CWU workers win union representation

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Published on Tuesday, January 15, 2008

CWU workers win union representation
YAKIMA HERALD-REPUBLIC

Clerical and technical workers at Central Washington University were granted union representation by the state labor relations board last week.

Public School Employees of Washington will represent more than 100 secretaries, program assistants, library and archives workers and instruction and classroom support technicians.

While employees at state universities and other agencies gained the right to collective bargaining in 2002, hundreds of CWU employees still don't belong to a union.

Now the next step for the newly unionized employees is to push for better wages, improved benefits and a larger voice in the workplace, according to Angie Wedekind, a senior secretary in the Asia University America Program.

The clerical employees join 13 CWU health center employees who voted to join PSE in November.

PSE represents 27,000 educational support professionals in the public school system, as well as several hundred higher education employees at Western Washington University in Bellingham.

PSE is a local affiliate of the Service Employees International Union, which represents hundreds of thousands of public sector and health professionals across the United States.