Oregon Tech strike is over
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The Oregon Institute of Technology and Oregon Tech AAUP has a tentative agreeance of a contract that brings an end to the teacher strike. Each party has issued a press release regarding the agreement. Both are below.
The following is a press release from the Oregon Institute of Technology.
KLAMATH FALLS, Ore. - A five-year contract was agreed upon early Tuesday morning (May 4, 2021). Both parties came to terms after 1 year, 4 months and 28 days of negotiations. Inaugural contracts are known to take a very long time to come to fruition, and these negotiations vastly occurred during a global pandemic.
Tentative Agreements were reached on all remaining proposals including salary wherein Oregon Tech offered a guaranteed 11.5% salary increase over the life of the contract with an additional 3.5% possible through merit increases, and healthcare that includes Oregon Tech paying 95 to 97 percent of healthcare costs. Both parties agreed to new workload expectations which will allow faculty to spend more time with students and in the classroom.
Vice President of Institutional Advancement, Dr. Ken Fincher said, “This was a long and arduous process, but the end result will prove worthy of the time and effort expended. At times our community was pulled in different directions over the faculty union strike and the labor negotiations. Now it is time for us to unite and speak in one voice in support of Oregon Tech.”
Over the past few years, approximately $94 million in construction and facility improvements have been made at Oregon Tech. The additional investments agreed to in the contract display a significant financial commitment to our communities and Oregon Tech faculty.
Oregon Tech is poised to emerge from this contract negotiation stronger and with a renewed vigor. Oregon Tech thanks our students, their parents and family members, alumni, donors, and our community leadership for their unyielding support during this process.
The following is a press release from Oregon Tech AAUP
KLAMATH FALLS, Ore. - In the early hours of Tuesday morning, the bargaining team from Oregon Tech - AAUP came to tentative agreements on a historic first contract for Oregon Tech faculty, achieving their goals of fair wages, a reasonable workload, and secure public employee benefits.
The tentative agreements that were reached this week will now move to a ratification process, where union members will vote on whether to accept the final contract.
“We could not have done it without faculty, students, and community supporters far and wide showing up to the lines—both physical and digital—in solidarity with the faculty of Oregon Tech-AAUP,” said Kari Lundgren, associate professor in the communication department and OT-AAUP spokesperson. “We are immensely grateful for their generosity and spirit.”
A tenacious bargaining team and a strong strike action were an essential part of winning this contract. Faculty in Portland, Klamath Falls, and Salem all came together to take decisive collective action.
Workload for both tenure-track and non-tenure-track faculty had been a sticking point, and now there are protections for faculty with regard to excess workload assignments. Non-instructional workload is also better addressed, meaning faculty will receive workload units for advising students and other related activities that faculty do that make the university function and thrive. Perhaps most importantly, faculty’s right to bargain over future changes to workload is protected.
Fair compensation is now enshrined in this first contract, with guaranteed compensation increases through the life of the contract and mechanisms to address existing inequities.
Benefits are secured through the life of the contract in their current form and are tied firmly to the benefits of all other Oregon Tech employees.
All of this certainty is now formalized in the faculty’s first union contract, which, once ratified, will be in place through June 30, 2025. Faculty are thrilled to soon have the contract in place to support them in attracting and retaining excellent faculty and providing the best possible education to the students of Oregon Tech.
Negotiations lasted until the early hours of Tuesday morning when a deal was reached, ending a strike that took place at all of Oregon Tech’s teaching sites across the region. OT-AAUP’s faculty-led negotiating team worked tirelessly since bargaining began in October 2019, especially in the weeks leading up to and during the strike. While other faculty were picketing physically and digitally, bargaining team members were on call 24/7 drafting proposals, researching contracts of other unionized faculty, and meeting with senior administrators in mediation.
Faculty will return to work Wednesday, May 5, and are very eager to get back in their classrooms. “I teach proposal writing, and my students have definitely gotten a great look at how one kind of proposal works over the last 45 days,” said Matt Frye, assistant professor in the Communication Department.
Much work remains to rebuild relationships affected by senior administration’s persistent mendacity, and, while OT-AAUP’s contract should be ratified soon, the timeline for other healing processes is unknown.
Oregon Tech faculty first organized in 2018 over an ongoing struggle to secure fairer labor practices. Bargaining of their first contract began in fall 2019 and continued for over 500 grueling days in order to reach a contract. They became the first public university faculty to go on strike on April 26.
OT-AAUP is proud to have fought tirelessly for a contract that secured for fair wages, secure benefits, and reasonable, clearly defined workload for Oregon Tech faculty.