Bargaining Update - 2.4.26

OHSU Research Workers United Bargaining Update - 2.4.26

RWU and OHSU management met for another mediated bargaining session today, February 4th. RWU’s bargaining team came to the table with a great deal of hope after receiving some encouraging messaging at the end of our last bargaining session on Friday, suggesting they were seeking approval from upper management to make substantial increases to their current offer.

However, the proposal presented this morning failed to show the promised movement. While it did include additional salary increases for some of our lowest paid members, it failed to include any movement to the across-the-board wage increases management has proposed. As a reminder, their current offer would provide a 4% wage increase after ratification, a 3.25% wage increase in year 2, and a 3% wage increase in year 3.

This proposal would lock in continued wage stagnation for most of our members. It is not an offer RWU’s bargaining team can recommend to our members for ratification, nor is it one we believe our members would willingly ratify. We’re extremely disappointed that OHSU’s leadership has failed to follow through on the signalling we received last Friday that they were ready to come to the bargaining table with an offer coming closer to RWU’s current position. This failure has undermined our trust in their commitment to the bargaining process, and renewed our resolve to fight for the wages our members deserve.

In light of these developments and the strong strike authorization vote delivered by our members last week, the RWU bargaining team has made the difficult decision to submit our strike notice to OHSU, with a proposed start date of February 18th. We will continue to meet with management in the coming weeks, and hope they will come to the bargaining table with a serious offer that we can recommend to our membership for ratification. However, if OHSU management continues to counter our demands with an offer that fails to adequately compensate researchers for the important work we do, we are prepared to withhold our labor as we continue to fight for a fair contract.

We have tentatively scheduled additional bargaining sessions on the following dates, and will continue to keep our members updated as this process moves forward:

• Tuesday, February 10th
• Friday, February 13th
• Tuesday, February 17th

In solidarity,

Your RWU bargaining team:

Lynne Swarbrick

Wes Horton

Lillian Raley

Victoria Halls

Caitlin Burbank

Anna Levy

Cort Cox

Henry Harrison