Dear Colleagues,
Public Employment Relations Commissions (PERC) has notified Washington State University that a petition has been received from WSU_CASE/UAW to represent Academic Student Employees.
The unit description for WSU-CASE/UAW is:
All employees enrolled in academic programs and employed by Washington State University in the following classifications: (1) Graduate teaching assistant; (2) Graduate staff assistant; (3) Graduate project assistant; (4) Graduate veterinary assistant; (5) Tutor, reader and/or grader in all academic units and tutoring centers; (6) Graduate Research Assistant, and any other student employees whose duties and responsibilities are substantially equivalent to those employees in (1)-(6), excluding: students who have no service expectancy imposed upon them by the employer, casual employees, confidential employees, supervisors, employees covered under Chapter 41.76 RCW and employees included in any other bargaining unit.
During union organizing efforts, there are things employers (supervisors and managers) can and cannot do in terms of communicating about labor organizations with their employees, including:
Don’ts
- Threaten: Supervisors cannot threaten employees or reduce privileges for employee’s participation in any PERC efforts.
- Interrogate: Supervisors cannot question employees about their views.
- Promise: Supervisors cannot make promises of new benefits.
- Surveillance: Supervisors cannot monitor or attend union meetings.
Do’s
- Truthful: Provide employees with correct facts if questioned. Or, refer to HRS to answer questions.
- Objective: Enforce policies that solicitation or discussion be conducted outside of work time.
- Open: If approached, let employees know that you or management are willing to discuss work related matters, but are
barred from making improvements prior to a union election. - Listen: Listen without comment to what employees have to say about organizing efforts.
- Supervise: Expect employees to fulfill their job duties.
Please review the Labor Relations Union Organizing page, which provides tips and tools for employers during organizing efforts.
If you have additional questions, please feel free to contact WSU HRS Labor Relations at hrs.labor@wsu.edu.
Sincerely,
Mary Rezac
Dean, Voiland College of Engineering and Architecture
Washington State University
Email: mary.rezac@wsu.edu
Phone: 509-335-5593