Stanford workers voted to ratify a new three year contract Thursday Sept. 7. Instead of taking a planned vote that would have authorized union leaders to call a strike, the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 715 accepted a contract that finalizes wage increases at four percent this year.

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Adrian Gaitan

Members of the SEIU marched on President Hennessy's office Wednesday to protest what they believe are unfair wages and benefits. Protesters were given clappers and whistles to amplify their sound in the Quad.

The agreement came one week following the previous contract’s expiration, which left the union’s 1,200 Stanford workers continuing work, but in limbo.

Wage increases, among the terms most debated between the union and University in the previous months, were finalized with a four-percent increase (and one-percent bonus) effective retroactively Sept. 1. Further increases of 3.75 percent and 3.25 percent will follow in 2007 and 2008, respectively.

The University achieved its goal of replacing a defined annuity plan for new workers with a contribution plan that limits long-term liabilities. The Stanford Contributory Retirement Plan (SCRP) will replace the Stanford Retirement Annuity Plan (SRAP) effective Jan. 1, 2007. When the contract was previously opened in February of this year, the union pushed hard to not implement the program, believing it would create an unfair, “two-tiered system” of workers. They succeeded temporarily. But the latest bargaining agreement puts Stanford more in line with most of the private sector, which has been moving toward the contribution plans.

A new Health Care Assistance Program will also be implemented, subsidizing “an employee's regular contribution for employee-plus-dependent coverage under the least expensive medical plan,” according to a University press release. “The subsidy is up to 100 percent for employees working three-fourths time or more with verified household incomes of $45,000 or less. There is a sliding-scale subsidy for employees with household incomes up to $60,000.” Retiree health care benefits, for those retiring within the next three years, will remain consistent with the previous program announced in February 2005.

Other terms in the new agreement include a “commitment by the University to use progressive discipline where appropriate to improve performance deficiencies” and worker realignments in certain areas that the SEIU Local 715 covers. This gives the University flexibility it says is needed to efficiently do its work at manageable costs.

"I believe the new contract will help maintain Stanford's position as a first-rate employer in the Bay Area while providing a strong framework for the next three years, building on the foundation of excellence our staff continues to provide each and every day,” said Diane Peck, executive director of Human Resources, in a press release.