Washington
Grants Bargaining Rights to Higher Ed Temps
October
21, 2003 - The Washington Personnel Resources Board today voted 3-0
to grant temporary workers at state colleges and universities collective
bargaining rights after they've worked 350 hours. The new rights take
effect Jan. 1, 2004.
The vote came ten months after a Center for a Changing Workforce (CFCW)
report showed widespread abuse of temporary workers at two University
of Washington medical centers. The CFCW report also showed the UW
denied health insurance, retirement and other benefits to temporaries
who'd qualified for permanent status.
The vote was a compromise between the colleges' proposal to keep the
current law (no temps have bargaining rights) and a union proposal
that would have granted bargaining rights to all temporary workers
from the first day of employment.
The Washington Federation of State Employees' Gladys Burbank argued
before the board that the union alternative went farther toward bringing
temporary workers at state colleges and universities the same fair
treatment their general government counterparts have enjoyed for decades.
The board refused to adopt a management proposal that would have explicitly
limited contract protections for eligible temporary workers who organize
and join an existing bargaining unit at a state college or university.
David
West
Center for a Changing Workforce
Seattle, WA