Wages and Compensation
- Raise each job classification’s minimum wage and stipend rate yearly to keep pace with Bellingham’s rising cost of living and decades of inflation.
- Pay employees accurately and on time for all hours worked including but not limited to: required trainings, overtime, holidays, and hours worked over the weekly limit.
Post-Traumatic Event Protocol & Adequate Trainings
- Facilitate a mentally healthy working environment for student workers who respond directly to potentially traumatic crises (Including but not limited to Resident Advisors, Inclusion Assistants, and Lifeguards).
- Facilitate a confidential response from a mental health professional within 48 hours of a work related traumatic event.
- Paid leave in the case of a work related traumatic event, including no loss of employment benefits (housing, meal plans, health insurance, etc.)
- Ensure that the impacted student(s) will have access to ongoing care after a traumatic event, and agree to ongoing collaboration with the impacted to ensure all protocol is fairly written and consistently implemented.
- Mandatory standardized CPR training where applicable.
- Provide opportunities for student employees to give input on the training we receive.
Healthcare
- Offer a comprehensive and affordable insurance plan for all student employees to address their health and wellness needs including medical, vision, dental, and mental health services.
- Ensure access to services outside of the standard academic year.
- Decrease premiums for dependents and streamline the dependent enrollment processes.
- Work with the union to explore alternatives to existing plans
Parking and Transit
- Provide a free WTA Bus pass to student employees during all quarters worked.
- Increase the number of union representatives permitted to attend University Transportation Advisory Committee meetings proportional to our unit’s expansion, raising the union attendee maximum to 4 and increasing the number of our allotted votes to two.
International Student Worker Rights, Support, and Retention
- Deny federal immigration agents access to university property without a judicial warrant.
- Establish a legal defense fund for individuals impacted by changes to their immigration status.
- Provide mandatory, transparent and rapid communication regarding ICE’s presence on campus.
- Give mandatory ICE Response training to all student workers through the Office of Equity regarding the presence of ICE on or near campus (at their workplaces), including briefing on students’ rights related to ICE and immigration at large.
- Provide financial aid for visa costs, paid leave for visa and immigration-related appointments, support for moving to the US (including campus housing access), and free tax and legal assistance.
Remaining Terms
Maintain all other existing terms of the Educational Student Employee Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA). Agree to process for covering Operational Student Employees in the same CBA as ESEs, including Exclusive Recognition, Union Membership, and all other provisions of fully enforceable agreement.