But the state is playing hardball with an offer that includes a 0.5 percent cost-of-living adjustment, a freeze in step increases and higher employee health insurance costs, and workers are getting frustrated, according to Siobahn Burke, a campus organizer for the union.

“They’re very unhappy about it,” she said.

OSU Local President Leonora Rianda, who works as an office specialist in the Ethnic Studies and Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies departments, said classified employees at OSU haven’t walked off the job since 1985, but she believes they will if the state’s negotiators don’t come back with a better contract offer.

“From what I hear from our bargaining people, management is not moving,” Rianda said.

“We keep saying we’re not going to take a cut in pay,” she added, and under the proposed contract “we’ll be taking home less money.”

But university spokesman Steve Clark countered that there is still a lot of bargaining left to be done and plenty of time to cut a deal that would be amenable to both sides.

“Any talk of a strike at this time is premature as the parties to this agreement have not ended their negotiations and are, in fact, meeting Aug. 7 and 8 with a mediator from the state of Oregon,” said Clark, OSU’s vice president for marketing and university relations. “We are planning to attend that meeting and engage in good faith negotiations and expect that is also the intention of the SEIU.”

Reporter Bennett Hall can be reached at 541-758-9529 or bennett.hall@lee.net. Follow him on Twitter at @bennetthallgt.

Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 1 Angry 2

Get local news delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to our Daily Headlines newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy.