“What can you live with?”

This is the question from PSU Administration that reverberated throughout a rather tense return to the bargaining table for PSUFA and the University this past Friday, September 1st.

After over four weeks of waiting since receiving our counter proposals on July 28th, Administration has come back to us with a proposal package that looks remarkably similar to—and in many ways worse than—the package they presented to us on July 19th. Instead of the $3.3 million of their July 19th package, they touted the September 1st $3.5 million package as “unprecedented”, while curiously also referring explicitly to this proposal as nothing more than a “reallocation” of the money they had been previously authorized to offer. You might recall from our July 28th Bargaining Recap that Administration had already told us they couldn’t manage more than $3.3 million with an additional then-undefined $0.2 million, and we told them very clearly, in the very same meeting, that this would not be enough to bring us to where we need to be to reach equity with our full-time counterparts. And yet, they came back with it anyway…

At the beginning of their runthrough of changes, Administration proudly announced they had increased the COLA to the per credit minimum from 6.5% to 10% as we had asked, but as it turned out this was at the cost of everything else we had asked for. In order to make the 10% possible without also increasing their overall offer, the remaining proposals were either left unchanged from their original July 19th proposal or rescinded (with the exception of a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it increase to their previous proposal for researcher rates). As you can see in the full comparison document (linked below), some noteworthy changes from their previous package include:

  • Rescinded verbal agreement to pick up retirement at 6%
  • No length of service increase for adjuncts who have been employed for 12 years or more (collapsed into those who have worked 7 years or more)
  • Rescinded offer of additional $25,000 to Adjunct Faculty Assistance Fund for caregivers
  • Rescinded $15,000/year increase to Faculty Education Fund
 

For all the details on what the University offered in this session, you can check out our updated Comprehensive Proposal Comparison.

 

In the end, the additional $25 increase to the per credit minimum and 10% COLA comes at the cost of everything else, and still only puts us at a 1.7% increase over what PSU adjuncts were making in Fall 2019, adjusted for inflation. This again fails to bring us anywhere near equity with what full-time faculty at PSU get for the same work. This package is a non-starter.

 
 

Toward the end of the meeting, their team explicitly referred to the $3.5 million as their “ceiling”, and chided us for noting that all they had done since their previous proposal was rearrange the deck chairs. But talking about a “ceiling” at all in what is meant to be a negotiation shows a clear lack of willingness to engage meaningfully in the process and careless indifference to the needs and demands of our bargaining unit. They speciously insist that we are stalling the bargaining process by not negotiating against ourselves in these sessions. As you can see in the Proposal Comparison table linked above, PSUFA has already tentatively accepted a number of PSU’s proposals. Administration, however, has only tentatively accepted a single one of our proposals, and that was seven weeks ago. PSUFA has been and continues to be committed to engaging in a good faith negotiation, and we have demonstrated this in the adjustments we have made to our proposals and by actively trying to schedule bargaining sessions with the University over the summer. We are still waiting to see this commitment from the University, even as they try to claim in these meetings that we are the ones not moving and use this as justification to call for mediation as soon as the option presents itself legally.

What is clear from this most recent session, and Administration’s striking lack of willingness to engage with us in full-throated negotiation, is that the University is entirely focused on its supposed budget, and not the well-being and needs of the contingent faculty whose labor it cannot function without. When asked directly whether their team had at any point in the past four weeks requested more money to put together a better offer, they rebuffed us, saying that we were implying they hadn’t tried, but they never said they did, either. When presented with member responses to their proposal after our caucus—calling it “a bandage for a gaping wound” and “unconscionable”—they sat in palpable silence, not one member of their team uttering a single word until we moved on. Instead, throughout the session they suggested everything in their proposals is something they are “giving” us, insinuating that we should be grateful. We don't need to be grateful to bosses who don't pay us fairly, who don't offer meaningful compensation for length of service, who don't acknowledge the additional labor of its caregivers, and who won't contribute to retirement!

 
 

PSUFA and adjunct members are done with accepting bread crumbs from the University. They ask us, “What can you live with?”; We answer with one word: equity. That is what we continue to fight for. We have some questions of our own for Administration: What is it going to take for PSU to stop exploiting the precarity of adjunct labor? Does the University truly believe it is ethical to deny retirement and healthcare to PSU workers that are kept in contingent status year after year? Will Administration at this moment demonstrate care for its students, their education, and the educators that provide the essential work that holds up this institution; or, will they again choose profit over community? We ask: What does PSU stand for?

Instead of addressing the needs of their employees, Administration referred to these negotiations as “the start, not the end.” But, the start of what? Adjuncts at PSU have been enduring years of economic uncertainty amidst increasingly unstable employment. Adjuncts who are in unstable situations financially are not on solid enough ground to help resolve the student retention problem the University is facing. How long will we have to wait to be made whole and receive the equal pay for equal work we deserve? “What can you live with,” they ask? We’ve heard loud and clear from our membership that we can’t live with what Administration is offering. The University is kicking the can down the road when we need transformative and equitable change to this increasingly exploitative system, and we need a FAIR CONTRACT NOW.

By insisting on moving laterally—with a fixed budgetary “ceiling”—PSU is not committed to moving forward and not coming to the bargaining table in good faith. We are looking forward to continuing negotiations in mediation later this month as we believe PSU will come to recognize that in order to participate in an equitable economic reopener they will need to do better than offering what is essentially the same proposal again and hoping we will give up. PSUFA has the support of state senators, state representatives, elected regional government officials, and members of the wider Portland community, who have all signed on in solidarity with our demands (read the full Solidarity Letter and list of signatories here). We are invested in the process and will not give up; PSU needs to be invested as well.

In Solidarity,

PSUFA Bargaining Team
Ariana, Lyndsie, Vasiliki, Brittney, Alison, Rob, and David

Future Bargaining Sessions

Our next bargaining session (and our first in the mediation process) is tentatively scheduled for Monday, September 18th, from 9:00AM to 5:00PM. More details will be sent out via email in the coming days. You can also keep an eye on the event page on our Calendar at PSUFA.org for future bargaining dates and how to get actively involved while we are in mediation.

Bargaining Town Halls

Bargaining is a fraught process, and it can often seem confusing or challenging to follow. Maybe you haven’t been able to attend any bargaining sessions, or you have but you’re not sure about some of the details. Don’t worry; you’re not alone!

In order to make sure our membership understand what has happened so far in the process, what is currently happening, and what to expect down the line, PSUFA is hosting two All-Member Bargaining Status Town Halls in September.

 

Come talk with other PSUFA members about what you CAN live with and what equal pay for equal work means to you!

 

These Town Halls will be held on Thursday, September 21st, & Tuesday, September 26th, both from 5:00PM to 6:00PM. You can attend just one or both Town Halls, and both sessions will be held in-person in FMH B134 (basement level) in the PSUFA office with the option of attending over Zoom as well. Please RSVP to attend at the following link: https://forms.gle/xBQrYpi754vqRwH37