Labor Relations

UW – Coalition Negotiations Recap September 13, 2018

Background

This recap details portions of the fifth coalition session between the UW and SEIU 925, WFSE, and the SEIU 1199NW Research/Hall Health Bargaining Unit.  Economic items will be bargained in coalition, including wages, paid family medical leave, transportation, etc.

Recaps are published online on each Union’s negotiation update page:

Employer’s Economic Proposals

UW put forth its first economic package proposal in which all provisions would need to be accepted in their entirety, and the Union would withdraw remaining economic proposals.  Provisions included:

Diversity and Inclusion – In response to the Union’s proposal, UW proposed to make available to the Unions the annual assessment report on University-wide diversity metrics that is prepared for the Board of Regent’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion subcommittee.  The report will be prepared by the University’s Office of Minority Affairs and Diversity (OMA&D).

U-PASS – In response to the Union’s proposal, UW proposed that the parties would work together to engage the City of Seattle as well as King County on specific initiatives in which any cost savings generated would be used to reduce the out-of-pocket costs of the employee U-PASS.

Salary Overpayment – The Employer proposed to move its salary overpayment proposal to an MOU with consistent language across each Union’s contract.

Hours of Work – UW maintained its proposal to eliminate language stating that future work schedules would be mutually agreed upon, in favor of new language stating other work schedules would only be implemented in accordance with the contract provision regarding mandatory subjects.

Overtime – UW maintained its proposal to redefine overtime as only time worked beyond forty hours in one seven-day period.  The Employer withdrew its proposal for non-work time (e.g. vacation, paid holiday, etc.) to be removed from the calculation of overtime.

Wages – UW proposed to increase wages across-the-board by 1% on July 1, 2019 and 1% on July 1, 2020.

SEIU 1199 Specific Economic Proposals

Break Relief – SEIU 1199 modified its proposal for a dedicated staff member to provide uninterrupted breaks and lunches, to a model where the dedicated staff member would specifically be a registered nurse.

Student Loan Support – SEIU 119 maintained its proposal that would require the Employer to make loan counseling available to employees, which would include information on getting out of loan default through consolidation or rehabilitation.  The Union withdrew its proposal for employees to receive monetary assistant to pay toward student loan debt.

Next Steps

The next UW-Coalition bargaining session is scheduled for September 18, and the next UW-SEIU 1199 bargaining session is tentatively scheduled for September 25.