SEATTLE – After going more than two years without a contract, a group of college instructors says it's still hopeful that it will be able to reach an agreement with the University of Washington.

The International and English Language Program (IELP) faculty decided to unionize in 2011, and the teachers say they've been trying since then for their first contract.

For years, each instructor has worked under separate contracts, mostly for one academic quarter at a time.

Rozanna Carosella, an IELP instructor and an American Federation of Teachers (AFT) Washington member, says the instructors organized primarily to gain more job stability.

"For a bank or a mortgage lender, you are a part-timer,” she explains. “You can't really say that you have a stable, predictable job. So, even if you have been working regularly, steadily, full-time, quarter after quarter, that's a problem."

The university has made what it calls a "last, best and final" offer to the union members, but Carosella says it doesn't change the contract lengths and adds other requirements.

The International and English Language Program works with students who come to UW from other countries, as well as business professionals and graduate students who need English-language skills.

Carosella says other workers at the school have received raises this year, but the instructors’ salaries are tied to whether or not they accept the university's offer.

She adds the instructors' overarching concern is that they feel they're being treated differently than other faculty members.

"I would say, ‘No, it's not fair, and no, it's not reasonable,’” she says. “Anybody, no matter what your job is, would have a little problem with having your status and your security and your salary churn every year. Nobody wants to play musical chairs."

Carosella says two years of negotiating have taken a toll on morale in the department, and have made it harder to recruit and retain instructors.




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ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Minnesota government has a new budget in place, but it's still trying to wrap up the latest two-year contracts for state employees.

After a year in which workers helped agencies and residents through the pandemic, unions are pressing for what they call transformative changes. Negotiations could wrap up sometime this week.

Amid those talks, state workers represented by unions rallied at the state Capitol Wednesday.

Megan Dayton, statewide president of the Minnesota Association of Professional Employees (MAPE), said they are still fighting for telework opportunities.

"Not just because it helps keep our workforce safe and supported, but because it keeps the cost of public service down," Dayton asserted.

The Minnesota Office of Management and Budget would not comment on specific provisions, but said the work state employees do makes Minnesota a great place to live.

According to MAPE negotiators, state officials indicated that now is not the time for a long-term commitment on telework. Other union members pressed for contract language that establishes equity, diversity and inclusion.

Rhianon Sargent, program specialist for the Minnesota Department of Education and a MAPE member, told the crowd there was pushback over specific proposals concerning equity and diversity. She argued state leaders need to follow up on previous pledges in this area.

"We need MMB and the governor's team to show that they are truly committed to what they have stated as EDI priorities," Sargent urged.

Minnesota government employs more than 30,000 people in 78 agencies. More than 15,000 of those workers are represented by MAPE.

The union also continues to press the state to address what it calls the misuse of temporary unclassified positions. MAPE emphasized it leads to high turnover and low morale, while disproportionately affecting BIPOC workers.Disclosure: Minnesota Association of Professional Employees contributes to our fund for reporting on Budget Policy and Priorities, Livable Wages/Working Families, Social Justice. If you would like to help support news in the public interest, click here.

BOSTON - The AFL-CIO is holding a week of action to urge Congress to pass the Protecting the Right to Organize - or PRO - Act, what some labor activists call the most important bill for workers' rights in decades.

The bill would expand collective bargaining rights, bolster workers' access to union elections and require companies to respect election results.

Massachusetts AFL-CIO President Steven Tolman noted that far fewer workers are covered under collective-bargaining agreements with unions than were 40 years ago - and he said that's correlated with stagnating wages.

"What the PRO Act would do is, it would dramatically increase penalties for employers that violate - or had had been violating - the workers' rights for the last decade," said Tolman.

He said the PRO Act also would close loopholes that companies sometimes use to avoid paying benefits. It would institute an "ABC test," a set of guidelines to determine who is an independent contractor.

Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey filed a lawsuit against Uber and Lyft last year, saying they were misclassifying workers as independent contractors.

App-based companies such as Uber and Lyft oppose the PRO Act, and support testing language for a possible ballot initiative - such as Prop 22 in California last year - to allow them to keep classifying workers as independent contractors. They say that's to give them flexibility and independence.

But Tolman said he thinks it's an attempt to get out of providing the wages and benefits these employees deserve. He said these companies wouldn't pass the ABC test.

"But yet this company comes into Massachusetts, operates as though they're independent contractors, doesn't pay unemployment insurance, doesn't pay workers comp insurance, doesn't pay Social Security, doesn't provide sick time," said Tolman.

The PRO Act passed the House back in March, and Tolman added that Sen. Ed Markey - D-Mass. - and Sen. Elizabeth Warren - D-Mass. - are in support.

But he said other states' delegations need to get on board - particularly in the South, where far fewer workers are unionized.

PORTLAND, Ore. - Health care workers at four Portland hospitals are celebrating a hard-won new five-year union contract with Legacy Healthcare.

About 1,100 housekeepers, dietary workers, certified nursing assistants, and patient admission representatives now will return to an 8-hour work day - after being reduced to 7.5 hours at the beginning of the pandemic.

Sunita Patel has been a housekeeper at Legacy Emanuel for the past 18 years and helped negotiate the contract as part of the union negotiating team for Service Employees International Union, Local 49.

She said workers now will have more time to do a thorough job of infection control - where lives are at stake.

"Whether it's a COVID room or not," said Patel, "we have to make sure that it's disinfected with proper chemicals. If you don't, then the next patient is going to be picking that up."

With the new contract, workers now will pay less for medical benefits, get access continuing education through the SEIU & Joint Employer Education Fund, and will be able to take advantage of an expanded list of religious holidays.

Patel noted that a majority of the workers are Black, Latino or Asian, and have been struggling to make ends meet. She said all hospital workers deserve a fair contract - especially after 18 months of working on the front lines of the pandemic.

"Every employee that works in that hospital," said Patel. "When we leave our house, we are in that fear. What if we pick it up. What if we bring it back to our families."

The contract benefits members of SEIU 49 who work at Legacy Emanuel, Good Samaritan Medical Center, Unity Center for Behavioral Health, and Randall Children's Hospital.

Disclosure: SEIU Local 49 contributes to our fund for reporting on Livable Wages/Working Families, Social Justice. If you would like to help support news in the public interest, click here.