SOU employees to take part in statewide SEIU vote on strike; ‘cooling off’ period ends March 31

By Holly Dillemuth, Ashland.news

Representatives of classified employees at all seven state public universities, including Southern Oregon University, declared Friday they have reached an impasse in negotiations with the universities and will vote soon on whether to strike statewide.

The negotiations involve 4,500 classified employees working at SOU, Eastern Oregon University, Oregon Institute of Technology ( also known as Oregon Tech), Oregon State University, Portland State University, the University of Oregon and Western Oregon University.

“Right now, as we’ve kind of taken the pulse of our membership, the overwhelming majority of our membership has agreed that they would strike,” Sage TeBeest, local representative of Service Employees International Union (SEIU) at SOU, told Ashland.news on Thursday afternoon, prior to the declaration of an impasse. 

At the time of the interview, TeBeest said there was an 80% chance of an impasse declaration on Monday. By Oregon law governing public employee bargaining, the declaration means both SEIU and university bargaining teams must submit final contract offers to the Oregon Employee Relations Board by March 1, according to a release from the universities.

After filing those offers, state law requires a 30-day “cooling-off” period before a strike could begin. The two parties will continue to negotiate during this period. 

“It’s very disappointing that the SEIU bargaining team has declared an impasse even while both parties have another round of mediated bargaining scheduled to take place on Monday,” said Steve Clark, spokesperson for the universities bargaining with classified employees, in a news release Friday.

TeBeest staffed an information table on Thursday afternoon at the Stevenson Union at SOU, collecting signatures from SEIU members, otherwise known as classified employees, who would support a vote to strike. The strike would include all seven universities, not just SOU, she said.

“All seven universities are bargaining together on this contract,” TeBeest said. “So if we go to a strike vote, that strike vote will be for all seven campuses. If we strike, we will all strike together.”

TeBeest, who is president of SEIU’s local chapter, serves primarily as program coordinator for the Creative Arts Department. She expressed concerns shared by the majority of SEIU members, and the majority of SOU’s 181 classified employees. Some of those concerns include the lack of a pay increase in the last 18 months.

The bargaining is primarily conducted between SEIU’s statewide leadership structure and a small group of administrators that represent the universities, according to SOU officials.

“We currently have a five-year contract,” TeBeest said. “We had what we call a mid-contract reopener and that allows each side to select seven articles out of the contract to renegotiate.

“The bulk of the contract will stay the same,” TeBeest said. “The majority of the articles that were … brought forward were economic.”

Clark said Friday that classified employees have been offered the following by university leadership:

• 6.5% cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) increase effective April 1, 2024, plus a $1,000 per employee contract settlement bonus payable in May 2024.

• 5.0% COLA increase effective Jan. 1, 2025.

• 2.5% COLA increase effective Jan. 1, 2026.

The proposed raises are in addition to annual 4.62% “step” wage increases, or a 2.5% longevity premium that eligible classified employees receive, Clark said in the release.

“The universities’ proposal seeks to fairly address economic matters, including inflation that has taken place nationally,” Clark said. “Our proposal for raises, when combined with step increases, equals more than a 25% increase over three years for eligible employees”

Meanwhile, Clark said the universities provide significant other benefits to classified employees, including:

• Paying either 95% or 97% of the healthcare premium costs for eligible classified employees and their dependents.

• Continuing to pay the 6% of gross wages the Public Employees Retirement System (PERS) “pick-up” for eligible classified employees, which the state of Oregon does not provide for its own employees, in addition to the universities paying employees’ entire regular PERS pension benefit.

• Continuing to pay a minimum wage that is higher than the state’s highest minimum wage.

TeBeest said classified employees at SOU and statewide seek:

•  Parity with state workers.

•  A  9.5% increase retroactive to 2023 that would cover the past 18 months where they did not receive a COLA.

• A 6% increase effective July 1, 2024.

• 3-7% increase effective July 1, 2025.

Clark said the SEIU bargaining team has proposed the following:

• 6.5% COLA increase effective April 1, 2024.

• 6.0% COLA increase effective July 1, 2024.

• 3.75% COLA increase effective July 1, 2025.

• $2,000 bonus per employee.

The union’s proposal for three-year raises totals 16.25%, Clark said, not including the average annual 4.62% step increases or 2.50% longevity premium provided to eligible classified employees, compared to the total COLA percentage of 14% offered by the universities. 

Clark said if the universities were to accept the SEIU proposal, step-eligible classified employees would receive raises totaling more than 30% over the next three years, compared to the more-than 25% offered.

Clark said the universities remain hopeful that new contract terms will be settled soon.

“SEIU-represented classified employees and the universities have a long and successful history of reaching agreement in contract bargaining without a work stoppage occurring,” Clark said. “Our records show the last strike by SEIU employees was in the mid-1990s.”

TeBeest said SEIU also opposes the effort to eliminate rules in the five-year contract, adopted in 2021, that help the union fight the outsourcing of classified jobs.  

If classified employees were to agree to such a provision, TeBeest said it “would leave no protections for classified staff; If they wanted to simply contract out our positions, they could do so.” 

The current provision requires a process to be followed before that could legally occur.

Universities would need to provide a feasibility study that shows this as the “fiscally prudent thing to do,” TeBeest said, as well as show that the majority of the savings are not solely coming from staff salaries.

“Then we have negotiations and proposals back and forth that we can make, but their desire is to eliminate that entire process.”

TeBeest said some examples for jobs at SOU that, while not currently contracted out, could be outsourced, include landscaping, janitorial services, and plumbers and/or electricians — all jobs that are staffed at SOU now.

“SOU has not proposed that we do any of that yet,” TeBeest said, “but those are potential aspects that other universities have speculated, if this happens, those would be the first ones to be considered (for contracting out).”

TeBeest said about 1,000 total attended the “practice pickets” held on all seven university campuses on Feb. 8. SOU also held a demonstration at the campus.

Bargaining teams representing SEIU and the universities met throughout Thursday with a state-appointed mediator, according to a news release.

The bargaining teams began meeting last fall to discuss re-opener economic matters and other issues in a five-year classified employee contract that was adopted in 2021 and continues through June 30, 2026.

“Despite impasse being declared, Oregon’s universities remain committed to finding a path toward resolution,” Clark said in the release. “The universities recognize and appreciate the contributions that all classified employees make to student success and each university’s mission. 

“We have offered wage increase proposals over three years of 14%, along with unparalleled benefit programs that seek to compensate classified employees and take stock of recent inflation, while also being financially prudent and minimizing tuition impacts on students and their families.

“It is essential that Oregon’s universities are financially stable, and remain accessible and affordable for students in the years ahead,” Clark said.

How would a majority vote to strike impact students?

“It will impact them drastically,” TeBeest said. “There’s far more to a campus than just instruction, and the classified staff are the ones that make everything else operate outside of the classroom, so without us, there will definitely be some impacts.”

For example, TeBeest said all of the housing staff that manage the dorms are classified employees and anyone living in the dorms could be impacted by a strike.

“Our primary ask is just to have some fair wages,” TeBeest said. “We have the majority of our membership that work at this university, don’t live in the community that they work in because they can’t afford to. That’s unfortunate.”

SOU President Rick Bailey, via his spokesperson and Director of Communication Joe Mosley, was not immediately available for comment regarding bargaining negotiations.

Reach Ashland.news reporter Holly Dillemuth at hollyd@ashland.news.

Feb. 23: Original post said strike vote would be next week. Date has not been set.