Bargaining Mediation Recap: 4/24/2026
Chants of “1, 2, 3, 4—WE ARE WORTH MORE!” rang through Downtown Portland on Wednesday, April 22nd, as you and your colleagues, along with our campus allies and community leaders, marched to the Richard and Maurine Neuberger Center, PSU’s “tower of power.” You carried with you the signatures of 249 adjuncts who are prepared to strike if the administration continues its destructive campaign against the university’s faculty, staff, and students. It was that potent energy that propelled your bargaining team back into the belly of the RMNC building on Friday, April 24th, to push for the fair contract that you deserve. When members of your team emerged at nearly 4:00 am on Saturday morning, they carried with them news of some important wins and a conviction that—as long as you and your fellow adjuncts can keep up the fight—we are on the verge of a critical victory.
The third mediation session of this bargaining cycle consisted of sixteen hours of negotiation. While the most substantial elements of the collective bargaining agreement remain unresolved, by the evening, the teams signed a tentative agreement on a set of articles that will have a meaningful impact on your working conditions here at PSU. The agreements on Article 6 (Academic Freedom), Article 7 (Member Rights), and Article 16 (Progressive Sanctions) enshrined consequential provisions within your contract, including…
Stronger intellectual property protections for adjunct work, an essential countermeasure in a time of escalating digital exploitation
Nondiscrimination safeguards for more protected classes of adjunct faculty identities
Greater recognition for adjunct success in the form of an increase to the Adjunct Excellence Award amounts to $1,500
Language to enforce academic freedom, allowing adjuncts to defend themselves from disciplinary action that would violate their rights by invoking their academic freedom protections in grievances and arbitrations. At such a perilous political moment for higher education, this represents a monumental win for adjunct faculty!
Major battles still remain on the most critical economics and job security provisions of your contract, but—thanks to the power of your solidarity—your union has continued the fight to preserve the profound gains already codified within your contract and to push for new advances toward fair-pay values and strengthened stability. Your union is holding time for sessions on May 4 and May 5, with expectations set for the administration to continue to negotiate asynchronously in the meantime. However, if PSU’s leadership shows any sign of changing course or backing off from its provisional commitments, your union reserves the right to declare “impasse,” a move that would effectively turn the process over to you and your fellow adjuncts to make good on the threat of your unprecedented strike escalation campaign.
We know that what happens in your classrooms and on the streets of our urban campus is far more important than the rhetorical maneuvering happening within the walls of RMNC. Your solidarity is what will determine the shape of your new contract. If you have not already, now is the time to join hundreds of your colleagues in pledging to strike, challenging the union-busting ambitions of this administration and replacing its austerity agenda with a vision that will support PSU’s faculty and staff and allow your students flourish. It’s time for you and your fellow adjuncts to flex your collective power and win the fair contract that you deserve.
Learn more about the bargaining process and the power of withholding your labor by signing up for a PSUFA Strike School on May 6th or 16th. See where the negotiations currently stand by consulting the bargaining issues tracker or catching up on the latest bargaining recaps here on the PSUFA website.