Delay Portland State University's Return to Campus: Sign the Petition

PSUFA, along with PSU-AAUP, SEIU Local 89, and GEU are requesting urgent action now, and asking Portland State University to return to remote learning in order to protect our students, staff, and faculty from spreading and contracting COVID-19.

With record numbers of COVID-19 cases in our state and across the nation and breakthrough cases in Oregon at 14% (of known cases), PSU needs to take urgent action to ensure the health and safety of not only our PSU faculty, staff, and students, but also the city and state-wide community.

We believe that remaining remote for the foreseeable future would drastically reduce the chance of a major outbreak on campus (which has already happened at other institutions). Returning to in-person would have ripple effects throughout the community, and would drastically contribute to the life-threatening pandemic that rages across the globe.

Click the button below to sign the petition, and read the full letter below.

Dear President Percy, the Board of Trustees, and Provost Jeffords,​

With record high numbers of Covid cases in our state and across the nation and breakthrough cases in Oregon at 14% (of known cases), PSU needs to take urgent action to ensure the health and safety of not only our PSU faculty, staff, and students, but also the city and state-wide community (see “Oregon, once a virus success story, struggles with surge”). The current alarming upward trajectory of the Covid-19 pandemic, which is reaching the highest numbers since the beginning of this nightmare, proves that the risk is higher than ever, and it’s safe to predict that infection rates will only increase should more and more people begin to congregate in person. The current rates have been increasing dramatically during the summer months while schools and universities have been either remote or out of session, and there is little reason to believe that the pandemic will be under control by the time faculty, staff, and students will be expected to return. Those that have already returned or been working in-person have experienced breakouts. Furthermore, many offices on campus do not allow for social distancing from those with whom we might meet or share space. While it hasn’t been easy, our University has delivered high quality remote instruction and support to our students for the last 17 months, and for the health and safety of our community, we must continue remote learning and support until it is safe to return to campus. We are still in a global pandemic and it’s on the rise.

A large number of staff are currently scheduled to return to campus on September 7 and the University has not shared a detailed plan for contact tracing, nor is there a plan for regular testing for those that aren’t vaccinated. Our vaccination requirement does not ask for any proof. Furthermore, the university isn’t currently requiring people to report their positive Covid tests; rather the policy simply states it’s “strongly recommended." The administration needs to prioritize the health and safety of its employees, students, and beloved city.

We believe that remaining remote for the foreseeable future would drastically reduce the chance of a major outbreak on campus (which has already happened at other institutions). Returning to in-person would have ripple effects throughout the community, and would drastically contribute to the life-threatening pandemic that rages across the globe. Does Oregon need to be the site of the next variant? Furthermore, remaining remote would allow for all those impacted to prepare in advance, rather than finding ourselves in a situation where we would have to pivot back to remote work without notice. The safety and consistency that remote options provide would be the most socially responsible, compassionate, and prudent way to proceed until the pandemic has ended. We can not return to campus when we know it will put every person and those they love in a life or death situation.

We understand that some staff members will need to continue to be on campus as has been the case since March 2020. We are grateful to all those that have been on campus the last 17 months and by most of us staying remote this has let those workers have safer in person conditions. WIth increasing case numbers and higher transmission rates, on campus workers must be provided with PPE in the form of N95 masks and assistance with properly fitting those masks. These folks also need hazard pay. Remote meeting, advising and teaching will reduce the risk of exposure on campus and create a safer environment for those that are on campus.

We request urgent action now to protect our students, staff, and faculty!

Portland State University American Association of University Professors (PSU-AAUP)
Graduate Employees Union of Portland State University (GEU of PSU, AFT/AAUP)
Portland State University Faculty Association (PSUFA)
Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 89

Meet PSUFA's New Chair of Political Action!

Meet the newest member of PSUFA’s Executive Council, Erica Thomas! Erica, an adjunct in University Studies and PSU alum, joined the Executive Council recently as our new Chair of Political Action. We sat down and asked her a few questions about her work, what she sees on PSUFA’s horizon, and how members can get involved.

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Where and what do you teach at PSU? 

I teach a class called Design Thinking in the University Studies Department’s SINQ (Sophomore Inquiry) program. Design Thinking is a discipline that is often geared towards business, but the way I approach it is all about understanding and addressing complex problems in the world. I teach students how to do experiential research, dig deeply into why these problems exist, and then to imagine ways they could do something to change them. I love that my students in University Studies are coming from all different departments at PSU. It means that I get to have conversations with them about a lot of different subjects, and help them think about how those interrelate with societal problems and struggles. 

My educational and professional path has led me into lots of different roles doing things like communications, branding, and design, but also art and political organizing, and of course teaching in various capacities. My education is in art. I have an MFA in Contemporary Art and Social Practice from PSU. Since 2017 I’ve also run a business leading workshops with topics like Equity in the Workplace, Identity & Messaging, Research & Innovation, and Strategy & Growth for organizations and individuals. I’ve also always been someone who is politically active since I was young. I bring all of this eclectic experience into the classroom with me and I think the students really enjoy it.

When did you first get involved with PSUFA? 

I was an SEIU member from 2008 to 2012 when I worked in the PSU IT Department, but I didn’t know we had an adjunct union back then. When I got hired to teach in 2019 I immediately joined the union and I remember at the first meeting I attended I told PSUFA co-chair Ariana Jacob that I wanted to run for a seat. Since I only teach every once in a while, I ended up joining the Bargaining Action Team and helping with organizing bargaining observation, membership outreach and communications, and other projects. I’m still participating in the Bargaining Action Team, which has transitioned to focus on building solidarity among our members and strengthening our bargaining power for our next cycle in 2022. 

You're the new Chair of Political Action. What does that mean to you? What's on your agenda for the future? 

I ran for the Chair of Political Action because I wanted to see our union have a more public presence in terms of taking positions on policies and participating in political actions, as well as building relationships and community support both within PSU and with politically aligned groups. What that looks like practically is doing things like planning events where we meet members, organizing trainings for departmental stewards, publicly supporting other striking unions, showing up as representatives of our union at events like the Medicare 4 All March in July. 

I’m currently representing PSUFA in a national consortium of higher education labor organizers called Higher Ed Labor United. We are planning a series of actions across the U.S., including at PSU, in September and October to demand government-funded college for 2- and 4-year students, minimum of 75% of professors to be tenure track, and a living wage for all staff and adjunct faculty in higher ed. Right now we’re working on presenting this vision platform to potentially sympathetic senators like Bernie Sanders, Ron Wyden, Jeff Merkley, and others.

I’m interested in getting students more involved in the union and prioritizing building solidarity with them. We like to use the slogan “Teaching conditions are learning conditions,” which is something a lot of the students I have met with can relate to.

“I’m interested in getting students more involved in the union and prioritizing building solidarity with them. We like to use the slogan ‘Teaching conditions are learning conditions,’ which is something a lot of the students I have met with can relate to.”

I also think it's important to enjoy organizing. So I want to find ways to make being in our union feel both empowering to our members, and also fun!

How would you like our membership to get involved with local politics or political action this year? 

I’d love to see our members talking to their coworkers about why they are a union member, to share what we are doing to make working conditions better at PSU. The best way to build strength as a union is to have more members. That’s how we will win the conditions we want like better pay, job security, and employer health care. I’d love for our members to show up at rallies and marches and to participate in collective activities like reaching out to local and state politicians telling them to support issues that are important to us. There are so many labor-adjacent issues that relate to inequality, like supporting health care for all, eviction moratoriums, and so on. I also think self education is an important part of being politically active. Join a reading group or an organizers’ meetup. 

What do you like to do when you're not teaching or working on PSUFA stuff? 

As a social practice artist I make art in lots of forms. I produce a youth-centered show on KBOO Community Radio called Art Talk Bus Stop about labor in the arts, where teenagers interview artists about how they do their work and make a living. I have started making fine art prints and artist books over the last few years. On a trip to the Southwest last winter I started collecting natural pigment in the form of dried clay, and using that to make my own inks to print with. I also really like to be outside and do physical things. So I have a big vegetable garden, go hiking and backpacking, swimming in lakes and rivers, running and biking, as much as possible.

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Interested in joining the PSUFA Executive Council? Email us at communication [at] psufa.org.

Report from the 2021 Higher Ed Labor Summit

Last week, representatives from PSUFA attended the 2021 virtual Higher Ed Labor Summit. We joined 300+ higher education organizers from over 75 unions and organizations that represented over 300,000 academic workers across the United States.

Scroll down to read the final Vision Platform the organizers put together that envisions a bold, unified vision for higher education that prioritizes people and the common good over profit and prestige! You can also read it as a PDF here.

At the end of the summit, organizers held a briefing for legislators and the media, which you can watch below.

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Higher Ed Labor Summit: Building a Movement to Transform U.S. Higher Education Vision Platform 

We envision a future in which higher education is treated and funded as a social good and universal right. We envision a U.S. higher education system that works for and is led by workers, students, and the communities it serves. We envision a system that secures our nation’s democratic future and serves as a vehicle for addressing inequities. 

We envision public and nonprofit private institutions of higher education that prioritize people and the common good over profit and prestige. We envision institutions that redress systemic oppression and pursue equity along lines of race, gender, class, sexuality, nationality, indigeneity, age, (dis)ability, and immigration status for students and higher ed workers across all job categories. We envision institutions that honor the right of all workers to organize a union and collectively bargain, and commit to the fair working conditions crucial to achieving our educational mission. 

We envision a higher education labor movement that connects workers across job categories, ranks, systems, states, and sectors. We envision a movement that forms coalitions of and builds democratic power for all workers. 

The Challenges We Face 

For decades, our state systems and their institutions, working conditions, and learning environments have been compromised by public disinvestment, financialization, corporatization, and a transition to debt financing. Higher education has been underfunded, and management has prioritized generating revenue and allocating funds to divisions that yield the highest return on investment and to upper-administrator compensation. 

Workers and students have borne the burden of these structural shifts. All categories of faculty, professional and service staff, and student jobs have been cut, narrowed, outsourced, and remade into contingent, at-will positions. At the same time, upper-administrator positions have grown. The majority of faculty (at least 70%) are in adjunct or contingent appointments. This precarity presents a threat to job stability, educational engagement with students, long-term student outcomes, and academic freedom. Expanding faculty and staff contingency disproportionately impacts women and LGBTQIA+ workers, and workers of color. Tenure-track and full-time employment have declined while workers and students pay the price with lower wages, little to no benefits like health insurance and retirement, and rising tuition and fees. This results in workers and students experiencing the same precarity, leading to increased attrition, faculty turnover, and withdrawals. Higher education institutions have increasingly turned to private lenders, forcing them to prioritize Wall Street and corporate-donor demands over public interests. Students have been transformed into debtors–carrying more than $1.7 trillion in debt today. 

Without renewed investments and changes in governance, these crises will worsen. 

The Opportunity to Transform Higher Education 

Even as we face generational challenges to the integrity and future of our not-for-profit education system in the United States, these colleges and universities function as educational, economic, social, and cultural anchors in communities. So we also see enormous opportunities to reinvest in and restructure the system—which employs more than 6 million people and educates many millions more—along more just and equal lines. To transform U.S. higher education as we envision will take a movement of workers, students, and communities united across union and geographic lines. 

Therefore, as local and statewide higher education unions and ally organizations, we make the following commitments to organize for and win a just, equitable system that serves the core public educational mission for which we all strive. 

Commitment 1: Nationwide Action for Federal Government Intervention 

In order to address these national crises, we call for coordinated nationwide action to move the federal government to: 

1. Establish the right to a quality, debtless, universally accessible, and secure higher education for students, workers, and communities, with intentional mandates to increase access and retention for people historically or presently excluded on the basis of race, gender, class, sexuality, nationality, indigeneity, age, (dis)ability, and immigration status. 

2. Enact legislation and rules to regularize and stabilize higher education employment on a national scale, and to ensure fair terms and safe work conditions, living wages and steady careers for all faculty, staff, and undergraduate and graduate student workers. 

3. Enact legislation to guarantee the right for all higher education workers to organize a union and bargain collectively in every state. 

4. Invest in rebuilding higher education across the country and its territories while linking expanded federal funds to consistent and higher labor standards. This funding includes physical, research, healthcare, and human infrastructure that serves our public service mission, and formation of a public finance system to free higher education from depending on private banks for debt financing. 

Commitment 2:  Nationwide Action to Realign Our Campuses 

In order to address our campuses within these national crises, we call for coordinated nationwide action to move our upper administrators and boards to: 

1. Engage in collaborative shared governance in which all categories of faculty and staff, student groups, and unions participate at all levels and have decision-making power and key leadership roles, and surrounding communities have avenues to participate in balanced collaborations and partnerships. 

2. Align campus and state budgets with educational priorities, and focus on fulfilling the declared education al mission while meeting the direct needs of the faculty, staff, and students who are central to it. 

3. Reduce the average ratio of upper-administrator compensation to faculty and staff compensation to an equitable standard. 

4. Implement financial transparency by making available to unions and other university stakeholders all relevant financial documents used in the budgeting processes. 

5. Categorize student workers as campus employees for pay, healthcare benefits, and collective bargaining rights. 

6. Improve the immediate working conditions for all contingent faculty and staff via employment standards that include job security, pay equity, healthcare and retirement benefits, caps on course loads and section sizes, caps on case management and student services loads, safe and harassment-free work environments, collective bargaining rights, and shared governance. 

7. End precarious contingent employment and create justly compensated work for all campus workers (full time or part-time): 

a. Increase full-time staff density by redefining most current contingent and outsourced staff and service positions as benefitted full-time campus positions; prioritize moving current contingent workers at scale into those positions. 

b. Increase tenure density and establish a broad tenure standard for all faculty that recognizes the op tions of teaching tenure, service tenure, and research tenure for current instructors and faculty as well as future hires; prioritize moving current contingent instructors and faculty at scale into these positions; establish job security with stable employment, pay equity, pro-rated benefits, and research access for instructors and faculty who remain non-tenure track. 

8. Establish academic freedom for all workers and students as central to the educational mission, which has been undermined by the casualization of labor.

Commitment 3: Action Steps Toward Commitments 1 and 2 

We propose nationwide coordination and planning to: 

1. Organize to win the College for All Act, including provisions for a pipeline to tenure-track and full-time jobs for current contingent faculty and staff. 

2. Organize to win related legislation that increases federal and state funding for higher education, with the goal of eliminating the student cost of attending college while requiring institutions that receive these funds: 

a. Provide job security and promotion pipelines for non-instructional staff. 

b. Move rapidly and at scale to a supermajority tenure-track teaching and full-time instructional workforce, while guaranteeing job security and seniority for instructors who choose not to participate in tenure. 

c. Categorize undergraduate and graduate student workers as campus employees. 

d. Provide pay equity and regular raises for all campus workers. 

3. Organize to win federal legislation to attach labor provisions to existing mechanisms of federal funding (e.g. National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), National Institutes of Health (NIH), National Science Foundation (NSF), Pell grants, etc.) to ensure that institutions honor workers’ right to organize a union and bargain collectively in good faith. 

4. Pursue federal rule-making with the Departments of Labor and Education regarding categorizations and labor standards for contingent and contract workers, employee status, and job definitions; tie these rules to accreditor recognition criteria and procedures. 

5. Organize to win the cancellation of student debt to repair the harm of higher education disinvestment, which has disproportionately impacted black, brown, indigenous, and working-class people. 

6. Develop and organize to win federal legislation, campus policies, and where possible state legislation and rules that acknowledge and dismantle the colonization and theft of Indigenous lands; create and fully fund indigenous-led programs to recruit, retain and support Indigenous students and faculty; establish institutional shared governance systems that formally incorporate into decision-making the indigenous peoples upon whose land these campuses sit and benefit from. 

7. Organize to win federal legislation, campus policies, and where possible state legislation and rules that address reparations for historical and ongoing systemic oppression and inequities, including fundamental changes to campus policing, as part of a commitment to building civil rights unionism and solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement. 

8. Organize to win federal legislation, campus policies, and where possible state legislation and rules that require our institutions to divest from fossil fuels and invest in green construction, renewable energy, and the end of single-use plastics. 

Commitment 4:  A Unified National Movement 

We commit to work and build solidarity together to fight in our communities and across the country and its territories as a true coordinated higher education labor movement to transform our systems and our lives.

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If you’d like to get involved in organizing to build the movement, please fill out this form.

AFT-Oregon's 2021 Legislative Report

We’re proud to share this message from AFT-Oregon about the 2021 Oregon Legislative Session. Read on and download the PDF for the full report.

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Executive Summary

It goes without saying that the 2021 Legislative Session was unlike any other session Oregon has witnessed in recent memory. From gavel-in to adjournment sine die, Oregonians watched as the Legislature attempted to navigate a worldwide public health emergency and conduct the people’s business.

In order to accomplish this, legislative leadership ramped up a fully virtual session that found one of the most accessible capitol buildings in the country closed to the public. While this action was a key contention of the session—leading to a short-lived walkout by Republicans in late February—business carried on with the use of video conferencing for public hearings and strict protocols for floor votes.

While the overall session went as smooth as it could have, it was not without complications and controversy. The Oregon House of Representatives lost several days throughout the session when positive COVID-19 tests were identified among members and staff—leading to the cancellation of multiple floor sessions and many members missing for floor votes due to illness and isolation.

This session also saw two members of the House forced to vacate their seats. The first, Democrat Rep. Diego Hernandez, resigned under growing pressure to do so based on multiple allegations of harassment in the workplace. The second, Republican Rep. Mike Nearman, became the first legislator in Oregon’s history to be expelled from the Legislature after evidence surfaced of his involvement with armed protesters at our capitol.

Despite all of these roadblocks and distractions, a majority of legislators were able to work together to meet their constitutional obligation of crafting and passing a budget for the next biennium. The efforts of the Ways and Means Tri-Chairs were buoyed by a very optimistic May revenue forecast and the infusion of federal American Rescue Plan funds.

Progress in Education

When it comes to issues related to pre-K to 20 education, the Legislature spent this session debating bills and budgets aimed at providing quality, equitable education and child care access for all Oregonians. Some highlights of these efforts include, but are not limited to: expanded health care and unemployment insurance access for part-time faculty and classified staff; increased financial aid for students; the inclusion of class size as a mandatory aspect of collective bargaining; and the use of American Rescue Plan (ARPA) funds to increase access to child care throughout the state.

On top of the many policy efforts, the Legislature allocated over $3 billion to the Higher Education Coordinating Commission (including $900 million for the Public University Support Fund and $703 million for the Community College Support Fund), just under $7 billion to the Oregon Department of Education, fully funding the Student Success Act and providing $9.3 billion to the State School Fund for the next biennium. Outstanding issues with the State School Fund are set to be addressed during the interim.

AFT-Oregon Legislative Victories

Adjunct Faculty Health Care: SB 551
PASSED: OR Senate 20-9 | OR House 50-5
A historic legislative win over a decade in the making, SB 551 will ensure that AFT-Oregon adjunct faculty members have access to quality and affordable health insurance. With nearly $13 million allocated to the newly created Part-Time Faculty Insurance Fund established by SB 551, adjunct faculty who work at least half time will be provided the same employer offered health insurance available to their other faculty colleagues at the home institution selected by the adjunct faculty.

Student Loan Forgiveness Eligibility: HB 3255
PASSED: OR Senate 20-2 | OR House 52-6
Further addressing inequities for adjunct faculty, HB 3255 will require notification to all eligible education employees in Oregon about the Public Loan Forgiveness Program (PSLF) as well as direct institutions to credit adjunct faculty with 3.35 hours of credit for every one hour of instruction—a much-needed policy to ensure adjunct faculty can participate in the PSLF program.

UI Clarity for Education Assistants: SB 495
PASSED: OR Senate 21-7 | OR House 40-17
The passage of SB 495 provides clarity for education assistants when trying to access UI benefits. By aligning statutory definitions of “instruction,” SB 495 removes confusion within the Oregon Employment Department and provides clarity about which employees a “reasonable assurance” test must be applied to.

Removing UI Barriers for Classified Staff: SB 496
PASSED: OR Senate 22-6 | OR House 46-9
With the enrollment of SB 496, the Legislature removed the unfair restriction on UI eligibility for school employees in Head Start programs and food service and ensured these employees will not face adjudication when trying to access UI benefits.

HECC Voting Rights: SB 712
PASSED: OR Senate 18-10 | OR House 50-10
AFT-Oregon’s HECC Voting Rights bill will extend voting rights to the existing Higher Education Coordinating Commission (HECC) positions for students, faculty, and non-faculty higher education staff and creates one new position to extend much-needed representation to graduate students.

Read or download the full AFT-Oregon 2021 Legislative Report here (PDF).

Oregon Adjunct Healthcare Bill PASSES!

WE WON! The Adjunct Health Care Bill PASSED and will be signed into law by the governor later this summer!

Thank you to everyone who wrote letters and spoke with your legislators! We did it! 

This is nationally significant legislation: It is the first time that a state has acknowledged its  responsibility to help cover the cost of insurance for us as necessary public employees who make public higher education possible. 

We still have many implementation details to figure out, so we don’t yet know when this coverage will be available for us, but we do know that people who teach 18 credits/year or more at PSU or the equivalent FTE across multiple public universities and colleges in Oregon will qualify. Those who are eligible will have access to their employers’ health plans and the state will pay 90% of our insurance premiums.

Adjunct faculty and our parent union AFT Oregon have been working to pass a version of this bill for 13 years, so this is a HUGE win. We absolutely still need to fight for access to affordable health insurance and healthcare for all people, but there is reason to believe that this bill is a meaningful step towards state-supported healthcare for all.

Other Legislative Wins for Oregon Education

Higher Education

• Public University Support Fund: $900 million

• Community College Support Fund: $703 million

• Oregon Opportunity Grant: $200 million (nearly $30 million increase)

• Funding to help cover health insurance costs for adjuncts who are newly eligible through the adjunct healthcare bill

• $337 million for university construction projects and deferred maintenance at all public universities

• $77 million for matching funds to help finance 11 community college construction projects

• $5 million for new Benefits Navigator positions at community colleges and public universities (HB 2835)

K-12 State School Fund: $9.3 billion

• Increased funding for the Student Success Act, including $892 million in student investment grants and $436 million for Early Learning

• $17.5 million for broadband access for schools

• Establishment of an education plan for LBGTQ+ student success

• Increased funding for the Latinx student success plan

• STEM program funding targeted for diverse students

• $125 million for capital improvement matching funds and $110 million for seismic rehabilitation grants

Early Learning

• $68 million to expand preschool programs, adding more than 4,000 slots

• $9.5 million to establish the Early Childhood Suspension and Expulsion Prevention Program, establish a statewide social emotional learning framework, and enact provisions to diversify Oregon's educator workforce (HB 2166)

• Start-up costs for the new Department of Early Learning and Care (HB 3073)

• Increased funding for relief nurseries, the Early Childhood Equity Fund and for parenting education

• Establishment of a new Tribal Early Learning Hub (HB 2055)

How Adjuncts Can Apply for Unemployment in Oregon

Sarah Chivers, a Portland State adjunct and former PSUFA executive council member, just put together this resource for adjuncts to apply for unemployment in Oregon. Check it out! And thanks for putting this together, Sarah!

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Filing for Unemployment in Oregon

1. Have all of your employment records from the past 18 months ready. 

Include calendar with academic teaching schedule and fall/winter/summer breaks when students do not meet with you, employer(s) contact information, your personal info (SSN, address, phone, email), earnings information to answer all questions in the Online Claim System.

2. File an initial claim (or restart a claim if you’ve done this before) in order to do the next step—claim “weekly benefits.”

You must file your initial unemployment claim ASAP (immediately when you stop working for your college).

3. File a weekly claim on Sunday or Monday every week you are not working and request the state to pay you benefits.

You will have to provide a declaration about your employment search for the week (where you looked for work, what you might have applied for, etc).

4. Begin your claim online.

If you need help, us the electronic contact option on the website and someone will call you within 48 hours. In my experience, once I spoke with a representative, I made a lot of progress with my claim. (It took me 9 months, but I should receive up to $4,000 in back pay for a course I lost during the pandemic in 2020. I spoke with three adjudicators in that time and each one helped me get further with claiming more benefits than I thought I was eligible for.)

Keep track of your Customer ID and every communication you have with OED (via email or phone). 

Other Considerations

Your weekly unemployment benefit amount will be based on your past earnings records. It can be tricky estimating your earnings in given pay periods and work cycles because colleges count our work time differently than OED. Consult each HR website (typically under payroll information, earnings history, paystub) to provide accurate reporting of your gross income at each college you work at. Your base pay will be the basis for how OED calculates the weekly benefits you will receive. 

There is a minimum amount of work you must do annually (currently 520 hours in Oregon) to be eligible for unemployment. You must also earn at least $1,000 in the first quarter of 2021. The minimum amount the state will pay out in weekly benefits is $157. The maximum amount is $673. 

OED contacts your employer(s) to get “reasonable assurance” of your wages. The school will answer an employer questionnaire to ensure you meet eligibility requirements. They will look at how many credit hours you taught in 2020 and are expected to teach in fall 2021. It is not important if you teach a variable amount of credit hours term to term. 

OED will consider if your weekly claim is submitted during a college’s “recess period.” These are student breaks in between each term. You will not receive benefits if your claim is for a recess period. 

You can set up an electronic deposit for your benefits or designate that a check is mailed to you. Unemployment benefits are taxable income. 

To Claim Your Weekly Benefit (Every Sunday or Monday You Are Unemployed)

OED will ask you a series of questions to determine if you are “able, available, and actively seeking work” to get your benefits. Answer YES or NO only! 

Helpful Resources

Teal Dunbar (she/her)
Labor Liaison for Dislocated Workers
Labor’s Community Service Agency, Inc., a United Way of the Columbia-Willamette Community Partner

9955 SE Washington #301, Portland OR 97216
Cell: 503.522.2104
Email: impacted@lcsaportland.org
Website: lcsaportland.org
Facebook: LCSA-Portland

Higher Education Rapid Response Information Session (June 6, 2021) with LCSA and OED

Help Us Pass the Adjunct Healthcare Bill!

We are still pushing to pass the Adjunct Healthcare Bill, and given our better-than-expected state funding situation we believe it can happen.

Because the state has already committed significant funding for public higher education in general, we need to remind our legislators that those funds are needed for so many purposes. We need to pass the Adjunct Healthcare Bill to remedy the terrible problem of adjunct faculty not having access to affordable health insurance — an issue our members know all too well.

Our parent union, AFT Oregon, is asking that we get as many people as possible to send letters to legislators to let them know how important it is to pass the Adjunct Healthcare Bill this legislative session. Here is a link to the letter template form to make it easy for you to customize and send your letter, and get your friends and family to send them too!

Letter to Legislators: Pass SB 551 (Part-Time Faculty Healthcare)!

Congrats to the 2021 Adjunct Excellence Award Recipients!

Portland State University recently shared their annual Outstanding Teaching Awards. We want to celebrate the two winners of the Adjunct Excellence Award: Chris Allen for his teaching in Psychology and Molly Wallace for her research in Conflict Resolution.

Here’s a little more about this year’s winners.

Christopher Allen, Ph.D. serves as a senior adjunct instructor in the psychology department at Portland State University. He has been teaching at Portland State University since 2011 and has twice been awarded the John Eliot Alan outstanding teaching award. Dr. Allen draws on a rich background of working in organizational and clinical psychology and regularly teaches for PSU in abnormal psychology and personality theory. More recently Dr. Allen teaches classes on the psychology of happiness and Tibetan Buddhism, including live streaming virtual education abroad classes from Tibet and Nepal.

Dr. Allen would like to dedicate his award to his students and let them know he feels honored to be their teacher, and to all adjunct faculty members at Portland State University. Dr. Allen served as an executive council member for the Portland State University Faculty Association union and was deeply touched by the stories of the PSU adjunct faculty members and their incredible devotion.

Molly Wallace teaches in Portland State University’s Conflict Resolution Program and serves as contributing editor of the Peace Science Digest at the War Prevention Initiative. Her research and teaching interests include nonviolent action; unarmed civilian peacekeeping/protection (UCP); conflict resolution/transformation; military desertion/defection; transitional justice, reconciliation, and peacebuilding; the relationship between weapons and protection/vulnerability; humanitarian intervention, civilian protection, and the “Responsibility to Protect” in postcolonial contexts; the legitimation of political violence (discursive and psychological mechanisms); humanitarian negotiation; gender and global politics; and ethics of war and peace. Her recent book, Security without Weapons: Rethinking Violence, Nonviolent Action, and Civilian Protection (Routledge 2017), explores nonviolent alternatives for civilian protection in war zones—and particularly the unarmed civilian peacekeeping work of Nonviolent Peaceforce in Sri Lanka during the last few years of that country’s civil war. She has also published research in Critical Studies on Security, Global Society, and International Politics and presents regularly at the annual meeting of the International Studies Association. In 2017, she was invited to deliver a keynote lecture at the Rethinking Pacifism for Revolution, Security and Politics conference at the University of Otago, Aotearoa/New Zealand.  

Dr. Wallace earned her Ph.D. and M.A. in Political Science from Brown University and her B.A. (magna cum laude) in Peace and Conflict Studies from Mount Holyoke College. At Brown, she was awarded the P. Terrence Hopmann Award for Excellence in Teaching and was recipient of the Graduate Program in Development Fellowship through the Watson Institute for International Studies. Beyond PSU, she has taught in the International Affairs and/or Political Science Programs at Brown University, the University of New Hampshire, and Lewis & Clark College. Currently a volunteer facilitator with Multnomah County's restorative dialogue program, she previously served for several years as a volunteer mediator with the Community Mediation Center of Rhode Island and on the staff of various non-governmental organizations in the fields of conflict resolution and international affairs in Washington, DC. More recently, she has also worked with the James Lawson Institute (as a facilitator) and the Kroc Institute for Peace and Justice at the University of San Diego (as an editor).

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In addition, we want to acknowledge all of the runners-up. Congrats to everyone, and your hard work is appreciated.

Samuel Mohler
Jessicah Carver
Larry Becker
Martin Lipsky
Quang Truong
Patrick Hiller

PSU Vanguard Reports on Adjunct Layoffs

Portland State’s student newspaper, The Vanguard, just reported on 14 adjunct layoffs from the University Studies Department:

On April 6, 14 adjunct faculty in the University Studies department at Portland State were sent emails from the Interim Executive Director of University Studies, Dr. Linda George, notifying them that their appointments with PSU would not be renewed when they expire on June 15. 

The email to each professor read in part, “Your efforts and contributions to the University are recognized and appreciated, and are not diminished by the issuance of this letter. In the event it is later decided your services are required, a new Notice of Appointment executed by the University will be offered to you.”

PSUFA’s Ariana Jacob is quoted in the article, as are some of the adjuncts affected by these cuts:

Ariana Jacob, Chair of Bargaining for PSUFA, the University’s adjunct faculty union, said the adjuncts “were sent very brief, utterly impersonal letters saying that they had no work for next year.”

“Some of those adjuncts have been teaching for over a decade,” Jacob said. To be told one is losing their job with no warning, she said, “it’s very scary. It’s very painful. And it’s so incredibly disrespectful of our community of people that makes PSU happen.”

 Jacob emphasized that as far as she knew, the adjuncts were not fired for poor performance. “They are projecting low enrollment and they’ve already been dealing with lower than expected enrollment,” she said. “So it means that they’re cutting a number of courses for next year in University Studies.” She believes this foreshadows other changes at the university.

We’ve updated our PSUFA in the News webpage, and you can read the full article online here.

Research Faculty Listening Sessions Are Here!

In an effort to support and improve the working conditions and experiences of adjunct researchers at PSU, Research & Graduate Studies (RGS) is hosting two listening sessions in the coming weeks: Friday, May 14, 1:30 - 3:30 p.m. and Friday, May 28, 1:30 - 3:30 p.m.

RGS invites all adjunct researchers employed by PSU from the period of September 16, 2019, to the present. RGS hopes that participants will talk openly and candidly about their experiences at PSU. Please register for one of the two listening sessions by Wednesday, May 12 at 5 p.m.

After the listening sessions, RGS will collate the data collected, maintaining the anonymity of the participants, and present that data in a report to the Labor Management Committee. The summary will include any next steps or recommendations identified by RGS. Those recommendations will be considered for potential changes to policy and/or the Collective Bargaining Agreement. Email Jason Podrabsky (schechp [at] pdx.edu) with any questions.

An Election Message From PSUFA's Outgoing Chair of Membership

Dear colleagues,

My name is Eli Ronick and I’ve been honored to hold the position of Chair of Membership over the last 2+ years. I’ve enjoyed getting to know a lot of you through membership drives and general membership meetings. I may have even signed you up! As I noted at the Winter GMM, I will be stepping down from the position after the Spring term. I’m writing this letter to you to share a bit about my experience in a leadership role within PSUFA as well as discuss moving forward together and how we can continue to build power.

I first became regularly involved with PSUFA in Fall of 2018. While working for our union, I often walked around buildings I’d never set foot in and talked to adjuncts in departments I hadn’t known existed at PSU. Up to that point, being an adjunct had been a fulfilling but often isolating experience. I loved working with university students but I missed the interaction with co-workers that I’d been a part of in other teaching work. Working with our union allowed me to see the diversity of knowledge and background of each of my adjunct colleagues and to feel, for the first time, a part of a community. It was this experience that led me to run for the executive council.

During my time as Chair of Membership, I’ve been grateful to connect with scores of adjuncts in departments all over campus. The conversations that most stuck with me were those in which adjuncts opened up to me about their financial hardships. Often, I was able to direct them to a variety of monetary and wellness-based support systems that they were pleased to learn were available to them. This meaningful work has often helped sustain me emotionally and spiritually. With the help of member organizers and other PSUFA volunteers, we’ve helped to sign up over 200 new members over the last two years. My department alone, World Languages & Literatures, has increased dues-paying members over 30%. This added revenue has helped directly fund the work of our executive council and the tireless effort of our bargaining team, who have brought you tangible gains like significant salary increases, new and strengthened benefit funds, and guaranteed annual orientation for new hires.

This is the part of the letter where I ask you to consider stepping up and running for office this Spring. Our union runs and functions only because people like you make it so. Don’t worry—we’ll definitely be around to help new council members learn the ropes, but these positions, especially the Chair of Membership, are vital for the continued power and growth of our union. Leaving it vacant would not put us at full strength. The bargaining team can only do so much. We need you to step up and do more. You can apply and read more at psufa.org/elections.

In solidarity,

Eli

Oregon Tech Faculty Authorize Strike

Dear PSUFA colleagues,

Last week, the faculty of Oregon Tech voted to authorize a strike. This does not necessarily mean they will strike, but if they do, it will be the first time any university faculty have gone on strike in Oregon history.

We wanted to share this message from our colleagues at Oregon Tech:

As you may know, the administration at Oregon Institute of Technology declared impasse with Oregon Tech AAUP faculty on March 10, 2021. The two parties are still engaged in mediated negotiations through the cooling off period, but their faculty are planning for the worst possible scenario following a final offer from their administration which, among other things, proposed:

• Merit-only salary increases

• A 10% reduction of insurance premium coverage for faculty with families

• Any insurance premium cost increases borne solely by faculty

• The potential for administration to leave PEBB for another insurer each year

• A workload policy with no definition of workload unit

• A workload policy that can be changed at the Provost’s discretion.

If faculty at Oregon Tech are forced to strike, it will be the first time in Oregon history.

Oregon Tech has work sites in Klamath Falls, Wilsonville, and Salem as well as a site in Seattle, Washington. During the pandemic, however, most instruction is delivered online.

Oregon Tech administration recently created adjunct instructor pools and we encourage you to be aware of any calls for replacement workers (also known as scabs).

Hiring adjunct instructors in Spring for courses normally taught by OT-AAUP faculty is a blatant attempt to undermine collective bargaining and the potential power of our unions.

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We wanted to let PSUFA adjuncts know about the potential call for scab workers. You can support our colleagues at OIT by:

• Refusing to cross the picket line and not adjuncting at Oregon Tech during the strike

• Sending a letter to OIT’s president and provost here

• Staying connected to OIT AAUP on social media on Twitter or Facebook

You can read more about this story at OPB. 

You Did It! We Ratified Our New Contract.

On Friday, March 5, PSUFA members unanimously voted to ratify our new contract, which our bargaining team has been working tirelessly on, remotely, for more than a year. We can’t thank them enough, as well as to all our members who showed up to observe and vote on our contract. Click through the slideshow below for some major bargaining wins from the new contract!

March Membership Drive — Hop Aboard!

AAUP and PSUFA are joining forces to host a membership drive to help PSUFA build membership! The drive will take place March 1st through the 5th, and we’d love for you to join!

We’ve put together a phone banking plan to connect with potential members and have a conversation about the importance of becoming members. We know nothing replaces face-to-face conversations but we will continue to have conversations with folks over the phone. PSUFA and AAUP leaders have signed up to lead shifts throughout that week. 

Please consider signing up for a shift or two to help make some of these calls to fellow colleagues. AAUP will be providing raffled prizes such as gift certificates and gift cards to anyone who volunteers! 

All necessary materials will be provided beforehand, including a guide on how to set up a Google voice number so you don’t have to use your personal number and a reminder of the time slots you decide to sign up for. Building strength as a union is so tied to building membership. Your one shift could be the one that puts PSUFA over 50% membership, something vitally important for our union going forward.

Click here to sign up.

Bargaining 2020-21 Is Over—Now It's Time for You to Ratify It

We hardly believe it, but we did it—bargaining is formally done! You can read a recap of our last session here, and browse ALL of our bargaining recaps here. We will soon need your voice to ratify this contract to make it real. The ratification vote will take place at our Winter Term General Member Meeting on March 5, from 5 to 7. We will also be holding special office hours for you to talk directly to the bargaining team and ask any questions about the new contract. Those dates are Tuesday, February 23 from 11 a.m. to 12 p.m. and Wednesday, February 24 from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. See you then!

Even though this has become a very unstable economic climate to negotiate for the financial gains we truly deserve, we still made some meaningful strides forward. 

We will be sending a more detailed summary of the outcomes of our negotiations soon. For now, here is a short rundown of our gains, which we’ll follow with a recap of our final bargaining session on Friday, February 5:

• $30 raises to those at the minimum next fall. (Almost all adjuncts are paid at or near the minimum rate.) $25 raises to the minimum Fall 2022.

• 1% cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) for all adjuncts no matter their pay rate in Fall 2021 and again in Fall 2022. (This will be on top of the $30 and $25 for those at the minimum.) This is the same COLA rate the full-time union received. 

• A $200 one-time bonus for all adjuncts working at any point during the 2020-21 Academic Year.

• A new Tech Fund to help adjuncts purchase the computers and other necessary technology for our work. (This will be limited, but it is still an important change.)

• Increased access to the Staff Fee Privilege, which provides discounts to adjuncts taking classes at PSU. (The PSUFA Education Fund is still available too as a benefit, this just extends our overall ability to offer assistance to adjuncts who take classes.)

• Strengthened assignment rights and simplified the professional evaluation process.

• A commitment to begin including adjuncts in department meetings and other department level functions.

• A commitment to annual PSU-wide orientation events for adjuncts.

• A commitment to greater inclusion of adjunct researchers in decisions that affect their working conditions.

• Inclusion of adjuncts into annual Portland State Milestone ceremonies recognizing employees for their length of service at PSU.

Thank you to everyone who has attended as an observer, filled out bargaining surveys, and signed letters of support to the President and the Board of Trustees! 

FINAL Bargaining Recap, February 5

We approached this day with full confidence that our economic package and response to PSU’s concerns from former sessions would set the stage for potential settlement. After PSUFA re-presented our full package offer, we were commended by the facilitator for honoring the negotiations in good faith and for “weaving” in and connecting PSU’s interests with our own. To be clear, we endeavored to honor this modified “interest-based bargaining” process, even when we were not always confident PSU was honoring the markers they set early in this process. Nevertheless, we persisted in our commitment. 

After presenting our entire updated economic package, PSU requested a 45-minute caucus to discuss the various components of our package. We seem to have found more common ground with PSU on our COLA request (which they resisted until last December), our demand for a per-credit raise starting in Fall ’22, and the negotiated one-time payouts for adjunct instructors and researchers employed in Fall ’20 or Winter ’21, which was a modest win from PSU’s earlier position that it was possible no funds would be available at all.

PSU then presented a modified “staff-fee privilege” to our earlier request for expanded access in alignment with our colleagues on campus. Staff-fee privileges offer reduced tuition for members or one family member enrolled in classes at PSU. The administration hesitated to meet our demand for staff-fee privileges to extend to any quarter in the academic year in which we taught two or more classes in a term. PSU reminded us their initial position did not allow for family members or dependents—we resisted misreading this benefit our colleagues already enjoy at PSU, as well as a nonstarter for further negotiation. PSU then warned that there were additional tax obligations for the potential student and recommended a brief reporting process to be built into the mechanism for distributing these funds. PSUFA does not accept, though, that staff fee privileges cannot be extended to family, since that is the current benefit structure; we also do not accept that this benefit should be restricted to one quarter, if indeed a member is teaching or researching the equivalent threshold in other quarters. PSU’s overall claim that the entire process is incredibly complex, and that they have received internal, administrative pushback on our proposal is not persuasive. PSU, after a further hour discussion, agreed to our ask.

We then moved to what, perhaps, has been the most confounding issue for PSU and PSUFA to agree upon: compensated and voluntary inclusion in departmental or unit affairs and supported by PSU with a minimal pool of funds to support this essential effort at some hint at equity in governance. PSU has continually (even passionately) asserted they are entirely committed to this claimed shared interest, and campus-wide effort. Yet PSU is reticent to allow individual units or departments to provide, manage, or access this potential funding, nor have they shown interest in the multiple mechanisms proposed for this effort. Instead, they will commit to these funds only if it is entirely managed by PSU’s Labor Management Committee and not directly allotted to actual departmental inclusion and extra-instructional work. To be blunt, it is difficult to understand how delaying this shared interest through further administrative processes is helpful. Still, PSU did fully commit to the principle of adjunct inclusion as the obvious path for the University into the future. We believe the future is now. We will not renegotiate away from a promised $3800 to help fund a new mechanism of some type to be managed by Labor Management and to support adjunct inclusion in Departments. We moved forward securing these funds; we believe these funds will spark additional awareness and effort from PSU, and interest Department Chairs and other unit supervisors in realizing the ethical imperative and responsibility to labor in higher education.

After an hour-long question-and-answer session on PSU’s counterproposal, we paused for much needed emotional and physical sustenance, and in anticipation of bargaining long past our agreed upon eight-hour session.

After the break, we continued our negotiations on Article 8: Assignment Rights. This essential article is the heart of many detailed disagreements between our members and PSU. In essence, we have agreed that assignment rights are constant, and once achieved cannot be revoked. We remain concerned that PSU is not valuing rights as contractual obligations to us, and we will hold PSU to their contract obligation and commitment as they are now more clearly rewritten; grievance procedures should not be our only avenue of communication. We eventually agreed to a host of changes and clarifications to this Article, which moderately extended and clarified our assignment rights.

Our last hours together were spent on our final economic package proposal and Article 13. PSUFA has spent countless hours attempting to locate every possible angle where we believe, despite these uncertain times, that PSU should commit to more equitable remuneration. We have secured a one-time payout for Academic Year 2020-21 that, in the very least, somewhat offset PSU’s unmovable and maddening position that no raise could be possible for this year. Then, we reached a tentative agreement for per-credit raises for 2021-22 and 2023 and, in addition, 1% COLAS for Fall ’21 and Fall ’22. Initially, PSU refused to agree to any COLA considerations in initial bargaining sessions. Additionally, we secured a commitment for PSU and PSUFA to work collaboratively on an ad-hoc committee to recommend additional contract language, which we hope identifies,  values, and integrates research faculty in more sustainable ways. This serves our member researcher, our union, and certainly PSU.

After many weeks of sub-group negotiations, Article 13: Benefit Funds was recomposed and funded in way that we believe maintains our current benefit structure, as well providing major new method for our union to target these funds for the benefit of our members: a new right for our leadership to move money between these funds to serve our members’ needs. We also negotiated further clarification on what might be categorized as “professional development,” and agreed that PSU’s focus on “primary research” might benefit the professions of our members in the long run by providing a broad academic category to advocate through. Finally, we secured an entirely new, if potentially temporary, technology fund for members to access.

After a final PSUFA caucus, and after nightfall, PSU and PSUFA came to tentative agreement on our Collective Bargaining Agreement, with an economic reopener in 2023.

It was a long year, filled with many ups and downs (and an unexpected pandemic) but we are very honored to be your colleagues and to have represented your labor in this effort. Further notification will be publicly released in a joint PSUFA-PSU statement soon, followed by a presentation for ratification by you, our members. Thank you.

In solidarity,

PSUFA Bargaining Team, 2020-21

Testify to Oregon Legislators About Access to Healthcare

February 10 Update: The hearing has been moved to the week of February 15. Your testimony can be submitted up until 5 p.m. on Tuesday, February 16.

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Is access to affordable healthcare important to you?

Our legislators are considering three bills that would provide healthcare for many part-time faculty at public colleges and universities, and there is a hearing to consider them this week.

We have a real chance at getting this legislation passed—for the first time ever, the governor allotted funds for it in her recommended budget—but it is still going to take a lot of work in this challenging financial climate to get it passed. To do so, we have to let our legislators know how important healthcare is to us, and how terrible it is to not have appropriate healthcare—especially now.

If you have testimony, please email it to Taylor Sarman, one of our advocates at the state capitol: taylor [at] columbiapublicaffairs.com.

Let's win this one!

Bargaining Recap, January 8

After a hopefully restorative winter break, PSUFA’s bargaining team arrived  back at the bargaining table for another full-day session dedicated to receiving a fair shake on the economic conditions governing our labor, our professions, and our careers. The day was mostly contentious but there were some notable victories.

Firstly, the session began with a consensus check and tentative agreement on Articles 3 and 4. Article 3 now incorporates the language of House Bill 2016, which requires PSU to provide contact information for new adjuncts. This allows us to better organize and help our new members get situated. Article 4 sets up an orientation event for all new adjunct hires. This is something that PSUFA has sought for years since many adjuncts are offered little information about how to connect with their campus community. We hope these victories will help our union grow and offer us a chance to foster a sense of belonging at PSU for new employees. It was a positive note prior to the more thorny negotiations later in the day.

Another bright spot at the table was potential access to the so-called staff fee privileges that are currently available to full-time employees. This would allow some adjuncts and their family access to taking courses at Portland State for a significantly reduced cost.

Our presentation of an updated economic package and the continued discussion around compensation and adjunct inclusion in departmental meetings dominated the rest of the day. Our package was a response to last session’s bargaining, but we made sure to present it in context. Firstly, $30 million in additional federal relief has been slated for PSU, and Governor Brown’s recommended budget contains no major cuts for higher education. We then reminded Admin of the importance of adjunct labor to PSU’s financial health. We relayed the fact that adjunct faculty are paid approximately $1 of every $4 in revenue we generate. (Revenue generated from adjunct-led classes is approximately $60 million; expense to the university is around $15 million per academic year.)

Startlingly, and without a rationale we could determine, PSU counter-offered an economic package totalling less money than the package they presented in mid-December. This seems both punitive and verging on regressive bargaining. “Regressive bargaining,” or regressive proposals during bargaining, is when one party makes a proposal that is less advantageous to the other party than a preceding proposal. This is unlawful at worst and bad faith at best, and we will not tolerate this tactic.

Within our updated economic package, PSUFA continues to demand PSU put money behind our stated and shared interest in greater adjunct inclusion in departmental meetings, activities, and governance. PSU insists simply encouraging departments and educating our supervisors will be sufficient. The reality of past efforts of adjunct inclusion—specifically the perceived exploitation when department’s “require” inclusion without offering extra-instructional wages—illuminates PSU’s offer as well-intended but not meaningful or realistic. PSU Departments are already operating under increasingly tight budgets, and encouraging inclusion with no meaningful offer of support, or recognition of PSU’s fiscal responsibility, is not tenable. We will continue to push for this shared goal. 

Discussion also continued on PSU’s offer of a “Length of Service” pay, compared to PSUFA’s suggested $10/credit pay raise after every two years of continuous teaching. PSU countered, instead, with a one-time bonus of $100 for less than five years’ service, $250 for five to 10 years, $400 for 10 to 15 years, $550 for 15 or more years. Adjuncts who have been serving their institution for years, many for decades, deserve continued pay increases and not a one-time pay-off. PSUFA, however, will not dismiss this offer entirely as “money is on the table” but we are committed to building a more equitable and sustainable pay structure. For example, with regard to minimum adjunct salaries, the current rate is $1043/credit. PSU suggests a raise of $50/credit split over two years (Fall 2021 and Fall 2022). PSUFA suggested a $35/credit increase in Fall 2021, and $25/credit increase in Fall 2022.

In the next bargaining session we will continue to point out the gaps between their values and their actions. Our demands are simple and we will not shy away from our desire for fair compensation and greater inclusion, interests they claim to share. We deserve no less.

Our next bargaining session will be Friday, February 5 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Please join us as an observer! Sign up here.

Bargaining Recap, December 17 & 18

Bargaining started off promisingly, with PSU and PSUFA reaching a tentative agreement on Article 3, Information on New Members. Both sides discussed creating a list of current adjunct office spaces and info for new hires, and PSU and PSUFA came to a tentative agreement on this article. Next, PSUFA agreed to minor Preamble changes for our potential Collective Bargaining Agreement. We hope this Preamble provides a documented, shared beginning to PSUFA and PSU’s commitment to addressing and ending professional inequities in higher education. This effort and tentative agreement provided some needed levity to a potentially laborious day of negotiating. 

Our negotiations and bargaining then moved to Article 7, which covers Member Rights. Progress was made, and PSUFA will continue to push for adjunct voice and inclusion within departments. It is far past time to put commitment to action and budgetary consideration. PSU has recognized, as far back as 2015, that this is a top priority of PSUFA. Since adjuncts teach the most credit hours of any teaching unit at PSU, it makes obvious and transparent sense for us to have a say in departmental decisions that greatly impact our careers, our labor, and our research and students—and doing so will benefit both departments and students and PSU. 

Bargaining moved on to Article  8: Assignment Rights and Reappointment. We made clear that, absent major pay raises, this Article was essential to PSUFA members. This Article will eventually outline who will be, and how we will be, assigned classes and therefore have our assignment rights contractually fulfilled. We were and are not willing to rush bargaining on this essential piece. We cannot say this was met with an enthusiastic response, but it did emphasize our commitment to this article and that more time, even bargaining through January, will be necessary. We established, consequently, a subgroup process to continue this work, with more bargaining in January with full quorum. 

We then turned to bargaining about economics; it became clear that PSU will need to concede more economically if we are to come to even a tentative agreement. PSU countered PSUFA’s proposal of a $10/credit raise after two years of service with a one-time bonus for adjuncts based on length of service. PSU did extend this “length of service” to even our new members who have not yet reached one year of part-time employment. We are not yet entirely sold on this offer, and will continue to work on our counter to this offer throughout the end of the year. 

Next we discussed PSUFA’s three benefit funds (Emergency Assistance, Professional Development, Education). PSU countered PSUFA’s recommendation of increased funds with an offer of no increase in funding. And in place of offering adjuncts dedicated financial support to attend department-level meetings, PSU proposed $100 gift cards for participation, given to departments to distribute in some way. In other words, another stop-gap measure instead of the structural changes in revenue that adjuncts deserve and need. PSUFA is committed to our economic package and we will continue to push hard for our entirely reasonable package and proposal in its entirety. Our labor deserves nothing less. 

We look forward to continuing discussions on the entire Collective Bargaining Agreement. In January, we will bargain almost exclusively on Article 8 and economics. Far and away, this is the issue adjuncts want to see most changed. We are so grateful for the outpouring of support as we continue our collective efforts. 

You can make a major difference with two minor actions: 

1. Make certain all your respective colleagues are members, or are aware of our effort. Please share this post or any of our bargaining updates with your fellow faculty members, and ask your fellow adjuncts if they are members of the union. 

2. Join us at the bargaining table by observing! Not only will you be able to watch these conversations over basic work issues come to life, you’ll also be in a live chat room (using Slack) with other observers and the PSUFA bargaining team. Our next session won’t be until January, but you can check psufa.org/observer for updates. 

Have a happy and well-deserved winter break,

PSUFA

Bargaining Recap, December 4

We arrived at the virtual bargaining table alongside PSU with hopes that beginning the day on certain non-economic issues would help us move in a productive direction. We began by addressing Article 3, Union Rights and Privileges. PSU presented their latest thoughts, concerns, and suggestions. Primarily, PSU found that our estimation and need of “Worksite Location” being the in-person or online classroom space was neither accurate nor achievable for their reporting requirements. Our disagreement on the definition of “Worksite Location” took the majority of our time previously allotted to discussing other non-economic items at today’s table. While it might not sound like a major impasse, PSUFA is entitled under Oregon House Bill 2016 to give reasonable access to you, our members, including the ability to meet at these regular, worksite locations. 

HB2016, for those not familiar, is an Oregon House Bill inspired by and in reaction to  the Supreme Court’s Janus vs. American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees, Council 31. Janus radically curtailed union rights and privileges. The Oregon House, in their wisdom, legally framed our current rights with this Oregon bill and PSUFA requested PSU provide us the classroom worksite information each term in order to fulfill that legal obligation. The ability to find and support our bargaining unit members is crucial to welcoming new faculty to PSU, reducing isolation of adjuncts, and more effective organizing. It was distressing to hear PSU statements, which we believe illuminated actual opposition to effective organizing. We were also reminded of the general lack of attention adjuncts receive from PSU, as employees and dedicated laborers.  

This was further demonstrated when PSU categorized our “Worksite Location” as “Portland.” Their justification was, in essence, so they could produce an “accurate report” when, and if, they decide to follow the legal requirements of House Bill 2016 as presented by PSUFA. We did not reach even a partial agreement on the issue, but will work toward language that fulfills our legal rights and will pursue other remedies if needed. After no further movement on the subject, we turned our discussion to economics. 

PSU presented an updated economic package similar in total cost to their initial package presentation. They did craft minor alterations in their offer suggesting slightly higher per-credit increases—ones that would not go into effect until a later time. They also offered a pool of money for a one-time “Length of Service” bonus to be distributed in the 2020-21 Academic Year. We are interested in the marginal movement, but reiterated that if PSU and PSUFA share an interest in creating a more sustainable, equitable institution, the lowest paid and most vulnerable workers need to be offered a fair wage and fair economic package, which honors the substantial and ongoing contributions to the University. 

After reviewing PSU’s updates, PSUFA unveiled our economic package with fuller details on the entirety of our needs. In past full bargaining sessions, PSU had maneuvered around considering “packages,” but then presented exactly that in our last full bargaining session. We met them in this effort, but it wasn’t as appreciated as we had hoped. PSU expressed alarm at the extent and scope of our detailed economic needs and our plan to arrive at parity with full-time colleagues. We are committed to our package; although we fully understand PSU is not agreeing to any of our inclusions so far, we believe we honored our actual, material needs as they exist in reality.

We look forward to continuing discussions on the entire Collective Bargaining Agreement and especially economics during our next full bargaining sessions on December 17 and 18. Join us by signing up to be a bargaining observer here!