Sign On: Demand a Fair Contract for UW Classified Staff

Working at UW in the current economic, political and social climate is challenging. Many employees spend the majority of their day within the walls of UW helping patients and students, providing for the community, and making money for UW executives. It has become increasingly difficult for us to sustain healthy relationships with work, coworkers and management.

We, the undersigned members of SEIU 925, call for the University of Washington to bargain a new union contract that addresses the fundamental issues we face as workers at the University.

We insist our next union contract must address the following:

1. Wage increase - UW workers need a raise to be secure in their housing, food, health and work-life balance. Well-compensated employees will bring increased monetary gains for UW.
2. Paid time off improvements - PTO is a critical component of a competitive compensation package and a key factor in employee retention and job satisfaction.
3. Safe staffing levels - Inadequate staffing directly impacts our day-to-day work, the care and safety of patients, and the quality of education of students.
4. Workload - Increasing workloads place growing pressure on employees and affects our ability to provide a quality experience to the patients and students whose bills and tuition fund the UW.
5. Career advancement - A lack of career advancement opportunities is a detriment to employee retention and UW’s ability to attract quality personnel.
6. Remote work flexibility -Flexible work options support recruitment, retention, productivity and employee well-being.

UW is a world class hospital (with the only level 1 trauma center for four entire states), a world class university, and a world class R1 research center. We, the staff members of SEIU 925, make all of that possible. But the current contract doesn't meet our needs. We insist that the next contract we ratify include improvements in these six critical areas.

President Jones, would you like to see UW further flourish? Your employees can help you with that, but any effort and work should be paid fairly and employees treated with dignity.