SEIU 1199NW – UW Negotiations Recap for Wednesday, April 9, 2025
Background
This recap details the fifth session for the renewal of the collective bargaining agreement (CBA) between the University of Washington and the Service Employees International Union 1199NW (SEIU 1199NW). Recaps are published online on the UW Labor Relations website.
SEIU 1199NW Initial Proposals
Article 6 – Grievance Procedure
6.6 Union Delegates
The Union proposed to include investigation meetings as an instance where an aggrieved employee and the Union Delegate would be in pay status. This would be in addition to grievance meetings, mediations, and arbitration hearings.
Article 36 – Corrective Action/Dismissal Process
The Union proposed to strike the sentence where if the Employer placed an employee on administration leave for investigatory purposes, the Employer would notify the Union. Instead, the Union proposed that prior to scheduling the investigation meeting, the Employer would notify the employee.
Article 41 – New Employee Orientation
The Union proposed to increase the amount of time a Union representative would be allowed with new employees from half an hour to a full hour. Additionally, the Union proposed that delegate time in new employee orientations would count as paid time while striking that this release time would be subject to the operational needs of the department.
Article 42 – Union Activities
The Union proposed to increase the amount of paid release time delegates would be allowed from eight to 24 hours annually to participate in the Union’s delegate training program.
MOU – Negotiations for the 2025-2027 Agreement
The Union proposed to rollover this MOU and the Union proposed that participating employees would be paid release time for any hour missed from their regular schedule rather than a cap of eight hours.
Side Letter L – Virtual NEO
Similarly to their proposal in Article 41, the Union proposed to increase the amount of time a Union representative would be allowed with new employees from half an hour to a full hour.
UW Initial Proposals
Article 37 – Nonpermanent and Intermittent Employees
The Employer proposed cleaning up language to reflect the current use of nonpermanent and intermittent employees rather than the outdated use of per diem. Additionally, the Employer proposed that this article would be applicable to all nonpermanent and intermittent employees whereas in some places, the article previously only referred to intermittent and nonpermanent registered nurses. These proposed changes can be found throughout the Employer’s proposal.
Minimum Work Availability
The Employer proposed that the four shifts of availability would match the open shift needs of the department.
Float
The Employer proposed that intermittent or nonpermanent employees would not be eligible for the float premium.
Premiums
The Employer proposed to include a table that would detail, by the bargaining unit, the various premiums that would apply to nonpermanent and intermittent employees covered by this agreement.
Training
The Employer proposed clarifying that when intermittent and nonpermanent employees could be required for mandatory education as pertinent to the classification and clinical area. This mandatory class time would be compensated at the appropriate rate of pay. Finally, in the Employer’s proposal, intermittent and nonpermanent employees could attend in-house education offered by the employer without cost when it is also without cost for classified staff but would not qualify for elective educational and professional leave or education support funds.
UW Counter Proposals
Article 11 – Educational and Professional Development & Article 42 – Union Activities
Elective Educational and Professional Leave
In response to the Union’s proposal to increase paid release time from eight to 24 hours of paid release time for the purposes of the Union’s delegate training, the Employer could not agree; however, the Employer did propose that Union provided training for delegates could count as elected educational and or professional leave for the purposes of Article 11.
Next Steps
The next SEIU 1199NW and UW bargaining session is scheduled for Wednesday, April 23, and will be held in person.