Frequently Asked Questions

A union is an organized group of workers who act collectively to influence and improve their working conditions, including by negotiating a contract (collective bargaining agreement or CBA) with their employer. 

Functionally, a union is a tool for leveraging your power as a worker. A change in working conditions (pay, benefits, safety, security) that would be incredibly difficult to achieve as an individual can become feasible when enough people are organized to demand the same thing at the same time. The same is true for exerting influence on our state and federal governments – organizing produces results. A union is a structure for that organization in our workplace.

A contract or Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) is a legally binding document that outlines the terms under which workers will provide service to their employer. This document cannot be changed without consent from both the union and the employer and provides a process for recourse if it is not. 

There is no one-size-fits-all contract, and what is covered in the contract is up to the workers, and our bargaining power. There are mandatory topics that must be included in CBA – those include wages, benefits, and working conditions. There are also prohibited topics that cannot be in a CBA – for example, in Washington state, most health care and retirement benefits for state employees are bargained directly with the state to apply to all state employees, and therefore do not appear in individual CBAs with the university.

Uniting together with colleagues gives us more power than when trying to negotiate with UW as individuals. We can use this power to enshrine what we love about our jobs and to win improvements on the issues that matter most to us. 

Unions are run by and for the workers, with each step in the process democratically decided by the workers. The workers come together to strategize and build support about the issues they care about. Once there is majority support, workers can petition to form a union and begin bargaining as equals with UW.

Here is an outline of the common steps in forming a union:

1. Workers form an organizing committee to gather information and make a plan to form a union.
2. A majority of workers (50% + 1) sign authorization cards indicating they would like to form a union with UAW.
3. Authorization cards are delivered to PERC (Public Employment Relations Commission), the Washington State commission designated to oversee public employee unionization efforts, including labor relations and collective bargaining. 
4. PERC requests a list of employees in the petitioned-for titles from UW to verify that the submitted cards are valid and represent a majority.
5. PERC and the parties agree on a list of eligible voters from the list of employees in petitioned-for titles. PERC then verifies that a majority of eligible voters submitted authorization cards. (This is also called a card check and is done in place of a secret ballot election.)
6. PERC certifies the workers / UAW as a union, and they can begin bargaining with the UW Administration.
7. Workers elect a bargaining committee.
8. Workers fill out surveys, hold discussions, request information from UW Administration, and gather feedback to draft initial bargaining demand documents.
9. These initial bargaining demands are sent to all workers for review, and to vote on whether to move ahead with them.
10. The bargaining committee negotiates as equals with the UW Administration, and provides regular updates to the rest of the unit.
11. Once a tentative agreement is reached at the bargaining table, everyone has a chance to vote on whether to ratify the agreement to become their new contract.

Anyone interested in organizing with UAW can sign a union authorization card or get in contact with an organizer by emailing contact@uw-uaw.org. Get in touch today to find out if others in your job classification are already represented or seeking union recognition.

An authorization card is a signed document that authorizes UAW to represent you and your coworkers in collective bargaining with UW. By signing a union authorization card you are expressing your support for forming a union and engaging in collective bargaining. Once enough cards are signed employees can seek representation and request an election. If authorization cards are signed by more that 50% of employees in a job classification, union representation may be recognized by card verification and without a ballot election. The Public Employee Relations Commissions counts the authorization cards and approves the petition to form a union. We can then begin to bargain with UW. Collective bargaining means more rights and more power to shape our lives. By signing a card, you are joining over 100,000 higher education workers within UAW in efforts to achieve better working conditions, wages & benefits.

Many of us perform daily supervisory duties in relation to other UW employees and are still included in this union. PERC (Public Employment Relations Commission) has final authority to make the determination as to who is a supervisor, not the University administration. In the meantime, if you support forming a union, you are encouraged to sign a union authorization card. 

State labor law only precludes us from being in the same bargaining unit as employees we supervise if we have independent authority to take or effectively recommend such actions as hiring, firing, transferring, disciplining, adjusting grievances, or providing salary increases to multiple employees, and we either spend 50% or more of our time performing one or more such activities or perform more than 50% of such activities. If we act as lead workers who perform discretionary administrative actions, like approving leave requests, assigning work, creating schedules training employees, and issuing low level discipline, we are not precluded from being in the bargaining unit.

If you have doubts about whether or not you are eligible for the union based on supervisory duties, the PERC will resolve those doubts.

The timeline for organizing depends on how many people in your job classification can talk to colleagues and build majority support for joining UAW. Once a majority of employees in your position sign union authorization cards, your group can seek recognition as part of UAW at UW. Get in touch with a colleague on the organizing committee to learn more about the process.

We, as organized workers, have tremendous power to control almost every aspect of our working conditions – regardless of how our positions are funded. 

While a union contract can’t dictate that no layoffs will ever take place, a contract can outline under what conditions those layoffs are allowed. A contract can ensure the layoff process is transparent, fair, proactively communicated to workers, and carried out in a way that maximizes the likelihood of a quick return to work. An example from the Research Staff contract is the creation of the Rehire List – a system that prioritizes the hiring of laid off workers when a new staff role becomes available. 

A contract may also include salary ranges for the job titles it covers, as well as what annual increase to base pay each worker is due over a multi-year period. This predictability of personnel costs can make it easier for supervisors to budget during the grant seeking process. 

Finally, as a union, we can exercise power not just on the university but on the state and federal level. UAW International has over 400,000 members in Locals across the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico. Around 100,000 of those workers are in Higher Ed and Academia. We have used the power of our organized numbers to motivate elected leaders to champion the cause of securing funding for research and higher education.

We’ve run and continue to develop a nationwide campaign to Kill the Cuts to the funding agencies that support our work. We joined with progressive allies to sue the Trump administration’s cancellation of research grants – an action that directly led to furloughed researchers at UW returning to work. And we are working proactively to build support for research funding. 

Professional staff at UW are often workers who are highly educated, highly trained, and who hold advanced degrees or certifications. Many of us work very independently, or may have significant influence on our centers and projects – we’re also passionate about the work we do, and the communities our work serves. 

But workers without a contract will be susceptible anytime UW arbitrarily or unilaterally changes policy. Many of us have run into issues when the work we want to advance on the ground comes into conflict with larger UW policy (including not having the power to advocate for yourself or someone who reports to you to receive a raise or promotion, inconsistent internal policies, or absent management). 

And as at-will employees, Professional Staff also have less job security. For example, earlier this year when UW unilaterally changed the length of notice for temporary layoffs from 30 days to 7 days, unionized research staff were protected by their contract and able to get that change reversed. Professional staff lack that protection. 

Being unionized allows us to have a seat at the table when decisions are made that impact us. 

As mission-driven workers, we want to ensure that our work is sustainable, that the communities we serve will have the best possible support, and that research and higher education remain a public good. Forming a union is a way to ensure we can continue to meet those goals – not something that exists in opposition to them. 

Thousands of UW employees have unionized in recent years, including professional staff. Importantly, unionizing, and talking to coworkers about unionizing, is legally protected. It is unlawful for employers to retaliate against employees for union activity. 

Your boss will not know that you signed because card signers’ names will never be publicized. Bargaining happens with the UW Labor Relations, not individual supervisors, so relationships with supervisors are rarely impacted. In fact, many workers have found that their relationships with supervisors have improved because they no longer have to push their supervisors to advocate to address problems stemming from higher up. For instance, instead of pushing your supervisor to spend months or years advocating for a reclassification for you, you would negotiate collectively with those empowered to make sweeping improvements like guaranteed cost of living adjustments and experience-based raises.

Collective bargaining is a process, recognized and protected by state law, that equalizes the power relationship between employees and their employer. After unionization, we begin that process of collective bargaining to reach a legally binding contract with the UW administration. 

Collective bargaining is a democratic process with many steps. First, we vote to elect a bargaining team of our colleagues. Then, through our participation in town halls, surveys, and discussions, the bargaining team drafts a set of initial bargaining demands. The bargaining team would then negotiate with UW administration and come to a tentative contract agreement. Before that agreement can go into effect, all workers in the unit have a chance to review and vote on whether or not to ratify it. If we vote to ratify the tentative agreement, then it becomes a legally enforceable contract. 

Without collective bargaining, UW has unilateral power to change our working conditions. For example, the UW administration currently decides unilaterally whether to provide non-union employees with annual raises or not, how much notice to provide for layoffs, what our remote-work options are (if any), etc.

Dues provide the resources to enable effective collective bargaining, enforcement of rights, and every aspect of having a strong union. UAW membership dues are 1.44% of gross income. Though dues are optional, a majority of all UW employees who have unionized with UAW have chosen to opt-in to paying dues because they’ve seen how they are able to advance their rights and improve their livelihoods through being part of a strong union. Workers joining UAW will not pay dues until after negotiating and voting to ratify a first contract.

Through unionization and collective bargaining, UAW members at UW have won:

• Wage increases that outpace non-union workers at UW. For example, Research Staff won 10% to 28% increases to salary minimums, and 3.5% to 4% annual increases each year for 3 years.
• Equitable career advancement opportunities and transparent pathways for advancement
• Strong protections against arbitrary firings and disciplinary action
• A survivor-centered process for reporting discrimination, harassment, or other inappropriate workplace conduct and collaboration on a peer-led prevention-based anti-discrimination and harassment program.
• Among many other improvements.