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Vasiliki Touhouliotis, an honors college adjunct faculty member and chair of bargaining for the Portland State University Faculty Association, leads chants as union members, students and other supporters march to PSU President Ann Cudd\u2019s office in downtown Portland, Ore., on Thursday, Oct. 16, 2025.<\/p>\n
Eli Imadali \/ OPB<\/p>\n
Portland State\u2019s adjunct faculty union is celebrating what it calls a historic labor win against the university in an unfair labor practice case.<\/p>\n
In a ruling earlier this month, the Oregon Employment Relations Board found that PSU had violated state labor law when it withheld certain funds meant for Portland State University Faculty Association members over the summer. PSUFA represents more than 1,200 adjunct faculty and researchers at Portland State.<\/p>\n
Union leaders estimate the university withheld about $100,000 in previously agreed upon professional development and emergency financial assistance funds. The ERB\u2019s decision orders PSU to immediately release that funding, plus a 9% prorated interest.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a major victory for adjunct faculty and for the adjunct faculty union,\u201d PSUFA Bargaining Chair Vasiliki Touhouliotis said at a rally in support of the ruling on Thursday. \u201cIt is a strong message to PSU that they cannot act with impunity and that they are not above the law.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Members of the Portland State University Faculty Association, which represents adjunct faculty, along with students and other supporters march through Portland State University campus in downtown Portland, Ore., on Thursday, Oct. 16, 2025.<\/p>\n
Eli Imadali \/ OPB<\/p>\n
The decision in favor of the union hinged on whether Portland State maintained normal working conditions for represented adjunct faculty, or a \u201cstatus quo,\u201d while PSUFA bargains over a new contract with the university. The union\u2019s contract with Portland State expired on June 30 and negotiations are still ongoing.<\/p>\n
PSUFA filed an unfair labor practice with the state in August, alleging the university violated this status quo when it refused to make payments after the union\u2019s contract expired. The complaint said PSU specifically refused to pay faculty participating in bargaining sessions and those seeking financial aid.<\/p>\n
The state\u2019s employment relations board agreed PSU was obligated to make the payments, writing in its decision that Oregon employers \u201cmust generally maintain the status quo in employment relations between the expiration of a collective bargaining agreement and the completion of the statutory bargaining procedures under the Public Employee Collective Bargaining Act.\u201d<\/p>\n
Related:<\/strong> Students, faculty argue Portland State University\u2019s financial sustainability plan does more harm than good<\/a><\/p>\n At the rally, union members described how the funds are a lifeline, helping them cover housing and food expenses in emergency situations. <\/p>\n Rachel Hibbard, an adjunct professor who\u2019s been teaching art at PSU for over 25 years, was worried she would not be reimbursed for a professional development opportunity she paid out-of-pocket for.<\/p>\n \u201cI had written a grant proposal asking for monies to take a very specific printmaking workshop that pertained precisely to the class I\u2019m going to be teaching this winter,\u201d Hibbard said. \u201cI had expected to get it and I hadn\u2019t been teaching all summer. It created a lot of uncertainty.\u201d<\/p>\n Vasiliki Touhouliotis, left, holds up the Oregon Employment Relations Board’s order with a PSU student in President Ann Cudd\u2019s office in downtown Portland, Ore., on Thursday, Oct. 16, 2025.<\/p>\n Eli Imadali \/ OPB<\/p>\n Portland State acknowledges the board\u2019s determination but argues its interpretation of the state labor law does not mean it was bargaining in bad faith.<\/p>\n \u201cThe board denied the union\u2019s request to issue a civil penalty and recover its filing fee in bringing the complaint because PSU\u2019s approach to the contract dispute was not egregious misconduct,\u201d said a PSU spokesperson in an emailed statement.<\/p>\n The university is considering an appeal of the decision.<\/p>\n Related:<\/strong> PSU begins layoff process for nearly 100 faculty members, more expected<\/a><\/p>\n The dispute over these funds comes as university administrators are taking steps to confront a yearslong budget crisis. <\/p>\n In September, PSU leaders released a plan to cut nearly $35 million <\/a>from its operating budget by 2027. That announcement came on the heels of a downsizing effort from last school year when the university closed an $18 million-dollar deficit <\/a>through controversial program and staff reductions. <\/p>\n Meantime, the faculty and administration bargaining teams are attempting to agree on a contract that both sides can live with. Union members say they\u2019re facing their own crisis too.<\/p>\n \u201cThese funds that the university didn\u2019t release were already bargained and budgeted for,\u201d said Alli Schisler-Blizzard, PSUFA\u2019s chair of membership. \u201cThis is less about PSU\u2019s budget and much more about them flexing their institutional muscle and institutional power over a group of marginalized faculty.\u201d<\/p>\n Portland State University Faculty Association rally participants get into an elevator going up to PSU President Ann Cudd\u2019s office in downtown Portland, Ore., on Thursday, Oct. 16, 2025.<\/p>\n Eli Imadali \/ OPB<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Vasiliki Touhouliotis, an honors college adjunct faculty member and chair of bargaining for the Portland State University Faculty…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":309605,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[64,156452,420,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-309604","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-jobs","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-education-higher-education-portland-state-university-employment","10":"tag-jobs","11":"tag-united-states","12":"tag-unitedstates","13":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115387159846981899","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/309604","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=309604"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/309604\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/309605"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=309604"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=309604"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=309604"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Vasiliki](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/GO4NKTTTTRA7HBG36ZIYGLXCQQ.jpg\")
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