A crowd waits outside Johnson Hall as SEIU leaders deliver a petition of community support for higher education workers to UO president John Karl Scholz. (Colleen Bogdan/Emerald)
The Service Employees International Union Local 503, which encompasses seven public universities, including the University of Oregon, announced on Feb. 27 that they have reached a tentative agreement with university management. This will likely end contract talks that have been ongoing since October 2023.
SEIU’s 4,500 workers consist of classified employees such as healthcare workers, library technicians, custodial staff, home care and personal support, state agencies, environmental services and more.
Unions across seven campuses in Oregon have been participating in practice pickets and mediations since Feb. 8. Most notably, they held a mediation session at the University of Oregon on Feb. 22 before declaring an impasse on Feb. 23.
On Feb. 26, a rally and mediated bargaining session were held to further discuss resolutions. It was during this mediation session that university management came to an agreement with the SEIU.
“This has been my sixth bargaining campaign over the last 12 years, and it’s also been my hardest,” Local 085, a branch of Local 503, President Johnny Earl said. “We have won huge wins at the bargaining table, cost of livings that has never been given to us ever.”
As of now, the tentative agreement will include a 15% cost-of-living adjustment, a restriction of language on contracting out Union jobs and a one-time payment of $1,500 to all employees in April. The contract must be ratified by a vote of active SEIU members before going into effect.
Prior to the contract settlement, Earl described it as being a struggle each time SEIU workers would seek fair costs of living at the bargaining table. Earl also said that the SEIU likely may have considered a strike if they didn’t get what they needed.
Hours after the tentative agreement was announced, however, Earl told the Emerald that the stipend their members received was “not enough,” but that SEIU had gotten everything it could without resorting to a strike.
“I would like to thank our members for sticking with us and believing in us, which gave us the power to push management as far as we could,” Earl said. “The most important thing is that some of our members who are at the lowest pay scale will now see a difference in their paycheck.”
Other local labor unions like the GTFF and Teamsters have shown constant support throughout the SEIU’s negotiation process. Emily Beatty, GTFF vice president of external relations, feels they are returning the favor to those who contributed to reaching their [GTFF’s] contract ratification last month.
Beatty believes that cross-union solidarity is fundamental to winning bargaining demands.
“GTFF stands fully behind SEIU,” Beatty said. “They stood fully behind us when we were bargaining leading up to our strike, and we’re doing the same for them because I think they deserve everything that we won. They deserve the same for their members.”
UO student Seth Carp expressed appreciation for those involved in a statement immediately after learning about the announcement.
“I think that’s a good thing and probably exactly what [they] wanted,” Carp said. “I would say that it is inspiring for sure.”
More information and details about the contract settlement can be found here.
