Over 6,000 Academic Student Employees at the University of Washington have been in bargaining since early February to improve their working conditions as they negotiate a successor contract with the University. Workers are fighting to build an equitable and accessible UW that narrows the income inequality gap and lifts up the workers who do the majority of the teaching and research—work that makes UW a force for economic and social good in the region, a globally recognized $9.5 billion scientific research institution, and the #1 public university in the country in federal grant funding.
ASEs are falling behind the market
Over 80% of Academic Student Employees (ASEs) surveyed in 2022 at the University of Washington are rent-burdened, spending more than 30% of their income on rent. ASEs at UW fuel the region’s booming medical research and tech economy, yet are stuck on the low end of the wage market with a base salary of $2664 per month.
UW ASE wages are falling behind peer institutions among which they have historically competed. UW uses the U.S. News Top-25 Public Research Institutions as its “primary peer comparison group” (previously they used the Global Challenge Schools list). The median ASE base wage among the top 15 public research universities on the US News Public Research Institutions is $3,442.27 per month; UW is currently 29% behind this. Of just the West Coast schools on this list, the median is $3,778 per month; UW is 42% behind this.
Current proposals
The University proposes to address these problems with the following wage proposal: $2,850 per month in the first year of the contract, ending with ASEs earning $3,203 per month by 2027. When asked for the basis for its “market” adjustments, the University points only to its peers in lower cost-of-living areas–Michigan, Virginia, and North Carolina–and yet its proposals don’t even match those schools’ wages. This monthly pay rate keeps UW at the bottom, with UW lagging behind its own “primary peer comparison group” and falling even further behind its peers on the West Coast over the life of the contract. Combined with its healthcare proposal to require ASEs to take on healthcare premium costs, ASEs’ take-home pay in 2026-7 would be around $3103 per month.
The Union’s current proposal addresses the problem by bringing its members’ wages up to the median of West Coast schools’ wages during the first year of the contract: $3,703/month, and ending with ASEs earning $4,319/month by the end of the contract. This proposal brings UW in line with its peers on the West Coast, and ensures that UW doesn’t fall further behind over the life of this agreement. The Union’s current proposal also includes remitting one of the pay-to-work student fees (totaling $1024 per year) that ASEs currently pay.