SEIU president Johnny Earl delivers opening remarks at the “Rally for Respect” in the EMU amphitheater. (Colleen Bogdan/Emerald)

SEIU branch 503 announced that it has reached a tentative agreement with university management on Feb. 27, temporarily ending over four months of negotiation. The union represents nearly 4,500 higher education workers at Oregon’s seven public universities.

Employees had been negotiating for months over a desired Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) to match salary raises with the rise in inflation. In the tentative agreement, SEIU and university management agreed to a combined 15% COLA raise over the next two years. The agreement also included an immediate $1,500 stipend for all employees, which will be paid out in April.

According to UO’s SEIU spokesperson, Johnny Earl, the SEIU settled for a tentative agreement that was “not enough,” but prevented them from going on strike.

“It was not enough, we fought them [management] for every dime they got. There was no money left on the table,” Earl said. “We pushed… all day and [all] night long. We know one thing: we got everything that we could get from them without having to go out on strike to get more.”

The tentative agreement comes less than five days after SEIU declared “impasse” in its contract negotiations, and less than one day after the Rally for Respect and mediation sessions that took place at the University of Oregon.
In a press release on Tuesday, SEIU gave thanks to union members for their work during the recent weeks, picketing, rallying and participating in worker “spirit” days to draw attention towards the cause.

“We believe that rallies of almost 300 people on two different occasions on our campus have made a difference,” Earl said. “Our members truly turned out which shows that our members were fully engaging, giving the increases that they so desperately deserve.”

The agreement still must be voted upon by union members before becoming finalized. The date and format of the ratification vote is unknown.

Further contract negotiations agreed upon were not immediately clear.