The Iowa Board of Regents voted Wednesday to ratify collective bargaining agreements with Campaign to Organize Student Workers, or COGS, the University of Iowa graduate student employee union, and the UI Health Care workers union, Service Employees International Union Minnesota & Iowa. The university and COGS reached a voluntary two-year agreement on Feb. 20, setting […]
The Iowa Board of Regents voted Wednesday to ratify collective bargaining agreements with Campaign to Organize Student Workers, or COGS, the University of Iowa graduate student employee union, and the UI Health Care workers union, Service Employees International Union Minnesota & Iowa.
The university and COGS reached a voluntary two-year agreement on Feb. 20, setting the terms of a new contract beginning July 1. The COGS members voted to ratify the tentative agreement and under the new contract, the base wage and minimum salary rate will increase by 3% on both July 1, 2025, and July 1, 2026. Returning bargaining unit employees will also receive a minimum 3% raise on those same dates, board documents stated.
COGS originally sought a 25% pay raise, claiming that current wages were unlivable and did not account for inflation.
“I have colleagues who go to the food bank, who rely on partners – things that are not sustainable,” COGS press coordinator Greg Wickenkamp said,
in a Jan. 29 CBJ article.
Similarly, a separate two-year agreement with the SEIU was finalized on March 6, and later ratified by union members. The SEIU contract mirrors the terms of the COGS agreement, with a 3% increase to base wages and minimum salary rates on July 1 of both 2025 and 2026, along with a guaranteed minimum 3% raise for returning employees each year.
Members of SEIU picketed Feb. 27 after the Board of Regents rejected their 25 page-plus proposal of demands for their 2025-2027 contract, which included a 14% increase to base wages for 2025 and 12% the following year.
“We’ve just had it. We’re relying on so many traveling staff right now to fill our vacancies, and I just feel like it’s kind of a slap in the face…travelers make, you know, anywhere from two to three times – maybe sometimes more – than what our staff makes. And that’s a huge portion of the health care workers we have working at the university,” said Shannon Gillette, a UIHC nurse who works in the surgical neuro intensive care unit, according to a
Feb. 27 CBJ article.
