Contract Bargaining Update: Second Session

 Members of the bargaining committee and SEIU 73 representatives met yesterday with University representatives on Zoom from 9am-noon. This was our second bargaining session with the University, and it was a doozy!


This session gave us our first taste of what it is like to submit a package of proposals, and see it returned to us with edits, amendments, and in some cases, outright rejection. This was disappointing to us, because we know that the issues addressed in the rejected proposals are very important to our members. However, based on the discussions at our virtual table, we are hopeful and will reintroduce these proposals so that we can engage in a robust conversation about why they are crucial to our members. And importantly, thanks to language that we introduced into our ground rules, we can invite members who are not part of the bargaining committee to come to bargaining sessions and speak about why these issues matter to them!


Since the proposal package we submitted was fairly large, and our time was short, we focused on where we could find agreement, countering University edits and amendments where it benefited our members to do so, and tabled discussion of more contentious and rejected proposals for discussion in our bargaining committee meetings. At the end of our three hour session, we were able to come to a tentative agreement on several proposals. We passed others in which we had rejected or amended the University’s counter-proposals back for them to review. 


Do you have questions? Chat with a bargaining committee member! Review our FAQ or check out SEIU Local 721’s glossary of union terminology. And continue to show your support by wearing buttons, wearing stickers, and changing Zoom backgrounds to our logo! Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter to keep up with the latest updates.

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