CORVALLIS Ore.
The Oregon University System and SEIU, the union that
represents university classified workers, have reached a tentative agreement on
a new contract that includes a 3 percent salary increase retroactive to July 1.
The new pact also includes a 3.2 percent raise that will
take effect November 2008.
“It’s wonderful news. This is the first time in over a
decade that we have raises that actually meet inflation over a two-year
period,” said Maggie Neel, a secretary for the Oregon
State University
statistics department, and president of the university’s subdivision of SEIU.
The agreement also maintains current health-care benefits
for current and part-time workers, and the lowest pay rates for state
university workers will be phased out by the two-year contract’s end, according
to a union news release.
Union members still must vote to ratify the agreement, and
ballots could be in the mail Monday, Neel said.
The SEIU Local 503 represents about 3,800 workers in the
state’s university system.
