Portland State’s adjunct faculty union is celebrating what it calls a historic labor win against the university in an unfair labor practice case.

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.

Union leaders estimate the university withheld about $100,000 in previously agreed upon professional development and emergency financial assistance funds. The ERB’s decision orders PSU to immediately release that funding, plus a 9% prorated interest.

“It’s a major victory for adjunct faculty and for the adjunct faculty union,” PSUFA Bargaining Chair Vasiliki Touhouliotis said at a rally in support of the ruling on Thursday. “It is a strong message to PSU that they cannot act with impunity and that they are not above the law.”

The decision in favor of the union hinged on whether Portland State maintained normal working conditions for represented adjunct faculty, or a “status quo,” while PSUFA bargains over a new contract with the university. The union’s contract with Portland State expired on June 30 and negotiations are still ongoing.

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’s contract expired. The complaint said PSU specifically refused to pay faculty participating in bargaining sessions and those seeking financial aid.

The state’s employment relations board agreed PSU was obligated to make the payments, writing in its decision that Oregon employers “must 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.”

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At the rally, union members described how the funds are a lifeline, helping them cover housing and food expenses in emergency situations.

Rachel Hibbard, an adjunct professor who’s 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.

“I had written a grant proposal asking for monies to take a very specific printmaking workshop that pertained precisely to the class I’m going to be teaching this winter,” Hibbard said. “I had expected to get it and I hadn’t been teaching all summer. It created a lot of uncertainty.”

Portland State acknowledges the board’s determination but argues its interpretation of the state labor law does not mean it was bargaining in bad faith.

“The board denied the union’s request to issue a civil penalty and recover its filing fee in bringing the complaint because PSU’s approach to the contract dispute was not egregious misconduct,” said a PSU spokesperson in an emailed statement.

The university is considering an appeal of the decision.

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The dispute over these funds comes as university administrators are taking steps to confront a yearslong budget crisis.

In September, PSU leaders released a plan to cut nearly $35 million 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 through controversial program and staff reductions.

Meantime, the faculty and administration bargaining teams are attempting to agree on a contract that both sides can live with. Union members say they’re facing their own crisis too.

“These funds that the university didn’t release were already bargained and budgeted for,” said Alli Schisler-Blizzard, PSUFA’s chair of membership. “This is less about PSU’s budget and much more about them flexing their institutional muscle and institutional power over a group of marginalized faculty.”

News Source : https://www.opb.org/article/2025/10/16/portland-state-unfair-labor-practice/