As you all are aware, COVID-19 has and continues to impact the ever-evolving world we live in. Despite the pandemic, the PSUFA and PSU bargaining teams were able to come together in the past few weeks to negotiate over Zoom. PSUFA made progress in putting forth various proposals to improve our working conditions, including those pertaining to Oregon House Bill 2016. This Friday, June 12 was to be the next bargaining session but it has been cancelled. While PSUFA’s bargaining team has transitioned smoothly into the online bargaining platform, details beyond our control emerged this week that will put bargaining on hold for the moment. In the paragraph below I’ll outline why, as well as elaborate on when and how PSUFA is advocating for bargaining to resume.
Recently, PSU furloughed many employees on campus. The workers hit hardest by these cuts were those belonging to the SEIU union. These workers include technology specialists and many office workers, among others. Most of the PSU bargaining team also took furloughs and cut their hours from 40/week to 32/week. On this reasoning, they have suspended bargaining both with PSUFA and AAUP, the union for tenure-track and fixed-term faculty. PSU has pointed to August as the time to resume bargaining. We believe, though, that mixed PSU/PSUFA subcommittees can continue to hash out contract details in June and July and we will push for this action in the coming week. While it is our preference to continue negotiations over the summer, we are fully prepared and capable of resuming bargaining in August as well.
In the next week, updates will be forthcoming on our progress in this matter. Stay tuned.
In solidarity,
PSUFA Bargaining Team.