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QuickTake:
Instead of spending Monday on the picket line, members of the union representing classified staff at the University of Oregon gathered outside Johnson Hall to celebrate a tentative contract agreement reached hours earlier.
About 100 classified staff rallied outside Johnson Hall Monday, Sept. 28, to celebrate a tentative bargaining agreement with Oregon’s seven public universities, including the University of Oregon.
The bargaining teams for the universities and the Service Employees International Union 503, the union representing classified staff on their campuses, reached an agreement around midnight Monday.
Employees across Oregon, from custodial workers to library staff, had been set to go on strike just hours later. Instead of hitting the picket line, workers gathered to applaud the tentative agreement.
“We are really thrilled that our bottom line was met at the table,” Jennifer Smith, president of UO’s SEIU sublocal chapter, told Lookout Eugene-Springfield. “It made us able to come back to work today and avert a strike because our members weren’t going to settle for literally anything less.”
Smith and Zakary Gosa-Lewis, a spokesperson for the universities’ bargaining team, said the tentative four-year economic agreement includes the following:
- 3% base wage increases in November 2026 and November 2027. The union had asked for 3%. In their latest offer Sept. 24, the universities had offered 2% in both 2026 and 2027.
- Full step increases through 2030. The universities wanted to pause 4.62% step increases — seniority-based salary hikes — from July 1, 2027, through June 30, 2028, before resuming them through June 2030. The union wanted the salary steps to continue as they are through June 30, 2028, per its latest offer.
- Continuation of the universities’ 95% or 97% contribution toward healthcare premiums.
- No “takeaways” that would have removed or altered contract provisions regarding outsourcing work and layoff protections.
After months of bargaining, the union and the universities held a final mediation session virtually on Sunday, Sept. 27 that stretched into the early morning hours Monday.
“Both teams worked diligently throughout the day to address outstanding issues and find common ground,” Gosa-Lewis said in a statement.
He said the four-year tentative agreement runs through June 30, 2030, and addresses wages, benefits and working conditions for more than 4,500 classified employees across more than 200 classifications. The agreement represents a 15.24% wage increase over a two-year period for an “eligible employee,” he said.
“As more than 100,000 students return for fall term this week, employees across our universities — classified staff, unclassified staff and faculty — remain united around a common goal: providing students with a high-quality educational experience.”
The sublocal at UO represents 1,800 staff. Workers in purple and yellow union garb who were planning to go on strike instead arrived outside Johnson Hall buzzing with excitement about the tentative agreement.
Shouts of “We won!” could be heard rippling through the crowd, and dozens of pizzas — planned for a long day of picketing — were distributed to rally-goers.
Becket DeChant, who has worked as an arborist for the university for nine years, told Lookout that the tentative agreement means he can focus on his job instead of “looking for another one” that would allow him to make ends meet.
He characterized the universities’ initial economic offer as a “list of concessions,” not proposals for honest bargaining, and said he is glad the union “fought” back.
“I enjoy the work that I do, and I want to do it, and I want to do it here,” DeChant said. “I’m glad that they have come to their senses, and the contract will allow me to continue doing it, because otherwise, I would have been facing choices.”
A handful of union leaders spoke to the crowd on Monday with a megaphone, leading chants.
“I was saying to myself, ‘Somehow, some way, we’re going to win this contract. Somehow, some way, management’s going to recognize the work we do. Somehow, some way, classified employees was going to get the respect that they deserve,’” Johnny Earl, the president of SEIU 503, told the crowd, to cheers.
Smith told Lookout she had expected to see 800 workers on the strike line, had it come to that.
“No one here is trying to get rich,” she said. “We are just trying to support our families in the communities that we serve, and it’s becoming more and more difficult. This is a result that we can live with, and you can see looking around that people are quite pleased with the outcome.”
