OUS Action Alert 8/4/09

Dear OUS Bargaining Unit Member,

Although DAS members have reached a tentative agreement with the state, the Higher Ed bargaining team is still at the table and we are facing a long hard fight for fairness.

The chair and alternate chair of our team, Marc Nisenfeld and Nat Elder, sat at the Central Table for many of the DAS sessions and as tough as those negotiations were, the State's DAS negotiators did not put the kind of aggressive take-aways of our rights on the table as their OUS management counterparts have.

OUS negotiators continue to insist on a contract modification that would allow management to impose unlimited unpaid furloughs at will (for up to 15 days at a time) in addition to 24 unpaid furlough days on any or all of us.

In addition and different from DAS, OUS, it appears, may not be asking all parts of the campus communities to shoulder the sacrifices we're being asked to accept: on some campuses, solid evidence of raises for some non-classified employee groups persists.

These proposals are outrageOUS. We must take a stand. Please make a call and/or send an email to the Chancellor and the President of your campus.

The points are simple - and you may use these in your email or phone messages, or create your own.

To the Chancellor: Withdraw the proposal in Article 51 that would allow you to impose unlimited unpaid days off at will on us, and settle this contract with fairness and equity. We deserve no less than what our fellow state workers in other state agencies have won.  Don't try to balance the budget on the backs of classified workers. The sacrifices must be shared by all!

To the Presidents: Please ask Chancellor Pernsteiner to withdraw the proposal in Article 51  that would allow managers to impose unlimited unpaid days off at will on classified university workers. Ask him to settle their contract with fairness and equity. Do not treat OUS classified state workers as less worthy than other state workers in Oregon, and DO NOT try to balance the budget on classified workers' backs. The sacrifices must be shared by all!

Find the contact information for the Chancellor, below.  We trust you know how to reach your University President.

In Unity,

Your SEIU Bargaining Team for OUS


Oregon University System  Chancellor George Pernsteiner
Email: George_Pernsteiner@ous.edu