Dear Colleagues,We hope this finds you well.On June 8 you received an email from Western’s Human Resources office regarding “Voluntary Reduction of Hours” which is related to the WA Employment Security Department’s Shared Work Program. Though this email went out to all employees, including faculty, it only applies to employees who work on an hourly basis. Faculty are not hourly employees.We want all faculty to know that the UFWW-WWU Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) ensures that any change to a&n ...Continue Reading

Dear WWU Faculty,I'm pleased to announce that today the WWU Board of Trustees voted unanimously to accept the MOU extending the current CBA between UFWW and the University. This vote, along with the vote by the UFWW membership last Friday, means that the MOU is now officially adopted. The MOU and a digest of changes can be found here.I'd like to take this opportunity to once again thank the Chair of our Bargaining Team Matt Roelofs from Economics, along with his team: Marilyn Chu from Elementary Ed, Josh Cerretti from H ...Continue Reading

Dear Colleagues,The tentative agreement of our Collective Bargaining Agreement was overwhelmingly approved by a vote of the UFWW membership.The next step is for the Board of Trustees to put their ratification of the tentative agreement to a vote. I will let you know the results of that vote as soon as possible.Best,Rich Brown, UFWW President---                       Unsubscribe » ...Continue Reading

Dear Colleague:Late last week the UFWW Bargaining Team and the Administration reached a tentative agreement extending our current collective bargaining agreement (CBA) for one year. This tentative agreement maintains all protections in our current contract with no changes, including any compensation increases associated with promotion, post-tenure review, and department chairs. In addition, the tentative agreement requires both parties to return to the bargaining table in October 2020 to bargain potential salary increas ...Continue Reading

Dear Colleagues,I write in response to President Randhawa’s email on Thursday, April 2nd, regarding our NTT colleagues, in which he states, “To this end, non-tenure-track faculty appointments for AY 2020-21 will be made to deliver courses planned for next year and contracts will be completed by the date stipulated in the WWU/UFWW Collective Bargaining Agreement, *unless Fall 20 enrollments are significantly lower than projected*/./(my emphasis)Friday, the WWU Administration and UFWW came to the following agreement:/NTT ...Continue Reading

Dear Colleagues,As you saw in yesterday’s faculty email from us, Brian Burton, and Steve Vanderstaay, the administration, UFWW, and Faculty Senate have been working together since Tuesday on the university’s response to this health emergency and to make our transition to remote teaching as smooth as possible. We will continue to serve on the ICS to ensure shared governance during this time.The temporary move to remote learning will not be easy for faculty, staff, or students. The one -week delay to the start of Spr ...Continue Reading

Dear Colleagues,Yesterday, Western suspended most of its face-to-face instruction.  UFWW has not been a part of most of the planning by the university, but the administration has done a good job of communicating and occasionally consulting with us.  We understand that the administration has been under a lot of pressure and that they are doing their best to balance a variety of issues.  We support administrative efforts to retain as much of the educational experience for our students while also protecting ...Continue Reading

Dear UFWW Colleagues,The message below was sent to the administration today on behalf of UFWW Exec.  Please join us in voicing your support of our classified staff colleagues through any means you deem appropriate.-Rich Brown, UFWW PresidentDear President Randhawa & Provost Carbajal,The UFWW Executive Committee joins other leaders across campus who are calling for a change in our Suspended Operations Policy.  As you have heard from classified staff, faculty, chairs, and deans, the current policy ...Continue Reading

Dear Colleague,The Freedom Foundation is an organization dedicated to undermining workers’ rights. They have requested your personal information from the state for this purpose, with the intention of getting people to drop out of the union. The personal information they are requesting from employers includes names, birthdates, work locations, salary, work email addresses, and more.AFT Washington sought and won an injunction to stop the release of your personal information because it potentially puts members who have exp ...Continue Reading

Dear UFWW Member,Due to an injunction filed by WEA Legal, the Freedom Foundation's public record request to the university is _temporarily on hold_.  _None of your private information has been released._  For more information, please visit ufww.org for new information under the Freedom Foundation link on the homepage, which explains the injunction.Rich Brown, UFWW President--Unsubscribe » ...Continue Reading