Bargaining Update for August 31, 2009

Bargaining has reached a critical stage. As you will read below:

• At the table on 28 August, PSU-AAUP and the University exchanged proposals on salary and a number of other issues, the details of which follow below.
• The University is anxious to proceed quickly with salary cuts. The tone at the table reflects their urgency in this matter, and we will have only a short period of time within which to wrap up negotiations.
• It is clear that OUS wishes to use the current economic situation as an opportunity to eviscerate key elements in the CBA.
• Read on to learn how you can participate in mobilizing against disproportionate and unequal salary cuts!

PSU within the Oregon University System

• In contrast to the situation at UO and OSU, where we hear that faculty face few if any cuts, PSU employees are being asked to take pay reductions that greatly exceed those experienced by other state workers in Oregon.
• Inequity in salary cuts suggests that OUS is yet again trying to force PSU to subsidize other OUS institutions. Your bargaining team is fighting to limit unnecessary cuts to your wages.
• The bargaining team also suspects that OUS is shielding UO and OSU instructional faculty from cuts in an attempt to discourage unionizing drives on those campuses, while simultaneously trying to weaken bargaining units at other OUS institutions (including our own).

Key issues at the bargaining table

PSU-AAUP has consistently made clear to the University that we are willing to work quickly to help the administration face the current budgetary crisis. The University has in turn been relatively open with the bargaining team's salary subcommittee regarding university finances. Discussions have revealed the following key points:

• The University's salary model is conservative. It includes a large reserve for possible future budget cuts and other unanticipated shortfalls. In addition, it models enrollment growth at 0%, even though the forecast calls for 3.3% growth. (1% enrollment growth is roughly equivalent to $1 million in tuition revenue.)
• The University's chosen strategy is to build reserves from salary savings. The administration suggests that should these reserves not be needed, they will be spent according to the priorities of the President and the Provost. (Note that restoration of faculty salaries is not at the top of this list.) In addition, the administration has indicated that OUS can "sweep up" financial reserves held at member campuses. This means that reserves generated by salary savings might not even be spent on our campus.
• PSU-AAUP's chosen strategy is to offer speedy and generous cuts up front, but in amounts that do not exceed PSU's current needs. We have made clear our willingness to discuss further cuts should they prove necessary. We are leery of accepting extra cuts on the unwritten promise of possible later restoration, particularly given PSU's disadvantageous position within OUS and the probability that PSU's disproportionate sacrifices will be used to support other institutions.

Our offer

• In reply to a salary offer made by the University on 14 August 2009, your bargaining team proposed tiered one-time salary cuts for the 2009-2010 academic year. In our initial counter-proposal, we proposed cuts ranging from .77% - 1.35%, reflecting between 2 and 3.5 mandatory unpaid days off for 12-month employees (prorated for 9-month employees). Salary reductions would be deducted in equal amounts across the member's work year.
• In their initial offer on 8-14, the administration had proposed to rewrite Article 30: Salary and Retirement with reduced minimum salaries for ranked instructional faculty and with reduced salary ranges for APs. PSU-AAUP counter-proposed that the text of Article 30 remain as in the 2007-2009 Collective Bargaining Agreement. We proposed that salary cuts and/or FTE reductions should be handled in a Letter of Agreement (LOA) that expires at the end of the academic year. This strategy would preserve the gains made in the past contract negotiations.
• We further proposed that revenue increases from any enrollment growth over the first 1% or $1 million be used to offset cuts to faculty salaries.
• In addition, we proposed that special conditions should govern certain categories of employees, for example people paid from grant money or student fees, people on sabbatical, people with visa-status issues, people near retirement, and people who would drop below .5 FTE should not be affected by cuts.
• Finally, we proposed that the terms and conditions of the Letter of Agreement governing salary cuts be renegotiated in April 2010, with each side bringing 2 more articles to the table (a well-established bargaining strategy that facilitates settlement). To accommodate this extra service, we asked the University to fund buy-outs for PSU-AAUP members to take part in the bargaining re-opener.

University's counter-proposal

• PSU received our proposal mid-morning and countered at 1:00 PM with a package offer. Their offer showed some movement on salary. In contrast to their prior proposal in which $6.1 million would be realized on salary savings across campus (from members in all three labor unions), the savings would be $5.2 million under this model. Note that this figure is still greater than the $3.9 million figure we have heard on campus during the past year. Note also that the University's model suggests that PSU-AAUP is in effect bargaining for all three campus unions (PSU-AAUP, AFT, and SEIU).
• The University's proposed salary cuts range from 1.9% - 4.6%, reflecting between 5 and 12 mandatory unpaid days off per academic year for 12-month employees, prorated for 9-month employees. Under the University's proposal, cuts would continue for a second year, unless renegotiated. Under this proposal, such negotiations would discuss only salary, without opening other articles.
• Despite voicing no arguments against placing language on salary cuts in a LOA, the University persists in making reductions in the text of Article 30 itself. This move erodes on a permanent basis the salary gains won in the last contract negotiations.
• Also of concern are proposed changes to Article 11: Release Time. In the past the University has recognized that collective bargaining benefits both the administration and the union, and it has paid for half of the release time provided for the bargaining team. In this proposal, the University would no longer pay for any release time. This proposed change diverges radically from past practice and carries strong overtones of union-busting. The bargaining team believes that OUS is using the current economic situation as an opportunity to eviscerate the contract. Only our effective mobilization can counter their move.

What happens next?

It's time for a bit of political action! The members of the bargaining team need you to add your collective voice to ours.

• August 31st marks the end-date of the 2007-2009 Collective Bargaining Agreement, which has been extended until 11 September 2009. It is entirely possible that the University will refuse to extend the contract beyond 9-11, forcing us to mediation, impasse, and the imposition of their final offer.
• In the next month, we need to put pressure on the University to let them know that we refuse to let PSU subsidize budget shortfalls at other OUS institutions, and that we are unwilling to allow the University to accumulate large reserves from salary savings with no clear mechanism for restoration.
• Faculty support for and participation in union activities will be key to our success!
• Here's what you can do: Spend a couple of hours in the next month to write letters and emails to the PSU administration, members of the State Board of Higher Education, the Oregonian, Oregon State legislators, and key figures at the Chancellor's Office; volunteer to design and post posters; attend PSU-AAUP rallies; and urge fair-share dues payers and new faculty to sign up as AAUP members.
• In addition, The OUS chapter of SEIU (Service Employees International Union) is being offered terms significantly worse than those that other state SEIU workers have accepted. For more details, go here. Support our local SEIU chapter members in their mobilization efforts! SEIU will hold a rally in the Park Blocks on Tuesday September 1st- please attend and show our solidarity!
• Check back at the blog or contact me (gamburdm(at)pdx(dot)edu), Jeff Alworth alworth(at)pdx(dot)edu, Phil Lesch phil(at)psuaaup(dot)net, or Susan Harlan harlans(at)pdx(dot)edu to find out how you can get involved.

Bargaining update meeting

A bargaining update meeting will be scheduled soon - time and date to be announced. Please attend and bring a colleague with you!
Keep posted

In solidarity,
The PSU-AAUP Bargaining Team