Collective Bargaining

There are two kinds of AAUP chapters: some engage in collective bargaining, others are advocacy chapters. Collective bargaining chapters are common in the northwest. The University of Oregon, Portland State University, and Oregon State University are effective AAUP collective bargaining chapters. In Washington State the United Faculty of Washington have secured collective bargaining rights and higher salaries for faculty at Western Washington, Eastern Washington, Central Washington and the Evergreen State College.

There are reasons to believe many faculty at the UW would benefit froma collective bargaining agreemnt. At Rutgers the collective bargaining relationship has yielded faculty salaries that exceed UW salaries by an average of $18,000 at the full professor level and $14,000 at the Associate Professor level. AAUP at Rutgers has also been successful in bargaining an attractive sabbatical policy, improved salaries and work rights for lecturers and instructors, and improved family leave, affirmative action, and dispute resolution policies. One of the keys to AAUP Rutgers' success is its very powerful lobbying capacity, made possible because of the dues members pay. More about how collective bargaining works at Rutgers.

Here is information about collective bargaining from AAUP national office.

UW-AAUP has been an advocacy chapter,  working primarily to strengthen the framework of shared governance. But the chapter had long sought to change Washington state law to make collective bargaining an option at the University of Washington.