Yesterday we went back to the bargaining table for our third round of negotiations with WWU admin. Over the course of the afternoon, we Tentatively Agreed to two articles and proposed four new ones. Check out the full text in our Bargaining Hub later today!
Here are the articles we agreed to:
- Recognition, which formalizes our status as a union.
- Union-Management Committee, which will provide a forum to resolve issues and disputes once we’ve ratified our contract.
Here are the articles we proposed:
- Job Postings, to improve the current system of job and wage postings on Western’s websites.
- Trainings, to ensure that everyone gets the training they need to do their job and that it will all be paid. Admin agreed that unpaid trainings are unacceptable!
- Layoffs, to protect student employees from being laid off on short notice.
- Appointment Letters and Job Descriptions, to give us adequate notice about the length and duties of our jobs well in advance.
Overall, it was a powerful day of bargaining. Students from across campus gave testimony about how issues like last-minute appointment notification and inadequate training have affected their ability to live, work, and study. Admin seemed surprised by the extent of these problems and on several issues moved quickly into agreement with us. What we’re doing works: we’re negotiating this contract collectively, with democratic participation from every workplace in our union.
If you want to be involved in any of the next three sessions, RSVP here!! As always, our power is in numbers.
Hope to see you there,
Your elected WAWU Bargaining Committee
Chris Reid, English TA
Lexy Aydelotte, History TA
Valerie Campbell, Financial Aid Peer Advisor
Gabe Wong, AS Senate President & Peer Advisor
Kenneth McKinney, Physics Lab Assistant
Mara Sullivan, Library Assistant
David Cummins, Chemistry Research Assistant