Your PWU Bargaining Team met with representatives from OHSU on Monday, Sept. 11, to begin collective bargaining negotiations on a first contract for PWU. PWU’s entire bargaining team was in attendance along with AFSCME representatives Damon Di Cicco (Lead Negotiator) and Marc Meadows (Second Negotiator). We began the meeting by establishing the ground rules for bargaining. Highlights of ground rules include agreement that constituents from either party will be allowed to attend sessions in person or virtually (webex), and that all initial proposals will be brought to the table within the first 100 days of bargaining (by 12/19/23). All additional proposed ground rules were mutually agreed upon. PWU then brought two article proposals to the table: Preamble to the Contract, and Recognition Clause. These articles define the parties engaging in collective bargaining and ensure that all of OHSU’s Postdoc population will be included in the Collective Bargaining Agreement. We are excited to have already started discussing substantive proposals!
Moving forward, representatives of PWU and OHSU will meet every-other Tuesday afternoon from 1pm-4pm. You can expect updates like this after every meeting, communicated via our newsletter subscription and on our website. Although we have agreed to make initial proposals on all CBA articles in the first 100 days of bargaining, we expect that reaching tentative agreements on all articles may take much longer. The PWU bargaining team is committed to reaching the best possible contract for all OHSU Postdocs. As always, please feel free to reach out to our email or a MAT team member if you have questions about the current status of bargaining.
And remember, power at the bargaining table comes from solidarity and action outside the bargaining room! Get involved with the Member Action Team today!! → Slack
For more information find us here: https://www.ohsupostdocs.org/ or on our linktree
You can also email us at [email protected]!
In solidarity,
Your PWU B Team
Paige Arneson-Wissink
Scotty Farley
Alexis Gibson
Carmel Howe
Joe Lebowitz
Akram Taherinasab
