We are improving UW by forming our union
Our Union is made up of hundreds of student facing Advising Staff on all three campuses at the University of Washington. We are committed to winning a Union that raises the standards for our profession and ensures that all learners can thrive at the UW!
We're organizing for equity. We are uniting to create a healthy work environment that elevates the professional standing of Advising; ensures pay equity; creates pathways for promotion; makes professional development opportunities accessible to all in our profession; creates sustainable workload expectations; establishes equity for advisers AND equity for students between departments.
By organizing with SEIU 925, we are building power with thousands of our already Unionized classified and professional staff colleagues at UW.
Now is the time for us to build the power to fully advocate for our students and ourselves. The only way to truly do this is by coming together as a Union and gaining the right to collectively bargain over our wages, benefits, and working conditions at the UW.
Will you join us and take action to improve our university? Share your information and we will be in touch!
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Why organize now?
A Union is a group of workers who have won the legal right to collectively bargain over wages, benefits, and working conditions with their employer. With Collective Bargaining Rights, pro-staff at UW are able to protect the policies and practices that work well, while also negotiate creative improvements to the policies and practices that ultimately harm staff and students. This is done by bargaining and ratifying a Union Contract that UW is legally obligated to follow.
Currently, pro-staff without a union at the UW are "at-will" employees, meaning that our employer is able to lay us off, withhold our pay, or increase our workloads at anytime, without any reason. Even though the UW has over 1.5 billion dollars available for use in unrestricted reserves, their response to economic recessions is often to balance their budget through cuts to programs, departments, and staff.
So, why wouldn't we organize now? We know that students stay at the UW because of the support and advocacy we provide as Advising Staff! It is undeniable that student learning conditions are Advising working conditions. And yet, many departments at the UW experience constant turnover, resulting in runaway increases to our workloads, and inconsistent access to supports for our students. To make matters worse, many of us have gone years without meaningful pay increases and can no longer afford to live near our workplaces. Many of our positions lack clear pathways to promotion, so unless we choose to leave our departments (or the UW) and students we love, many of us cannot achieve the professional development we want and deserve.
Winning our Union, means winning a voice in large scale decision-making and access to transparency at the UW. Once we gain the right to collectively bargain with the University, we can negotiate a Union Contract that has clear and equitable processes for promotions. We can win salaries that keep up with the skyrocketing cost of living. And, we can finally win the professional respect we deserve.
Here's what happens when exercise collective power! Professional staff at the UW have won:
- guidelines around reasonable workload expectations;
- pay increases allowing them to quit their second jobs;
- clear pathways to promotion;
- and countless other improvements.
Thousands of classified UW employees are already unionized. Over the last three years, professional staff have also successfully used their collective power to win systemic changes. Newly unionized groups at UW include IHME professional staff, Libraries and Press academic and professional staff, and research scientists. As more of us organize, we all gain agency.
It is time for to organize with our many UW colleagues in SEIU 925 and bargain for fair and equitable wages and working conditions.
Read more here
What are we fighting for?
Currently, whether or not we are able to thrive at the UW varies by school and department. Our working conditions and professional development opportunities should not depend solely on the goodwill of UW Administration, or on our program's funding. We deserve equitable opportunities and working conditions that empower us to serve our students as best we can.
Fair, Competitive Pay
We are organizing for FAIR PAY! The University of Washington is a world renowned institution with a multi-billion dollar endowment. Despite this, there is no consistent or transparent compensation for Advising Staff, and although many of us have similar job duties, experience, education, and titles, our pay varies wildly. Additionally many of us have been denied merit raises, causing our salaries to fall behind the skyrocketing cost of living in the Seattle area. The resulting instability means we are losing valuable colleagues to opportunities elsewhere that often pay better.
We are organizing for Fair Pay because our dedication and experience becomes a pay-cut when salary increases do not surpass inflation or the rising cost of living.
Professional Support, Pathways for Promotion, and Respect
We are organizing for PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT! We know first-hand that a student's success, positive experience, and decision to graduate at the UW is directly tied to the work we do as Advising Staff!
Despite this, Advising work is often misunderstood, and we are frequently not respected as being vital to the UW's mission. Our training is inconsistent, and we are often assigned tasks that are unrelated to our core responsibilities. Our workloads are constantly increasing, but our compensation and job titles do not. Finally, we have no transparent system for promotion, job security, or access to professional development.
We are organizing for Professional Development because we know that our students and programs benefit when all Advising Staff have access to trainings and upward mobility.
Equitable Treatment
We are organizing for EQUITY! Advising Staff often experience harassment, discrimination, and retaliation. Currently, we don't have a formal grievance process to address offenses. Most egregiously, the recent changes to WA law that should have increased all of our salaries to reflect the professional work we do have resulted in an arbitrary split in Advising Staff. The lowest paid are now hourly and being denied overtime. This hurts us and it hurts the students we serve.
We are organizing for Equity because BIPOC staff deserve greater support, visibility, promotional pathways, and professional development opportunities.
We are organizing for Equity because when Advising Staff receive varying levels of respect and support based on their department, then students experience unequal opportunities for success.
Control over Our Working Conditions
We are organizing for a VOICE IN DECISION-MAKING! Advising Staff had no voice in planning and implementing the move to remote operations, nor the return to campus. Even now, we do not have consistent or equitable access to remote or hybrid work options. More broadly, we have little control over other conditions of our work, such as privacy for confidential conversations, clean and healthy air in our offices, or our workloads and schedules. As some campuses switch to centralized Advising models during the time of our organizing, the UW now has an opportunity to meaningfully include our collective voice as Advising Staff when making decisions about our work.
We are organizing for a Voice in Decision-making because we are our students' best advocates and are best equipped to understand what they need to achieve success at the UW.
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The University of Washington has a long history of unionized employees, and thousands of UW employees are represented by a union. Here are some of the reasons why Advising staff have decided to organize too!
"I believe everyone deserves a fair and consistent work environment."
I’ve worked at UW for two years, and I’m lucky to have had a good experience in that short time. I have a manageable caseload, a great supervisor, and a department that supports me seeking professional development. I’ve seen that many other advisers don’t have these things, and I don’t think that’s fair. I’m joining the union because I support my colleagues and I believe everyone deserves a fair and consistent work environment, regardless of where they are.
"We need a union to keep talented folks at the UW"
Adviser morale is at an all-time low on my campus. In the last several months, an unsustainable number of my advising colleagues have left or announced plans to leave the UW. Most cited inadequate compensation at the UW and fully remote work opportunities elsewhere as reasons for leaving. We need our union to keep talented folks at the UW, maintain continuity for our students, and stop the constant loss of institutional knowledge.
"Joining the SEIU 925 advising union will allow us to have [a] voice"
Working as an adviser with UW students in Tacoma is not just a job for me, it is a calling. Helping students, who have had few breaks in their lives, take charge of their future is my life’s work, and I am proud to be a part of furthering social justice in my community. My colleagues and I cannot continue to do our important work without having a meaningful voice in the decisions that affect our student advocacy work. Joining the SEIU 925 advising union will allow us to have that voice. A voice to advocate in the best interest of the students we work with, a voice to advocate for equitable and fair working conditions, and a voice to ensure that the advising profession on all UW campuses remains a vital part of the student experience.
"We deserve to have our time, pay, and working conditions respected"
As an adviser with more than 14 years of experience at UW, I fully support the unionization of advising professionals here. My colleagues and I provide crucial guidance, advocacy, leadership, and scholarship across the campuses, that support our students as they transition into, through, and beyond the university. We deserve to have our time, pay, and working conditions respected and reflect the level of the contributions we make to UW. We deserve annual pay raises, reasonable caseloads, professional development resources, and the ability to advocate for ourselves. Unionizing would support all of this and more.
"That’s why I support a union. This shouldn’t be luck"
I’ve been very happy in my current position for 25 years. What I thought would be a two-year transitional job turned into a career. My direct supervisors and department chairs have been fabulous – not only supportive of a work/life balance and in times of personal crisis but also actively, often creatively, looking for ways to make living in this area financially doable. My advising load has been manageable and my “other” duties have challenged me to learn new skills, allowed me to grow professionally, and been directly connected to supporting students. Pretty damn lucky, right? That’s why I support a union. This shouldn’t be luck. It should be every adviser’s experience.
"I support our union because I know that advisers play a huge role in student retention"
My first advising role was trial by fire - I had only half a day of training before being on my own in a department with no other advisers. While I appreciate the work of the Adviser Education Program and have since chaired the AEP Board, it is indicative of the university's priorities that advisers are hired into roles to support struggling students with almost no training and that what little training exists is infrequently available and relies on the labor of volunteers. I support our union because I know that advisers play a huge role in student retention - but to perform that role well, we must have adequate training.
"Our limited job protection creates complications in performing our work"
I am pro-union because we are called to advocate for and support our students through all the intricacies of their education - from the celebrations and delights to the barriers and devastations. Yet, our limited job protection creates complications in performing our work. Many of us have found ourselves in conflicted situations, where our level of responsibility exceeds our level of protection.
"I’m fighting to unionize advisers at UW so that we are valued commensurate with our education and skills"
I’ve worked at UW for nearly 8 years and seen so many of my colleagues get frustrated at how undervalued, overworked, and uncompensated we are. I’d love to make a career out of working at UW, but starting a family in the greater Seattle area is extremely difficult with the current state of our roles. I’m fighting to unionize advisers at UW so that we are valued commensurate with our education and skills, and to ultimately build career professionals in higher education that can support both students and their lives outside of work.
"By joining together & unionizing (...) we would have a long-term solution to support all of our work for students!"
There are so many cases of advisers from different departments having different access levels to resources, training, and support. UW Seattle is so siloed that there is no consistency across departments or divisions. There is this constant game of telephone happening amongst the advisers for how people got certain resources or support and ways to help each other get the same. Advisers as a collective have such an incredible impact on students and by joining together & unionizing that game of telephone can stop because we would have a long-term solution to support all of our work for students!
"Through collectivity, we can affect the change we would like to see."
As a University of Washington Alumna and now a Professional Staff member, my commitment to furthering diversity, equity, and inclusion has been a throughline throughout both my student and staff experience. It is only through the amplification of marginalized voices within our UW community, that we can effectively advance access, opportunity, and justice for all. Professional Staff are integral to carrying out the University's mission. Students, staff, and faculty benefit from a campus climate that not only speaks of the importance of diversity, but reflects it demographically. Through collectivity, we can affect the change we would like to see. "We cannot walk alone." -Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Read on to learn more about what a Union is, our Merit Pay status, eligibility, and next steps!
A Union is a group of workers who have come together to make transformative and large-scale improvements! We filed for a Union Election in order to win the legal right to negotiate as a group with our employer over mandatory subjects of bargaining: wages, benefits, and working conditions. The result of negotiations is a legally binding Collective Bargaining Agreement that must be followed – and provides a process for recourse if it is not. Unions are grounded in the belief that workers should have a say in the decisions made about their work, and that workplaces improve when employers honor the expertise of their staff. Uniting together gives us far more power and protection than when we try to address our employer as individuals.
A Union Election is a democratic process for forming a Union. In order to win the right to collectively bargain with the UW, we petitioned to the Public Employment Relations Commission (PERC) on June 28th, 2024 for a Union Election to be held. As of now, PERC has not yet assigned our Union Election date. Once the date is set, PERC will email ballots to all union-eligible advising staff at their UW addresses, thus giving us all the opportunity to vote on if we want to have the ability to collectively bargain with the UW over our wages, benefits, and working conditions. All Union Elections are "secret ballot elections," meaning that our employer will never learn who decides casts a their vote, or what we voted for.
Yes, we are eligible to Unionize, but no, Unionizing does not result in us becoming classified staff. Washington State law gives professional staff at the UW the legal right to unionize. In fact, professional staff at the UW Institute for Health and Evaluation Metrics, as well as professional staff and supervising staff at the UW Libraries and Press successfully unionized! Check out their Collective Bargaining Agreements to see how they used their collective voices to win for significant pay increases for all in their chapters, greater professional development opportunities, and contracts that fight for equity and anti-racism.
Because we are stronger together! More than 7,000 of our classified staff, professional staff, and academic staff colleagues at the UW are members of SEIU 925. Our SEIU 925 siblings have successfully bargained strong Union Contracts at the UW that frequently result in salary increases that allow people to quit their second jobs. Just as impressive, because SEIU 925 already represents thousands of UW Employees, by joining with them, we will gain a significant voice in decisions regarding our pensions and benefits offered at the UW.
In short, SEIU 925 is the largest and most powerful Union representing workers at the UW, which means that Unionizing with SEIU 925 will position us to win the kinds of improvements we need for all of our Advising colleagues.
Once we win our Union election, we will become a chapter of SEIU 925 and begin negotiating a Union Contract that is separate from the Union Contracts already negotiated by the Classified Staff, Libraries and Press Staff, and IHME Staff chapters.
To learn more about our Union SEIU Local 925, check out the award-winning PBS documentary 9to5: Story of a Movement!
We are organizing because we believe in the UW's ability to become an employer that fully honors its commitment to its 60+ thousand learners, student success, and the vital wholistic advising services we provide! We believe that we can transform UW for the better by negotiating a Union Contract that addresses the following:
- inadequate training for new advisers;
- work/life imbalance;
- unclear or nonexistent career pathways;
- constant expansion of job duties;
- inconsistent job titles, supervision, and compensation;
- inequitable access to professional development;
- insufficient efforts to prevent or intervene in workplace harassment and discrimination;
- frequent turnover, especially in response to inconsistent and inflexible departmental solutions to and/or limited options for hybrid work schedules;
- inconsistent messaging from administration throughout the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated existing concerns about unsafe working conditions and the return on-campus/in-person Advising;
- consolidation of Advising units without input from Advisers;
- concern that advocating for our students and ourselves may put our jobs at risk;
- and the lack of an effective way for our input to impact UW policy and practice.
We recognize and deeply appreciate the efforts many of our colleagues have taken through other avenues (such as through the Community of Professional Advisors, Adviser Advocacy Group, Association of Professional Advisers and Counselors, Graduate and Professional Advisors Association, and Adviser Education Program), but we believe that only by forming our Union and obtaining the legal right to Bargain, professional Advising staff will have a true seat in decision-making at the UW.
Many of us are organizing BECAUSE we love our jobs! By working together, we believe that we can push the UW to be an employer that lives its mission and sets the standard not just for research, but also for the Advising profession. We are organizing because we recognize that the UW will become a top tier employer when fair pay is offered to all, professional development and pathways for promotion are accessible to all, workloads are sustainably allocated for all, and when equity is felt by all.
"Every Adviser, Every Campus, One Union!" means that our ability to advocate for our students and for ourselves improves with each Adviser voice! Our supervisors and managers are not the primary impetus for organizing. Many of us have supervisors whom we respect and admire, and who would make the changes we need if they had the power to do so. Bargaining for better working conditions and pay, and clarifying workplace rules and policies, results in an improved workplace for everyone-including supervisors who already advocate for their direct reports.
When we bargain our first Union Contract, we will be bargaining with UW Labor Relations and UW Senior Administrators such as Deans and Provosts, not our immediate supervisors. In fact, our immediate supervisors are welcome to join our Union effort! Keep scrolling for more info about how Supervising staff are joining our Union, too!
We invite you to check out our Organizing Toolkit for more info about how to form a Union!
First, a group of coworkers (the Organizing Committee) takes responsibility for informing fellow employees and building majority support for the union. Our colleagues express their support by signing a membership card. Once a sufficient number of our coworkers have signed membership cards, we will file a Petition for Union Recognition with the Public Employment Relations Commission (PERC). From that point, there are two potential routes to recognition: (1) a secret ballot election where we would need a simple majority of votes cast in order to win our union; or, (2) a process known as “card check.” With card check, if a majority of our potential union members join, PERC will recognize our union without the need for an election.
On Friday, June 28, 2024, we filed for a secret ballot Union Election!
After we win our Union Election, we then start negotiating our first Union Contract. We will survey everyone in our union to determine our priorities, elect a bargaining team, and begin learning how to draft proposals for contract language. Experienced union staff will work with us at every step of the process, but only the members of our union will determine what we bargain over, and only we can decide whether or not to ratify the contract. Once we ratify our Contract by voting yes, we then are finally able to access all the benefits and pay increases that we negotiated, and Union dues begin to be deducted (Union dues are set at 1.7% of gross salary- which means we are committed to bargaining for pay increases that are well above 1.7%)!
You can also check out an overview of the organizing process in our Road Map to Forming A Union and Road Map to Winning a First Contract flyers.
A "Bargaining Unit" is a group of workers who have won the right to be represented in the same Union Contract.
We are "Every Adviser, Every Campus, One Union!" Our union will include student-facing professional advising staff at the UW–academic advisers, admissions advisers, career counselors, and financial aid advisers–up to and including the “first level” of supervision. Any professional staff who do advising work, regardless of UW campus, job title, or FTE, will be included in our bargaining units, including people with split appointments. Check out our Core Duties Document to determine if your position should be union-eligible! This document was co-created by UW Labor Relations and Advising Staff who have been meeting for 2-3 hour long blocks multiple times a month since August 2024.
For our Union, we are defining Advising work as student facing professionals who advise students and prospective students on financial aid and funding for education, enrollment and admissions, academics and courses, career paths, and professional development; excluding confidential employees and employees of the Office of the Registrar.
Wait, I don't have a student-facing role or do Advising work, so why was I notified by UW Labor Relations of my potential inclusion?
When we filed for a Union Election, we only filed to include positions that we confidently knew were student facing roles. However, we learned in July 2024, that UW sent misleading and incorrect communications to pro-staff who are not student-facing, and who do not Advising work, claiming that they are eligible. For many months, we have repeatedly asked UW to disclose the list of these individuals, and for clarity about why they received such communications. Finally, in late April 2025, we recieved from UW the list of those individuals, and we immediately notified UW that we did not believe their positions to be union-eligible. UW has since refused to notify us if those individuals have been told about their ineligibility, or had their merit pay reinstated. We believe that the UW did this as an attempt to chill union-organizing efforts amongst pro-staff.
Professional advising staff who do not supervise other professional advising staff filed for a Union Election as one Bargaining Unit. Advising staff who supervise other pro-staff advisers are likewise eligible to organize together in a separate bargaining unit, but so far have not yet filed for a Union Election. (See RCW 41.56.021 for exceptions.)
Dues are 1.7% of gross salary, so the exact amount depends on your compensation. Dues deduction begins after we have won our Union Election, Bargained our first contract, and then finally voted YES as a Union to accept the Contract. It is unlikely that any of us would vote for a contract that does not make paying dues worthwhile, or that lowers salaries. Check out the UW Libraries and Press Union Contract that enacted 14-26% pay increases for all people in their chapter!
The labor movement has long struggled to uplift the importance of race and equity in its organizing, though there have always been strands of unions that have focused on equity work. Many unions have an unfortunate history of focusing on the needs of white men. SEIU, however, has a strong history of focusing on race and equity. From its founding in 1921 by immigrant janitors, Black workers were voting members and writers of the union bylaws. Another reason SEIU has long been a union for BIPOC workers is because of its membership – services workers often identify as BIPOC. Recent examples of SEIU’s national and local work for racial equity include supporting Black Lives Matter, passing a resolution on the Movement for Black Lives, and voting in favor of expelling the Seattle Police Officers Guild from the local MLK Labor Council. In 2017, the SEIU Racial Justice Center was created as “a hub and resource for our work to create a world where everyone, no matter the color of their skin, can participate, prosper and reach their full potential.”
Even though race and equity are pillars of the work of SEIU, there is still work to be done. SEIU union members have the opportunity to join this work through groups such as embRACE, AFRAM, the BOLD Center, and local racial justice committees. We know that upholding racism is a key factor in keeping the working class divided. As the 2016 SEIU resolution 106A states, “in order to win economic justice, we must win racial justice.”
Additionally, SEIU has also been a champion of Women’s rights, Immigrant rights, and LGBTQ+ rights. Furthermore, both the SEIU 925 contract for UW classified staff and the 925 contract for professional staff at IHME include non-discrimination clauses as well as grievance procedures for addressing violations of the terms of the contract, including cases of discrimination and harassment.
Yes! We are building a Union of united professional staff and supervising staff who advise students. As a Union, we hope to transform the UW into a healthy work environment that fully includes the staff who make it run in its decision-making!
Per Washington State Law, we are building two bargaining units for our chapter: a non-supervisory unit and a supervisory unit. Our goal is to follow the structure of the SEIU 925 Libraries and Press Chapter by bargaining with UW Management as one big Union of united pro-staff and supervisory staff. In fact, our motto is "Every Adviser, Every Campus, One Union!" So far, only the Advising Staff who do not supervise have filed for a Union Election. If you are a Superviser and want Supervising Staff to have a Union Election as well, please fill out your info and a member of the Supervising Staff Organizing Committee will be in touch!
Advising staff who only supervise classified staff or students will be part of our "non-supervisory bargaining unit." This is because Classified staff and students are in a completely separate legal categories from pro-staff advisers. If you are at the “first level” of supervision – meaning that you supervise other advisers, but none of them supervise anyone else – then you are likely eligible to be part of our Supervisory Bargaining Unit. (See RCW 41.56.021 for exceptions.)
Supervisors have the added challenge of frequently being caught between UW Administration and other colleagues.
Although supervisors are responsible for ensuring that work gets done, at the UW, they often have little-to-no authority to increase staffing, wages, or to set workload expectations, or even deadlines.
As a consequence, supervisors often end up working long hours in an attempt to make up for inadequate staffing and other gaps in organizational structures, contributing to a feeling of burnout.
Many supervisors also find themselves taking on managerial roles without any explicit training or support for those roles.
By unionizing, supervisors will be able to bargain as a group to help shape the decisions that affect the ability of Advising Staff to support students, advocate for each other, and to improve our departments and programs.
Want more specifics about what supervisors can bargain in a Collective Bargaining Agreement? Check out our list of Mandatory Subjects of Bargaining.
Have questions about the rights of Supervisors during Union Organizing campaigns? Check out our flyer about your rights at work!
The goal is to bargain together as one bargaining team across from UW over the many issues that we face in common. In fact, SEIU 925 Union Members have a long history of bargaining large and comprehensive Collective Bargaining Agreements (CBA) that cover many groups of different workers together. Here's a link to the UW Libraries and Press Chapter's Union Contract that we can use as inspiration when we are at the Bargaining Table.
When issues arise that are unique to one group or the other, we will be able to address those issues separately, either as clauses in our CBA, or as MOUs added after. Imagine a Venn diagram with a very large overlap in the middle and narrow crescents on the edges.
EVERY ADVISER, EVERY CAMPUS, ONE UNION means that our ability to advocate for our students, our work, and ourselves improves with each additional person who contributes their input and participation! If you belong to a unique program or department, then please be sure to participate in our Bargaining Surveys, Town Halls, and Building Meetings as a Union Member, or even join our future Bargaining Team so that the voice of your program is enshrined in our future CBA!
UW denied us raises that we already earned in retaliation of our decision to exersize our legally protected right to file for a Union Election. In doing this, the UW made an illegal change to our working conditions, by cancelling the merit increases that had already been approved by our supervisors, chairs, and UW the board of regents.
As soon as we learned of UW's decision to retaliate and break the law, we immediately began gathering evidence and filed an Unfair Labor Practice (ULP) against the University. Some of our evidence included this communication from April 2024, Executive Management put in writing that raises were authorized for all pro-staff in good standing. Most of our evidence came from the testimonies of over 130 Advising staff and Supervising staff.
UW has fought us every step of the way regarding this Unfair Labor Practice. We filed the ULP to PERC on August 2nd, 2025. Instead of agreeing to an early hearing date wherein a PERC Hearing Examiner would review evidence and make a decision regarding the ULP, the UW requested that we meet in a separate "Mediation" first. We agreed as a to meet in Mediation on December 5th, as a good faith attempt to resolve this matter. Unforuntately, UW did not match our good faith. Instead the University offered to pay everyone a 1% increase instead of the 3% average owed. We rejected their disrespectful offer and prepared to meet them in court on December 12th. However, the day before the hearing, UW's attorney resigned, and the University requested that PERC allow for a 2 month delay to the hearing. This request was granted by PERC.
On February 6th, 2025, we finally had our ULP Hearing. Multiple supervising staff, non-supervising advising staff, and pro-staff stood up for Advising staff by testifying, and our lawyers made compelling arguments. As part of a collective action, over a hundred Advising staff joined the hearing to rally in support of the Advising staff who testified (check out this article in the UW Daily about our rally!). The PERC Hearing Examiner has until the end of July 2025 to make a decision on the case. We are confident that the PERC Examiner will rule that the UW committed an Unfair Labor Practice against Advising staff. If so, the PERC examiner will mandate that UW back pay all impacted Advising staff the full merit pay backdated to September 1, in addition to other remedies he sees fit.
In short, UW decided to hold our pay-increases hostage as an attempt to dissuade us from organizing a Union. But we are not deterred! We know that 3% is still less than the const of inflation, and that our work and dedication to students deserves much more. Furthermore, we are committed to VOTING YES for our Union because having a Union Contract will prevent UW from ever being able to capriciously withhold pay-raises again.
staff?
Advising staff at UW have been organizing our Union for over four years. We finally had the strong membership engagement we needed to file for Union Recognition in June of 2024, and wanted to honor the members’ wishes by filing for their union as soon as possible.
We discussed the impacts filing could have on our annual merit raises, specifically the rights entitled to us through Laboratory Conditions. Knowing that the University had already approved our raises, and the membership of our bargaining unit was still not finalized, we believed that UW would honor our rights enshrined under Laboratory Conditions/Dynamic Status Quo laws, and thus we felt confident moving forward with our petition. In short, we trusted UW not to break the law.
Here are the facts:
We filed for our Union when we had the numbers to do so after almost 4 years of working toward super-majority support.
Before we filed for a Union Election, UW had approved raises for all pro staff in good standing but had not yet implemented them.
Before we filed for a Union Election, UW had approved plans to reorganize Bothell to a centralized advising model. They went ahead with implementation. Why not also implement our raises?
When our raises were taken away we did not have, and still do not have agreement about who is eligible for our union with PERC. UW withheld merit raises from hundreds of pro-staff, even from those who they knew were not in our Bargaining Unit. When we asked for the list of all who were denied merit pay, UW declined to provide that info.
Our Union filed a ULP on August 2nd 2024, almost immediately after the university announced denying merit raises. Our ULP calls out the administration for violating Laboratory Conditions and Dynamic Status Quo while pretending to uphold status quo.
Our ULP Hearing occurred on February 6th, 2025. During the Hearing, a PERC Hearing Examiner heard our lawyers present on evidence provided by over 100 advising staff, and listened to testimonies of supervising staff, and non supervising advising staff. Over 100 Advising Staff showed up in support with zoom backgrounds that said "UW Pay US What You Owe!" and zoom profile names that listed the dollar amount UW had already withheld. UW's lawyer did not provide evidence that countered our charge, and we are confident that the PERC Hearing Examiner will rule in our favor.
The PERC Hearing Examiner has until the end of July 2025 to rule on our case. If he rules that UW broke the law and committed a ULP against Advising staff, he will mandate that UW pay all impacted persons the full amount back dated to September 1, 2025. If UW attempts to appeal the decision, then we will continue to fight in court as well as work hard to bargain a strong contract with significant pay increases.
UW's current financial situation as discussed during UW Town Halls will not impact their ability to follow the PERC ordered mandate. If PERC mandates back pay, then UW must procure the money to comply.
UW is saving over $111,000 per month by not paying us our earned raises.Withholding raises is a tactic to divide us, much like offering disparate pay for the same advising work, and inadequate opportunities for career advancement. If you feel frustrated and powerless to make change, reach out to us and get involved!
“Status Quo” and “Laboratory Conditions” are defined in the NLRA and PERC statutes to prevent employers from using their power to influence the outcome of a Union election. Status Quo and Laboratory Conditions are legal concepts grounded in upholding processes that existed before the union organizing drive began. Laboratory Conditions is a principle that exists to ensure and uphold the integrity of a Union Election. It begins the moment a group of workers file for a Union Election. Laboratory Conditions prohibit an employer from making changes to the status quo of a workplace regarding an employee’s wages, benefits, and working conditions.
After a successful Union Election, Status Quo is in place until after workers have bargained and voted to ratify their Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA). Status Quo prevents an employer from making unilateral changes to wages, benefits, and working conditions without first negotiating with our Union. Status Quo ends after the Collective Bargaining Agreement has been ratified, and the terms of the CBA go into effect.
Dynamic Status Quo exists to allow an employer to continue to operate and honor its
commitments to its employees. Dynamic status quo allows for continuation of previously planned or promised promotions and raises to occur.
Employers violate Status Quo because it moves the focus of a union campaign away from answering the question of “Do we want to have a Union” to “can we afford to have a Union when our employer interferes?” This is why changes such as halting scheduled increases and promotions are expressly illegal during Union Campaigns.
All staff in Status Quo/Laboratory Conditions can generally rely on being able to do the
following:
● Request and/or be awarded discretionary time off using existing procedures
● Seek retention offers following existing procedures
● Join new committees following existing procedures
● Request and/or be awarded in-grade pay increases following existing processes
● Seek and/or be awarded reclassifications following existing processes
● Seek and/or be awarded Temporary Pay Increases for temporary additional duties
following existing processes
● However, being given significant additional duties can itself trigger the need for impact bargaining
● Seek and/or be awarded promotion or reappointment following existing processes,
including the associated pay increases
● Seek and/or be awarded Supplemental Pay Increases for add-on duties following
existing processes
Get involved
It is time for Advising Staff to organize for fair and equitable employment conditions. Do you still need to sign your Union card? Click here to join the hundreds of Advising Staff Union Members who are building this movement for transformative change at UW!