With 2017-19 Increase of 11 Percent, Wages Increase by Almost 25 Percent Over Four Years
At bargaining sessions with Service Employees International Union (SEIU) on September 11-13, Oregon’s public universities offered eligible classified employees a 13.5 percent increase in wages over the next two years of the contract period (2019-2021).
The offer also maintains current fringe benefits, such as classified employees contributing three to five percent to the cost of their healthcare insurance premiums; receiving accrual of up to 6.25 weeks of vacation annually; earning 14 paid holidays and personal days each year along with eight hours of sick leave earned each month; and receiving a 70 percent university tuition discount for employees and their dependents.
The contract negotiations involve SEIU-represented classified employees working at Eastern Oregon University, Oregon Institute of Technology, Oregon State University, Portland State University, Southern Oregon University, the University of Oregon and Western Oregon University.
The cost to the universities for the contract offer is $44.63 million over the next biennium. The offer includes a 4 percent cost-of-living wage increase, plus incremental wage step increases that total 9.5 percent over two years. Step increases are provided to classified employees each year for satisfactory or better job performance, but are not considered “merit” increases. More than 70 percent of the university’s classified employees qualify for annual step increases. For those who do not qualify because they have reached the top step of their wage range, the universities offered to provide those employees a one-time $750 bonus.
“The current offer on the table is a significant increase from the offer provided by the universities in August just prior to classified union declaring an impasse in negotiations,” said Di Saunders, spokesperson for the universities’ bargaining. “It is a generous and fair offer that acknowledges the important contributions that classified staff make to the operations of all of Oregon’s public universities, while balancing institutional financial realities.”
The two parties are scheduled to meet with a mediator on September 23 and 24.
“Oregon’s public universities are committed to engage in good faith efforts to ensure that those negotiations result in a contract that is fair and appropriate for all,” Saunders said.
