It’s been three weeks since the Western Academic Workers United’s educational student employees made a tentative agreement with Western Washington University, in which they won bereavement leave, increased job security and wages; up to $19 an hour by January 2025. But where does that leave the other side of WAWU: operational student employees?
In the last six months, the roughly 1,100 operational student employees that comprise resident advisors, lifeguards and more, have been advocating for voluntary recognition from administration.
In the last legislative session, operational student employees submitted State Bill 5895, which would have mandated the administration to recognize the operational student employees to start the bargaining process. The bill died due to a short legislative session and a fiscal note attached to the bill.
“When it goes to Ways and Means, a relevant party, in this case, the university, will attach a fiscal note to it, which essentially just denotes how much money it will cost the state or cost the university to enact the law,” said Colleen Ryan, an operational student employee WAWU member. “So in this case, it would be how much money it will cost for the university to come to the bargaining table.”
Although the bill didn’t pass, the administration can still choose to recognize the operational student employees anytime, according to Peter Pihos, president of the United Faculty of Western Washington and history professor. He believes it’s unlikely for the university to recognize them and initiate bargaining sessions for a potential contract until state legislation passes, which would mandate it.
On April 20, 2023, Gov. Jay Inslee passed State Bill 5238, which compelled Western administrators to meet 18 educational student employee bargaining committee members at the table, following WAWU's unionization on June 12, 2023.
In a response written by Western to operational student employees after their third request for recognition, Western stated, “We believe that action by the Legislature conferring bargaining rights to operational student employees is a necessary prerequisite to recognizing such a bargaining unit at Western Washington University. As we explained in our letter of December 18, 2023, it is the Legislature that determines which classes of public employees are eligible to form bargaining units in Washington, and which rules will apply to unit formation and bargaining for those employees.”
Contrary to Western’s statement, WAWU expresses hope that the university will possibly voluntarily recognize operational student employees following the educational student employee tentative agreement with Western, according to Ryan.
“As we show them the power of the [operational student employee] unit, and they remember the power of the [educational student employee] unit … I think that the likelihood of them seeing the value of voluntary recognition is a lot higher,” Ryan said.
While both educational and operational groups are student employees, they are treated as separate units. In December of 2023, a majority of operational student employees filed a petition with the Washington Public Employment Relations Commission to be represented as part of Western Academic Workers United and United Auto Workers.
Operational student employees weren’t covered by the bill recognizing the right of educational student employees to form a union and collectively bargain. State Bill 5895 would’ve changed this and recognized the right of operational student employees to do so.
Erin Magarro, a WAWU educational student employee bargaining committee member, explained how the separation of the student units differs state by state according to state law.
“A wall-to-wall union is when every student employee, regardless of educational or operational, are all considered student employees and are bargaining in a very similar contract,” Magarro said. “[The] University of Oregon is a great example. There's a couple of thousand employees, and it's wall-to-wall where everyone is [represented by the union] and there aren't any distinctions.”
Although operational student employees can’t bargain and are currently waiting for the next legislative session in January of 2025, they are ready for recognition and to come to the bargaining table.
“The student employee body on campus has shown admin that we care about protecting each other,” said Kaylee Thomas, an operational student employee and WAWU member. “We've been ready, so we will be happy to sit at the bargaining table as soon as they want to meet with us.”
Bodey Mitchell (he/him) is a campus life reporter for The Front this quarter. He is a second-year Journalism pre-major. In his spare time, Bodey can be found snowboarding or playing guitar. You can reach him at bodeymitchell.thefront@gmail.com.
Austin Wright (he/him) is a campus news reporter for The Front this quarter. He is a second-year journalism/news ed major. When he’s not reporting, you can find him playing ultimate frisbee, watching soccer or hiking. You can reach him at austinwright.thefront@gmail.com.
