March 3

On February 22 and March 1, our SEIU 503 Central Table Bargaining Team met with management to continue making our initial proposals to the state.

In these sessions, we gave management the rest of our proposals for economic justice. With so many state workers continuing to receive incorrect paychecks due to the Workday debacle, our union team proposed that the state be required to issue penalty pay for underpayments, cover actual costs incurred by workers for those underpayments, and create strict timelines for the state to repay wages owed to employees. We also proposed differential increases including improvements to the multilingual differential and a way for workers with bilingual skills to request to receive a differential for those.

We also passed the state proposals for union strength to keep our union strong and able to bargain from a position of power. These proposals would give workers better access to their union representatives, improve new employee orientations, increase paid steward training time, and more.

The state gave us several proposals which mostly dealt with small, housekeeping items. They also passed a proposal to make it easier for management to contract out the work of SEIU members. The state hasn’t yet responded to our economic proposals.

Our power at the bargaining table comes from workers taking action together. Sign the bargaining petition today to show the state that we are united and ready to fight for a great contract!

February 10, 2023

On Wednesday, February 8th, our SEIU 503 central table bargaining team met with the state to deliver an opening statement and pass our initial economic proposals. (Most coalition bargaining delegates were also able to attend virtually as observers.) In our statement, led by our central table co-chairs Ibrahim Coulibaly and Austin Folnagy, and 503’s executive director, Melissa Unger, we began to lay out the case for why our upcoming union contract must reflect our union’s bargaining priorities: economic justice, safe and equitable workplaces, sustainable workloads, and union security.

The opening economic proposal we gave the state includes:

• 11% Cost-of-living adjustment effective July 1, 2023
• 9% Cost-of-living adjustment effective July 1, 2024
• No state worker is paid less than $22 an hour by the end of the contract
• State pays our entire health insurance premium
• $1 per hour differential for all in-person work
• Longevity differentials for long-term employees
• Adding Indigenous People’s Day as a paid holiday
• Paid Leave Oregon premium fully paid by the state
• Increasing vacation accruals

See the opening statement slide deck.

This is just the beginning of our negotiations, and we have a long way before our contract expires on June 30. In the coming weeks, our central table team will continue to review the thousands of survey responses members returned and will be making additional proposals to the state that deal with our non-economic bargaining priorities. Our coalition bargaining tables have begun meeting this week (ODOT on Feb. 9th, Institutions Feb. 14th, and Human Services and Specials Feb. 16th).​​​

January 27, 2023

On February 8, our  SEIU Central Table Bargaining Team will meet with the state for the first full negotiation session. At this meeting, our negotiating team will deliver the demands that union members have for our new contract: economic justice, safe and equitable workplaces, sustainable workloads, and equity in remote work. Our Coalition bargaining teams will begin meeting with the state in mid-February.

To win, we need to build union power at every worksite and state agency. Building a strong Contract Action Team (CAT) of members who can keep coworkers updated on bargaining and involved in actions to show the state we’re serious about winning a great contract this year.

If you are interested in becoming a CAT for your workgroup, click this link so a union organizer can get in touch with you.

January 13, 2023

Our Central Table Bargaining Team will meet with the State to exchange proposals early next month. Right now, our bargaining teams are in the process of reviewing the results of more than 7,000 surveys, which made our priorities for the 2023 bargaining session clear. These include:

• Strong wage increases
• Sustainable workloads
• Workplace safety
• Remote work equity

Getting engaged in this year’s bargaining efforts is critical to our union’s success – take your involvement to the next level by becoming a contract action team (CAT) member at your worksite today.