Membership Bargaining Update: 7/18/22

Weekly on Mondays 11 am – 3 pm:https://pdx.zoom.us/j/89575632910

Still no firm proposals from PSU

Hi GEU folks! Let’s dig into what’s going on in bargaining. We’re getting into the big issues today: healthcare, childcare, and assistance with DACA and visa fees. Three crucial issues, which happen to live in the same part of the contract: Article 21. You’ll be hearing about Article 21 a lot!

After over a month with no reply from PSU, it’s apparent their team had not even looked at our last proposal for article 21. They had even forgotten that the GEU team had presented it! Once PSU had finally reviewed the proposal, they suggested a vague “creative solution” rather than consider it. Details are sparse, but here’s the gist: still no healthcare support, still no childcare support, still no fee assistance… but instead, a single pool of money to use as an assistance fund for GAs with acute needs. Rolling all of these important and unique issues into a single blanket fund? Acute solutions for chronic needs? Consider us skeptical.

We’ll need to see the details, but there’s likely a long way to go in these negotiations. Perhaps this can be the start of a more fruitful conversation on all of the issues. Especially if all GAs stand up now to let PSU know how important the issues are for us.