Rod Palmquist, AAUP Listserv: Speaking as a former union rep that has participated in years of higher ed bargaining at UW, WSU, Western, Central and Evergreen, I’m very surprised that an administrator as knowledgeable as Norm would make such a misleading statement: “You can’t go and change the contracts.”This is simply untrue. If the UW wanted to, it could make all sorts of mid-contract proposals to increase employees’ wages, which unions would not object to. In fact, HR and Labor Relations do this all the time for union-represented UW Medicine staff. See, for example the WFSE & SEIU compensation updates prominently displayed on the front page of UW Labor Relations’ website.
When the UW proposes wage increases, employees’ unions will insist on bargaining over these increases but will ultimately agree to increases. While the UW can’t change its labor contracts unilaterally, there are very few instances when a union would not agree to wage increases proposed by management.
Either Norm is totally ignorant of the UW’s ability to change their contracts with the mutual agreement of its employees’ labor unions, or simply made a misleading statement designed to dodge criticism. I personally hope the UW’s Public Relations Office clarifies this point with The Seattle Times…