Editor's note: The WSU Coalition of Academic Student Employees and the university struck a deal after we went to press. Read our coverage of the tentative agreement here.
Organized labor is still having a moment.
More than a year ago, graduate students and doctoral candidates at Washington State University who work as research and teaching assistants during their studies successfully voted to unionize. Bargaining with the university for an initial contract, however, didn't actually begin for another three months.
Now, 11 months and more than 30 meetings later, 34 of the 43 items on the bargaining table have been tentatively agreed on. But disagreements over wages, parental leave, tuition waivers and health insurance have created an impasse between the university and the WSU Coalition of Academic Student Employees, the UAW-affiliated union representing these student workers known as ASEs.
"The ball is in the university's court, and they seem to be holding [negotiations] up," says Evelien Deelen, an international doctoral student in WSU's anthropology program who is part of the union, which has more than 1,800 members at WSU.
WSU Vice President of Communications and Marketing Phil Weiler says the delay isn't intentional, but due in part to a lack of information from insurance providers.
"We don't have all the information we would need to share with the ASEs," Weiler explains. "We're working with our insurance carriers, but this is not information that's easy to control."
WSU has also made significant movements to improve wages. On Jan. 8, the university announced a plan that would see ASEs get a one-time average wage increase of about 20% followed by a 4% mass salary increase in the contract's second year, costing an estimated $15.7 million through the 2026 fiscal year. The union calls the proposed wage increase "substantial movement by management," but it wants future increases built in to keep pace with other universities and cost of living.
Since this is an initial union contract, Weiler says reaching a final agreement was bound to take time. Often, it can take well over a year to reach an agreement on an initial contract, according to a 2022 labor data analysis by Bloomberg Law.
"This is a brand new union, so it's safe to say that those first contracts take a lot of time," Weiler says. "This is also the first time that we've put a contract together with a student union, so there are sure to be some complications."
Union members argue that WSU has been intentionally stalling health insurance negotiations. In September, the union filed an unfair labor practice complaint to the state Public Employment Relations Commission alleging that WSU was unwilling to bargain in good faith when it came to health insurance.
"WSU failed to provide relevant information in response to the Union's February 22, 2023, ongoing healthcare requests for information that the Union needed for the proper performance of its collective bargaining duties," the complaint states. "By failing to respond to the Union's request for information also WSU refused to bargain and derivatively interfered with employee rights."
A hearing is scheduled for Feb. 6 and Feb. 8 in the unfair labor practice, which, if all goes well, should be finished by June, according to PERC Executive Director Mike Sellars. Obviously, the case could be settled earlier if it's negotiated, or it could last longer if hearings get pushed back.
"There's a process that PERC follows and we plan to follow that," Weiler says, declining to comment further on the complaint.
Still, the union plans to strike this week. (Editor's note: The Inlander goes to press before the planned strike on Wednesday, Jan. 17.)
After almost a year of bargaining, the union will cease all work on campuses across the state in an effort to secure the final few demands that they feel the university is holding out on. That means ASEs will stop teaching classes, grading assignments, doing lab work or even responding to emails. Classes began Jan. 8.
"We are anxious about this, but we do realize that striking is our only option," Deelen says. "We as ASEs don't want to strike, but we feel we are forced to do it because of the administration's behavior."
While this is meant to impact the university, it will inevitably affect the same ASEs fighting for their contract.
Paul Panipinto is a doctoral candidate in pharmaceutical sciences at WSU Spokane. He hopes to wrap up his studies this semester, but to do that, he actually has to be at work. Even if the union secures all their demands for an initial contract, Panipinto won't reap the benefits.
He still plans to find his spot on the picket line though.
"The university is dragging its feet because they want to stay within the budget, which I understand, but they're looking at it in the short term," he says. "A lot of us got into health sciences because we want to help people, and this contract will help ASEs in the long term." ♦
