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A strike threat receded at Oregon Health & Science University on Monday, as the medical center reached a tentative contract agreement with its new research worker union.
The union, AFSCME Oregon Research Workers United, represents some 1,700 workers at OHSU, and has been negotiating a first contract for well over a year. Pushing for a better offer, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees union said earlier this month it would strike beginning Feb. 18 if no deal was reached.
On Monday, the union said its bargaining team and OHSU had established a tentative deal. If union members ratify it in a vote, the union will be the final in a recent wave of new AFSCME unions at OHSU to secure a first contract.
As it stands, the lowest-paid workers in the union make about $19 an hour, and 30% of members make less than $27. As the union often points out, this is less than a living wage in Portland for an adult with no children, according to the MIT Living Wage Calculator.
According to the union, the tentative agreement would produce an average 13% raise over the course of the three-year contract. It would also bring the union minimum wage to $24 an hour in the contract’s final year.
Portland’s largest employer, OHSU has in recent months inked a series of union contracts, averting strike threats along the way. Its largest union, AFSCME 328, approved a contract last month that will establish a $25 minimum wage by the end of its own three-year deal.
