WOUFT will hold a special meeting on Friday, September 25th over Zoom at Noon.

The purpose of the vote is to ratify our Tentative Agreement over the Article 17 reopener. All WOU faculty should have received an invitation to the meeting in your work inboxes—if you did not, please contact Stewart Baker (bakersc@wou.edu) for details.

After the meeting, all dues-paying members of WOUFT in good standing will receive electronic ballots allowing them to vote on ratifying the tentative agreement. If you are a dues-paying member of WOUFT and you do not receive an electronic ballot, please contact Kathy Espino-Perez (espinoperezk@wou.edu).

The WOUFT Bargaining Team is excited to announce that we have reached a tentative agreement with the administration for our 2026 economic reopener and have averted a strike.

We will be sharing more information with our coming members in the coming days. Thank you for your support!

Lack of Progress in Negotiations Pushes Faculty to Brink

On September 16^th, members of WOU’s faculty union voted strongly in favor of authorizing a strike over unsuccessful salary negotiations. 61% of eligible members cast a ballot in the vote, which was 92% in favor of a strike. Afterwards, the union formally issued a notice of intent to strike beginning on September 28^th.

The action comes after more than nine months of unsuccessful collective bargaining on an economic reopener for the last year of the 2024-2027 Collective Bargaining Agreement between WOUFT (Western Oregon University Federation of Teachers) AFT-Local 2278, AFL-CIO, the union representing faculty at Western Oregon University (WOU) and the university.

The union and university have been in mediation since early July, but have not been able to come to an agreement. “Mediation has been an intensely frustrating experience,” said Stewart Baker, WOUFT’s bargaining chair. “We have been forced to wait for up to 5 hours before we hear back from administration, and then they send us a proposal that is essentially unchanged from their previous proposals. Although everyone on the union team wants to reach a tentative agreement and put this behind us, we feel like the university only wants to run down the clock and forcing us to either accept a significant underpayment or strike.”

The picture of the state’s finances for higher education is complex. On August 31^st, according to Portland State University’s PSU AAUP, Governor Kotek released a statement calling for the budget allotment for higher education to be significantly increased. Despite this, WOU administrators continue to paint a dire picture of the university’s finances in emails sent to campus directly before or during scheduled bargaining sessions. An email sent to campus on September 4^th implied that accepting the faculty union’s proposals during bargaining would make it impossible for the university to retain its employees over the next five years. For context, WOUFT is not even asking for a 1% wage increase for tenure-track faculty.

“My household depends on my income,” one WOU faculty member shared anonymously when asked why they support a strike. “My husband is fighting cancer and has not been able to work since the beginning of this year. I have been forced to take on second and third jobs to keep us afloat. It has been a difficult time and being compensated fairly and paid for our worth would help tremendously.”

WOU faculty are not the only ones struggling to reach a fair contract. WOUFT’s strike declaration came on the same day as a strike declaration by SEIU, the union representing classified staff at Oregon’s seven public universities, including those at Western Oregon University.

“The fact that WOU’s classified staff and faculty are planning to strike at the start of the school year ought to worry the university’s administrators,” Baker said. “It ought to change their calculus—especially when they could immediately avoid a faculty strike by accepting our very modest wage increase. Instead, they seem determined to ignore the severe impact a dual strike will have on this year’s new and returning students and focus on nickel and diming WOU’s faculty into oblivion.”

WOUFT and WOU have four scheduled days of mediation during the week of September 21^st. If these are unsuccessful, a faculty strike will begin on September 28^th.

About WOUFT

Western Oregon University Federation of Teachers is Local 2278 of the American Federation of Teachers, AFL-CIO. We represent the approximately 250 full time and part-time faculty at WOU.

About AFT-Oregon

AFT-Oregon is a state affiliate of the American Federation of Teachers, AFL-CIO. Our affiliated local unions represent over 19,000 Oregon workers in K-12, community college and higher education in faculty, academic professional and classified positions, as well as child care workers, in both public and private sectors.

WOUFT had a very strong turnout for our strike authorization vote, with more than 90% of ballots in favour of a strike.

As such, the WOUFT Bargaining Team has submitted an official notice of a faculty strike starting September 28th. As you may have seen, SEIU did the same earlier this morning at public universities state-wide.

We understand the uncertainty and worry the campus community feels faced with an unprecedented dual strike from SEIU and WOUFT right at the start of fall term. We are worried too.

President Peters has the power to put a stop to WOUFT’s strike right now by instructing the administrative bargaining team to accept WOUFT’s most recent proposal—which will help faculty survive the rising costs of inflation and is less expensive than their own proposal in the coming academic year.

It makes zero sense for the university to suffer through a faculty strike in this situation.

We encourage anyone with concerns about the impacts a dual strike will have on our students’ ability to succeed to reach out to the president and Board of Trustees directly and encourage them to accept WOUFT’s proposal now.

In solidarity, the WOUFT bargaining team:

Stewart Baker

Earlene Camarillo

Kisa Clark (AFT-Oregon)

Ben Coté

Bryan Dutton

Kathy Espino-Pérez

Ken Kirby

Rebecca McCannell

Mary Pettenger

Rebecca Phillips

After over nine months of collective bargaining on an economic reopener for the last year of the 2024-2027 Collective Bargaining Agreement, WOUFT (Western Oregon University Federation of Teachers) AFT-Local 2278, AFL-CIO, the union representing faculty at Western Oregon University (WOU), called for a strike authorization vote to take place on Wednesday, September 16th.

The union and university have been in mediation since early July, but have not been able to come to an agreement. “Mediation has been an intensely frustrating experience,” said Stewart Baker, WOUFT’s bargaining chair. “We have been forced to wait for up to 5 hours before we hear back from administration, and then they send us a proposal that is essentially unchanged from their previous proposals. Although everyone on the union team wants to reach a tentative agreement and put this behind us, we feel like the university only wants to run down the clock and forcing us to either accept a significant underpayment or strike.”

On Thursday September 10^th, WOUFT delivered a proposal that would be $45,000 cheaper than their most recent proposal. It was not until 2pm on September the 14^th that the university returned a counter-proposal. That proposal was accompanied by an inaccurate statement that labelled a step increase as part of a cost of living adjustment to make it seem as though the $475 annual wage increase WOU was offering tenure-track faculty was a 2.8% wage increase. Step increases based on years of service are a long-standing part of WOUFT’s contract with WOU and are not the same as a wage increase. WOU’s offer is actually a 0.60% wage increase—a 2.8% cost of living adjustment would be an annual wage increase of $2,250.

The picture of the state’s finances for higher education is complex. On August 31^st, according to Portland State University’s PSU AAUP, Governor Kotek released a statement calling for the budget allotment for higher education to be significantly increased. Despite this, WOU administrators continue to paint a dire picture of the university’s finances in emails sent to campus directly before or during scheduled bargaining sessions. An email sent to campus on September 4^th implied that accepting the faculty union’s proposals during bargaining would make it impossible for the university to retain its employees over the next five years. For context, WOUFT is not even asking for a full 1% wage increase for tenure-track faculty.

“I’m tired of being undervalued and over-used,” one WOU faculty member shared anonymously in response. “I work so many more hours than I’m paid for because I care about doing all parts of my job well (teaching, scholarship and service), not just to the minimum, and I’m not even paid respectably. I think often about leaving WOU after giving over 15 years of service here because I feel so undervalued and because of the endless number of inefficiencies, roadblocks and poor support here at WOU that results in even more of my time wasted.”

WOU faculty are not the only ones struggling to reach a fair contract. WOUFT’s strike authorization vote will come only a day after the union representing WOU classified staff, SEIU Local 503, including sub-local 82, is holding a vote September 15^th as part of a state-wide SEIU strike authorization vote.

“The potential of WOU’s classified staff and faculty going on strike near the start of fall term and a new academic year ought to worry the university’s administrators,” Baker said. “It ought to change their calculus—especially when they would only be spending an additional $35,000 this year by accepting our most recent proposal. Instead, they seem determined to ignore the severe impact a strike will have on this year’s new and returning students and focus on nickel and diming WOU’s faculty into oblivion.”

By Oregon law, a union must give ten days’ notice prior to initiating a strike. This means WOU could be facing a strike from its classified staff and faculty as early as September 26^th.

About WOUFT

Western Oregon University Federation of Teachers is Local 2278 of the American Federation of Teachers, AFL-CIO. We represent the approximately 250 full time and part-time faculty at WOU.

About AFT-Oregon

AFT-Oregon is a state affiliate of the American Federation of Teachers, AFL-CIO. Our affiliated local unions represent over 19,000 Oregon workers in K-12, community college and higher education in faculty, academic professional and classified positions, as well as child care workers, in both public and private sectors.

Did you know that WOUFT is about to enter its fifth full day of mediation with WOU, despite asking for only a very modest cost of living adjustment for the coming academic year?

Did you know that SEIU is holding a strike vote this week after the state universities’ bargaining team refused to offer them a reasonable wage increase during their mediation sessions last week?

If you’re a classified staff member or faculty at WOU who is worried about making ends meet on your current wages, you’re invited to join the SEIU and WOUFT executive councils this Wednesday from noon to 2pm in RWEC 101 for updates on contract bargaining.

We’ll have lunch, guests from the legislature, a debrief from President Peters’ address, and more—hope to see you there!

WOUFT and WOU spent another long day in mediation on September 2nd without reaching an agreement. Both teams spent about eight hours in break-out rooms considering next steps and preparing proposals.

Currently, the two sides are $74,351 apart. This distance is approximately 0.07% of WOU’s projected expenses for FY27. You read that right. Not seven percent. Not 0.7%. But 0.07%. 

Based on the active WOUFT strike pledge and survey of WOUFT’s membership, today’s final proposal from WOU continues to offer compensation that is critically insufficient for WOU faculty to meet their basic cost of living expenses. We are unable to accept such a low cost of living adjustment in our current economic environment.

A budget is a document that demonstrates an organization’s values. It’s clear the WOU administration continues to undervalue its most important resources – its people. We have heard from the WOU administration in bargaining and in emails to campus that they value faculty. It is past time the university proves this is more than empty talk by accepting WOUFT’s proposal for extremely modest cost of living adjustments.

Our students deserve a quality education, and quality educators deserve fair compensation.

Read below for a full summary of our mediation proposals, and please share the opportunity to donate to the WOUFT strike fund among your network. 

Faculty and classified staff are also invited to join WOUFT and SEIU for refreshments and a joint information session in RWEC 101 at 12 noon on Wednesday, September 16th, immediately after the university president’s address.

Costing Updates

The table below shows final offer costing from both teams, including OPE, based on salary data agreed by both teams during bargaining. These final offers are $149,742 apart.*

Offer	Additional Cost (Salary only)	Additional Cost (with OPE)
WOU final offer	$286,478.00	$397,201.75
WOUFT final offer	$394,478.00	$546,943.75

*Note the costing for WOU’s final offer here is about $30,000 higher than what they submitted to the ERB. This is due to WOU omitting OPE for instructional faculty, something the administrative bargaining team has acknowledged was an error on their part.

Mediation Proposals from September 2nd

WOUFT’s final counter-proposal for the day lowered our requested tenure-track faculty cost of living adjustment to $700 (on top of a step), and our requested instructional faculty cost of living adjustment to an equitable $1,897. 

We ended the session with a counter-proposal from WOU of a step and $425 cost of living adjustment for tenure-track faculty, and a $1,622 cost of living adjustment for instructional faculty. 

Although this proposal does finally provide instructional faculty with an equivalent wage increase, both values are completely insufficient for WOU faculty to meet their basic cost of living expenses.

Table of Proposals

This table shows the cost estimates of both teams’ proposals from September 2nd, based on mutually agreed salary data. The final column shows the increase or decrease in each proposal compared to the previous one from that team.

Proposal	Difference with Salary Only	Difference with OPE	Cost increase/decrease
WOU final offer, 8/24/26	$286,478.00	$397,201.75	n/a
WOU mediation proposal, 9/2/26	$298,328.00	$413,631.77	+ $16,430
WOU mediation proposal 2, 9/2/26	$306,257.21	$424,625.61	+ $10,994
WOU mediation proposal 3, 9/2/26	$311,132.21	$431,384.80	+ $6,759
WOUFT final offer, 8/24/26	$394,478.00	$546,943.75	n/a
WOUFT mediation proposal, 9/2/26	$369,632.21	$512,495.05	– $34,338
WOUFT mediation proposal 2, 9/2/26	$364,757.21	$505,735.86	– $6,760

The costing WOU has sent with its proposals is consistently higher than our agreed-upon data (for example, $446,000 rather than $431,600). This appears to be because WOU is continuing to calculate tenure track salary differently. WOU’s provided estimate puts the total of a step + $425 COLA for tenure track faculty at $269,300. The cost from our agreed-upon data for these adjustments is $253,699.

Proposed Increases Compared to CPI

The Consumer Price Index (CPI) is “a measure of the average change over time in the prices paid by urban consumers for a market basket of consumer goods and services.” (Bureau of Labor Statistics)

In short, CPI describes how much more expensive things are getting. 

The table below shows the CPI increase in Oregon’s “western region” between July 2025 and July 2026 (Bureau of Labor Statistics), compared to the proposed cost of living adjustments in both bargaining teams’ proposals. Orange highlighted cells are below CPI. Blue highlighted cells are above or equal to CPI.

Proposal	Tenure-Track Faculty Increase (average)	Instructional Faculty Increase (average)	CPI
WOU final offer, August 24, 2026	0.64%	2.06%	3.0%
WOU mediation proposal 3, September 2, 2026	0.54%	2.77%	3.0%
WOUFT final offer, August 24, 2026	0.95%	3.72%	3.0%
WOUFT mediation proposal 2, September 2, 2026	0.89%	3.22%	3.0%

In the real world, what these numbers mean is that a “raise” below the annual CPI is not actually a raise at all. That is why we call these “cost of living adjustments” instead. A proposal which adjusts tenure track faculty by 0.5% (for instance) actually represents a 2.5% loss in terms of an individual’s ability to buy groceries, gas, and other essentials.

Faculty deserve more than “just the CPI,” and WOUFT membership has indicated they need more to make ends meet. But despite what the administration bargaining team continues to tell us in our mediation sessions, we have heard and do understand that the university is having problems with its finances. That is why WOUFT’s offers have moved considerably, from our initial 4% COLA and a step proposal for tenure track faculty (still only a 1% “raise” in real terms) to our current proposals, which ask for less than a 1% cost of living adjustment on average for tenure track faculty on top of the step. 

The gap between the teams’ proposals amounts to a small budget adjustment for the university but a significant difference for each faculty member’s ability to afford to stay at WOU and use their experience and expertise to ensure that our students graduate with the quality education they deserve. 

Western Oregon University Refuses to Offer Workers a Fair Contract

After over eight months of collective bargaining on an economic reopener for the last year of the 2024-2027 Collective Bargaining Agreement, WOUFT (Western Oregon University Federation of Teachers) AFT-Local 2278, AFL-CIO, the union representing faculty at Western Oregon University (WOU), declared impasse on Monday, August 17.

WOU administrators continue to claim that they have extremely limited funds due to a projected structural deficit and refuse to offer a fair Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA). Even at the modest amount WOUFT has proposed for the next year’s salary, it amounts to a pay cut for members compared to the rate of inflation. We recognize that the university, like many institutions, is facing complex financial decisions. However, WOU faculty and staff are also facing tight budgets and difficult choices, and continuing to underpay faculty and staff salaries is not a solution to WOU’s budgeting problems.

A WOU faculty member shared anonymously, “I’m paying 60% more for rent and utilities than I was two years ago; I have downsized from a townhouse to a 2-bedroom apartment. Priced out of Monmouth, I now have to commute daily from Salem, rather than saving on fuel & wear-and-tear on my car by walking to work. [The] price of gas and groceries have increased [so] I budget more tightly things like food, and clothing purchases…I continue to be dedicated to my responsibilities as teacher, mentor, and team player at WOU, adjusting as much as possible to each round of cuts without impacting students’ expectations or experiences. However, the increased financial pressures gradually erode my own wellbeing, even as I try to support our students and my colleagues.”

“I simply cannot afford to make even less money at WOU. I love what I do, but brand new graduates of my program start their career making more than I do as someone who is a PhD candidate and almost a senior instructor at WOU. I work multiple jobs in addition to WOU to make up for the massive pay cut I took from leaving the field,” shared another WOU faculty member anonymously.

WOU faculty are not the only ones struggling to reach a fair contract. WOUFT’s declaration of impasse comes shortly after the union representing WOU classified staff, SEIU Local 503, including sub-local 82, declared impasse on August 7th in their own negotiations with Oregon’s public university administrators.

“Faculty and classified staff salaries are not the cause of WOU’s structural deficit,” said Mary Pettenger, WOUFT Executive Council and Bargaining team member. “They are one of many budget priorities, and one that the administration only ever seems to consider after union pressure.”

Both sides have until August 24th to submit final offers before a 30-day cooling-off period begins. The union is then legally allowed to strike as early as September 21st. A majority of WOUFT members have pledged to participate in a strike if the WOU administration does not reach a fair deal, with more bargaining unit members pledging everyday.

About WOUFT

Western Oregon University Federation of Teachers is Local 2278 of the American Federation of Teachers, AFL-CIO. We represent the approximately 250 full time and part-time faculty at WOU.

About AFT-Oregon

AFT-Oregon is a state affiliate of the American Federation of Teachers, AFL-CIO. Our affiliated local unions represent over 19,000 Oregon workers in K-12, community college and higher education in faculty, academic professional and classified positions, as well as child care workers, in both public and private sectors.

WOUFT and WOU were unable to come to an agreement at the bargaining table during our final scheduled bargaining sessions. As a result, the teams have agreed to enter mediation. 

WOUFT and WOU have been engaged in an economic reopener since January 12^th, bargaining only over the terms of Article 17 (Salary) for the 2026-2027 academic year. Although we started with interest-based bargaining, it became clear that we had no shared interests regarding salary and the teams agreed to move to traditional, positional bargaining.

Although WOUFT has reduced the cost of our proposals with each new counter offer, we continue to insist on salary increases for all faculty based on equity, transparency, and the steeply rising cost of living. For instructional faculty in particular, we demand a living wage for instructional faculty, and the replacement of WOU’s current, inequitable pay model based on administrator discretion with a clear, transparent step system.

WOU’s initial offer was a wage freeze for all faculty and a significant reduction in how summer pay is calculated ($110 per student per course credit, with a cap of $1100 per course credit for classes of 10 or more students). As a second offer, WOU suggested a $250 one-time payment to all faculty members. 

At our June 10^th session, WOU first offered a step for tenure-track faculty and suggested a model for instructional faculty salary that formalizes the inequity present in our current pay model. When we stated that this was unacceptable to our members, WOU’s next offer was to go back to a one-time payment for all faculty, this time of $500, and increased its suggested pay for summer to $120 per student per course credit, with a cap of $1200 per course credit for classes of 10 or more students.

Although the WOU team has moved slightly on its total offer amount over time, as the table below shows, all of its offers represent significant reductions in earning potential compared to the current CBA.

Offer	Summer*	Tenure Track	Instructional Faculty	Total Cost
WOU 1st	$ -278,027.80	$ –	$ –	$ -278,027.80
WOU 2nd	$ -278,027.80	$ 29,000.00	$ 19,750.00	$ -229,277.80
WOU 3rd	$ -278,027.80	$ 133,678.00	[Unable to estimate cost]	$ -144,349.80
WOU 4th	$ -230,327.80	$ 58,000.00	$ 39,500.00	$ -132,827.80

* Summer costing based on salary data from summer term 2025

WOUFT has reduced the cost of its offers considerably while sticking to our principles: a step system for instructional faculty and a fair wage increase for all faculty members.

Offer	Summer*	Tenure Track	Instructional Faculty	Total Cost
WOUFT 1st	$ –	$ 519,900.00	$ 496,094.00	$ 1,015,994.00
WOUFT 2nd	$ –	$ 470,078.00	$ 496,094.00	$ 966,172.00
WOUFT 3rd	$ –	$ 354,078.00	$ 296,328.00	$ 650,406.00

WOUFT acknowledges that WOU faces a deficit. However, it is unacceptable to place the burden of resolving years of financial mismanagement on the backs of employees who are already struggling to afford their living expenses at current salary rates. 

It is especially shocking that WOU claims it cannot afford to pay a living wage for its lowest-paid faculty while the university president earns $367,000 a year plus a $54,000 a year stipend for housing and vehicle use.

WOUFT is ready to continue bargaining and eager to reach a deal that meets member needs. Although mediation is not open to observers, we will be in touch regularly with updates and calls for action and input so we can be sure we are speaking for you.