expire Spring 2018 (now) and has no concrete provisions within it, we should not have made a proposal on child care. We reject this claim as child care is a mandatory subject of bargaining, which means that it is required by law for our employer to discuss topics concerning potential financial benefits for workers. Our proposal on child care is simply one small step in the right direction for our large community of working parents, and it will be of potential benefit for all our workers.
Status: Waiting on OSU.
Translation of Employment Documents: We submitted a proposal to provide Work Assignments and Offer Letters in a language other than English for employees, upon request. Included in this submission is also a provision to provide a summary of an employee’s contract rights with their initial Offer Letter.
OSU has not provided any statement or response yet to this proposal.
Status: Waiting on OSU.
Expansion of Resources for DACA recipients: This includes a guarantee of non-discrimination on the basis of citizenship status, the right to free legal consultation for DACA recipients, paid time off for DACA recipients to deal with legal matters, and the consistent dissemination of information concerning resources available at OSU and Corvallis for DACA recipients made public for our entire campus community.
We have given personal testimony on the significance of this proposal, and so far OSU has only commented that they believe the proposal will “create a duplication and a disparity” in existing OSU policies on DACA. They intend to give testimony in future sessions as well.
Status: Waiting on OSU.
Expansion of Gender-Neutral Restrooms: Already in our contract is the guarantee of gender-neutral restrooms within newly constructed or renovated buildings. We proposed these facilities be expanded by repurposing multi-stall facilities in buildings without plans for renovation so that every building has at least one gender-neutral restroom.
OSU has indicated they plan to respond to this proposal at a later date. Their initial comments indicated that their concerns are for “safety” in the case of multi-stall facilities. We are unsure whose safety would be negatively impacted.
Status: Waiting on OSU.
Inclusive Health Care and Better Process for Opt-Outs: Our members enjoy great health care, but in the past it has not been accessible to all. Due to this, we submitted a proposal to include WPATH standards of medical coverage, ensuring access for people who are trans to our Pacific Source coverage. We also proposed changes to the way OSU currently reviews applications for opting-out of our health insurance plan as many of our members have had challenges opting-out of insurance.
OSU has not made many comments about this, but has indicated they would like a person from Student Health Services come to a future session to talk more about OSU’s health coverage policies.
Status: Waiting on OSU.
Minimum Enrollment from 12 to 9 credits to maintain employment: We proposed that the current enrollment minimum to maintain employment as a GTA/GRA be reduced from 12 credits to 9 credits, as we have had many members report that the 12 credit minimum is often an additional burden and usually involves enrolling in unnecessary credits.
OSU has told us that the credit enrollment is largely due to the nature of state funding, where the state uses a model of giving funding to public universities in Oregon based on credit enrollment as opposed to total headcount.
We anticipate we will continue to discuss this matter in future sessions and see where our teams can find agreement.
Status: More discussion needed.
OSU Proposals:
Hourly: OSU has made a proposal concerning hourly work. OSU has stated, verbatim, that hourly work over the summer is acceptable. This is the current situation. OSU proposed a change to hourly work guidelines during the academic year to allow more flexibility for employing units to use hourly appointments when appropriate. OSU has claimed they do not wish to make these changes to get around our contract or erode the integrity of our bargaining unit.
Our team has requested that OSU put in language a guarantee that their proposal will not be used to evade our contract or remove access to benefits, as any worker on hourly does not receive benefits (e.g. health insurance and tuition waivers) or the protections our contract affords them. We also requested they clarify more the scenarios and definitions of when hourly work is appropriate. We anticipate more language on hourly in future sessions.
Status: Waiting on OSU.