The Oregon Coast United Employees (OCUE 6020) approved a contract with Oregon Coast Community College this week. After months of bargaining ended in an impasse, negotiations went into mediation. During the third mediation session, a tentative agreement was finally reached. Nearly two-thirds of the union members then approved the contract, which ratified the collective bargaining agreement with the college.
The Associated Academic Professionals (AAP 6200) approved a contract with Eastern Oregon University this week. After months of tough negotiations, AAP members received both pay and step increases. They also preserved an important protection for tenured faculty members.
At our recent Spring Training event, President Jaime Rodriguez announced the recipients of the AFT-Oregon 2022 Scholarships and Local Awards. Congratulations to the winners!
See what AFT-Oregon locals have been up to in this video compliation from the last 10 years.
Each year, AFT-Oregon offers union training to its local members at “Winter School.” Due to the pandemic, we have moved this year’s training to April 30 at the Salem Convention Center, and we’re calling it “Spring Training.”
April 4, 2022 was a national day of action on Canceling Student Debt. Here are highlights of the rally at Portland State University.
“It was like waking up and learning you won the lottery.” That’s just one of the comments flooding the AFT offices from members who are elated to be free of student debt at last. After relentless advocacy, including an AFT lawsuit against former Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program that was so broken is finally doing what it is supposed to do: delivering relief from student debt for thousands of borrowers. So far, $6.2 billion in student debt has been forgiven for 100,000 public service workers like teachers, nurses and professors.
Recently, there have been significant changes to the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) at both the federal level and state level, which significantly increase the number of folks who are now eligible. AFT and AFT-Oregon are once again offering the helpful and popular Student Debt Clinics in April.
The Graduate Teaching Fellows Federation, AFT Local 3544, has filed an Unfair Labor Practice claim against the University of Oregon for unilaterally imposing new COVID-19-related workplace policies without negotiation. The UO announced through email a new recording requirement for graduate employees (GEs) who teach in-person classes, directly affecting 950 GEs who have teaching appointments. A new policy that requires employees to be recorded while working is a clear change in working conditions, and changes to working conditions are a mandatory topic of bargaining, meaning the employer cannot unilaterally institute such a policy.
AFT-Oregon local leaders and supporters are invited to attend the 2021 Presidents Conference, which will be held online Saturday, November 13th from 10:00 am – 1:00 pm.
This year’s conference agenda includes AFT-Oregon’s first-ever “Legislator of the Year” Award, plus important updates that will affect you and your members.