United we BARGAIN.

Divided we beg.

Strike Authorization Vote

On May 6-9, we are holding a Strike Authorization Vote!

For too long, educational student employees have gotten the short end of the stick – with our unprotected jobs being the first on the chopping block whenever budgets get cut. We all know too many people who have had to drop out of school because they couldn’t pay rent, much less tuition. Western doesn’t care and it shows when admin refuses to bring credible proposals that foster just, equitable workplaces to the bargaining table. 

That is why we are holding a Strike Authorization Vote.

How to prepare for our Strike Authorization Vote

It is going to take all 1100 of us to hold Western accountable and make real change on campus. When enough of us vote “YES” in our upcoming Strike Authorization Vote, the WAWU bargaining committee may set a deadline for admin before calling a strike. This will send admin a strong message that we are willing to withhold our work if they continue to delay bargaining and undervalue our jobs.

Pledge to Vote Yes!
Strike Authorization Vote FAQs

Days Until Our Strike Authorization Vote

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Bargaining Priorities

We live in a reality where students face rising costs of living in Bellingham, tuition and fees, and other barriers to attending and affording our education from a Washington State public university. Western works because WE DO! We need to live here too. Our jobs are essential to Western’s mission of providing “a transformational education grounded in the liberal arts and sciences and based on innovative scholarship, research and creative activity”. By meeting our demands at the bargaining table, Western Administrators can truly advance inclusive success – increase retention and persistence rates and eliminate achievement gaps for students from diverse and under-represented socio-economic backgrounds.

Liveable, Competitive Compensation

           Tuition and            Fee Waivers

Stronger ADEI Resolution Procedures

Job Security

Progress Tracker

6

Articles for us to counter

11

Articles for Admin to counter

Our Most Recent Articles

  • Wages & Titles
  • Tuition & Fees
  • Accommodations
  • Anti-Discrimination
  • ADEI Training
  • Management Rights
  • Discipline & Dismissal

Admin’s Most Recent Articles

  • Accommodations
  • Anti-Discrimination
  • ADEI Training
  • Healthcare
  • Dependent Care
  • Parking & Transportation

Bargaining Dates

Upcoming Bargaining Dates

Spring Quarter

  • Monday, May 6th, 11:00-5:00
  • More Mondays in May… Waiting on Admin
Previous Bargaining Dates

Fall Quarter

  • Monday, October 2nd, 1:00 – 5:00
  • October 3rd – 23rd, Not scheduled due to WWU Lawyer Bike Vacation in Greece
  • Tuesday, October 24th, Rescheduled due to WWU Lawyer Illness
  • Thursday, November 2nd, 1:00 – 5:00 (Make up date)
  • Tuesday, November 7th, Cancelled due to STC PERC hearing
  • Tuesday, November 14th, Not scheduled due to WWU Lawyer Previous Commitment
  • Tuesday, November 21st, 1:00 – 5:00
  • Tuesday, November 28th, 1:00 – 5:00
  • Tuesday, December 5th, 1:00 – 5:00
  • Tuesday, December 12th, Cancelled due to WWU Lawyer Family Emergency

Winter Quarter

  • Tuesday, January 16th, 11:00 – 5:00
  • Monday, January 22nd, 11:00 – 5:00
  • Monday, January 29th, 11:00 – 5:00
  • Monday, February 5th, 11:00 – 5:00
  • Monday, February 12th, 11:00 – 5:00
  • Monday, February 26th, 11:00 – 5:00
  • Monday, March 4th, 11:00 – 5:00
  • Monday, March 11th, 11:00 – 5:00
  • Monday, March 18th, RFI Sidebar Session

Spring Quarter

  • Monday, March 25th, 11:00-5:00
  • Monday, April 1st, 11:00 – 5:00
  • Monday, April 8th, 11:00 – 5:00
  • Monday, April 15th, 11:00 – 5:00 – Cancelled due to WWU Lawyer’s last minute unavailability
  • Thursday, April 18th, 11:00 – 5:00
  • Monday, April 22nd, 11:00 – 5:00
  • Monday, April 29th, 11:00 – 5:00

Every Monday.

11AM – 5PM.

Old Main 590 (Solarium)

Join us in bargaining!

All bargaining sessions are open to WAWU members. You can come be a passive or active observer to the process. Sitting in on a bargaining session is a low stakes way of showing WWU Admin that everyone is invested and engaged in what happens during bargaining!

I want to come to a session!

Contract Article Proposals

We’re making history by negotiating the first ever union contract to protect student employees at Western. Bargaining is a democratic process where we decide together what we want to change and advocate to make these changes.

The following are all of the bargaining proposals that have been passed back and forth between us and WWU Administrators. Each proposed article is it’s own accordion dropdown menu. Tentatively Agreed (TA’d) articles are articles that we have reached an agreement with WWU Administrators on and will end up in the contract once we ratify it.

Active Proposal Archive

Wages & Titles
Tuition & Fees
Workload
Appointment Security (formerly Layoffs)
Anti-Discrimination
ADEI Training
Parking & Transit
Leaves
Healthcare
Vacation
Holidays
Discipline or Dismissal
Dependent Care
Management Rights
Probation
Title IX
No Strike No Lockout
Intellectual Property
Severability

WAWU’s Proposals Explained

As of April 29th Bargaining Session 

Wages for Hourly Employees

Wage Proposals for AY 2024-2025

Current Campus Minimum

WWU Proposal

WAWU Proposal

$17.28

$17.28 (0%)

$22.12 (28%)
  • In the past 6 months, the minimum wage in Washington State and Bellingham has gone up due to policies reflecting the rising cost of living in these areas. The current minimum wage in Bellingham is $17.28 per hour.
  • The minimum wage increases don’t reflect the true increases in the cost of living in Bellingham. In the past 2 years, rents in Bellingham have risen nearly 30%. Housing nonprofits calculate that to afford a studio apartment in Bellingham without being “rent burdened” (paying more than ⅓ of your income in rent), you would need to earn $24.12 per hour. Our proposal would still leave ESEs being rent-burdened.
  • Western has only ever proposed keeping the minimum hourly wage at the legal minimum. 
  • WAWU believes that minimum wage for ESE positions is unsustainable. The union has received many reports of people leaving or turning down on-campus work due to higher wages off campus. 
  • The median hourly student employee works ~7 hours per week. The cost to an employer would be $33.38 more than status quo per employee per week, or $372.68 over an entire quarter.
  • WAWU has emphasized willingness to negotiate, and WWU continues to insist on the legal minimum.
Graduate Stipends

Current

WWU Proposal

Current WAWU Proposal

Cost per month

$1700

$1900 (11%)

$2665 (56%)
  • Graduate Stipends at WWU are considerably lower than at other schools in Washington.
    • At the UW, they range from $2664 – $3,750.
    • At WSU, they range from $2,318.50 to $3,284.50. 
  • WAWU’s proposal for graduate stipends matches the minimum at both UW and WSU Mount Vernon. 
  • Competitive stipends are massively helpful for recruitment and retention of a diverse and talented graduate workforce. 
  • Research shows that funding for graduate student positions plays an important role in recruiting a diverse body of students and retaining them. 
Tuition Waivers for Hourly Employees

WAWU Tuition Waiver Proposals for Undergrads

19 hours 

(extremely rare)

 10 hours

7 hours

(median)

 4 hours
AY 2024-2025 % Waived 20% 10.5% 7% 4%
Cost per qtr $484.60 $254.42 $169.61 $96.92
AY 2025-2026 % Waived 50% 26% 21% 11%
Cost per qtr $1,211.50 $637.63 $510.11 $255.05
  • The union has proposed partial tuition waivers for hourly student employees, based on how many hours that person works. Per the formula, a hypothetical employee working 19 hours per week (the maximum) would get a 20% tuition waiver in 2024-2025. In our current proposal that would rise to 50% the following year. 
  • The vast majority of hourly workers work close to the median of 7 hours per week. For these employees, the 7% tuition waiver for a resident would cost Western $169.61 per quarter.
  • WAWU has indicated that we are open to adjusting the amounts, but the beginning of such a waiver program is critically important for the future of affordability of higher education.
  • The WWU Administration continues to reject any tuition waiver for hourly workers, whatsoever.
Fee Waivers

Fee Waiver Proposals

WWU Proposal

Current WAWU Proposal

Cost per quarter

$0

$224.03
  • To cover a falling share of state funding for Higher Education, colleges and universities have been steadily increasing “fees” which are separate from tuition, paid by both graduate and undergraduate students.
  • Annual fees cost student employees a maximum of $672.09 per quarter. These fees often come as a surprise to Graduate Students who were offered tuition waivers with admission.
  • The first ~40 hours of an hourly workers’ wages each year go to paying these fees. That means the typical hourly worker can work a month and a half just to pay these fees. 
  • WAWU has proposed a system used at UW and WSU, where some fees are waived for students working, so they can use their paychecks for expenses instead. 
  • WAWU has proposed waiving all fees, and has indicated a willingness to waive only some fees, or have partial waivers. 
  • The WWU Administration is still rejecting any concept of a fee waiver.
ADEI Trainings

WAWU is calling for student employees to have a voice in peer-led trainings that build inclusive and healthy workplaces. The union proposes joint planning and implementation of these trainings, to ensure that they are relevant to the current day and to real conditions in ESE workplaces. Similar, successful peer-led programs exist at both UW and WSU. Such programs have been shown to be much more effective than programs not run by student employee training facilitators. 

The WWU Administration insists on unilateral control. 

Leaves and Holidays

WAWU proposed up to 3 days of bereavement leave.

WWU has repeatedly denied any form of bereavement leave.

Probation
  • The WWU Administration is attempting to introduce a 30-day probationary period, during which employees lack protections against being terminated for arbitrary reasonsmay be fired for no reason. This period would last nearly ⅓ of the typical ESE appointment. No other student workers in the state have such a probationary period. WAWU rejects the idea of introducing a period designed to keep student workers feeling precarious and vulnerable.
  • Western has stated that they are worried about hiring people for their first jobs, without establishing that they are fit for the position, and need the ability to let them go without just cause. However, student employees are hired after being accepted to Western, maintaining their GPA and course load requirements, and often establishing relationships with their supervisors prior to hiring. 
  • Standard union contract protections do not prevent the university from terminating ESEs; they ensure that when the University terminates an ESE it is for a good reason and through a fair process.

Tentative Agreement Archive

Grievance Procedure (TA'd)
Training (TA'd)
Accommodations (TA'd)
Appointments (TA'd)
Fair Scheduling (TA'd)
Workspace and Materials (TA'd)
Health and Safety (TA'd)
Travel (TA'd)
Job Posting (TA'd)
Personnel Files (TA'd)
Immigration (TA'd)
Housing (TA'd)
Professional Development (TA'd)
Union Rights (TA'd)
Union Dues (TA'd)
Union VCAP (TA'd)
Union Management Committee (TA'd)
Scope of Agreement (TA'd)
Ground Rules (TA'd)
Recognition (TA'd)