Update: According to the Oregon University System, SEIU signed and sent a letter of intent to strike Wednesday afternoon.

Secretaries, research assistants, housing employees and more could be going on strike soon.

The non-faculty employees, or classified employees, at the state’s seven public universities are currently voting to authorize a strike, in protest of the current labor deals put forth by the Oregon University System. Representatives of their union’s Oregon chapter, SEIU Local 503, say much of the contract disagreements stem from salaries and annual raises. On the University of Oregon campus, voting is taking place in Columbia 150.

The union hopes the picket lines will sway OUS to give a better deal if they see campuses fall into a quagmire.

“It’s very difficult to replace us for an extended period of time,” said Kurt Willcox, the lead union bargainer for the University of Oregon. “I think there will be disruption on campus, there will be difficulties with students moving into housing.”

OUS insists that the contentious points of the contract come down to a straining state budget. While the state used to provide 70 percent of the funds for classified salary, and tuition making up the difference, today that number has flipped, and enrollment has continued to climb.

“We’re still at the same budget we’ve been at 10, 12 years ago, but we have 30,000 more students,” said Diana Saunders, Director of Communications for OUS.

Both the union and OUS issued their final offers on August 23, and are scheduled to sit down again on September 13 and 14. A strike could occur as early as September 23 — a week before classes are scheduled to begin — if a deal isn’t struck by then. Voting at six of the seven universities started yesterday and continue today. The results of whether or not a strike will be authorized will be announced tomorrow.

The union says that the deal proposed by OUS falls short on salary increases and steps — yearly incremental raises based on experience and cost of living — while salaries for faculty and administrators has continued to rise.

UO has around 1,600 classified employees on every floor of the campus, from custodians and electricians, to administrative assistants. There are around 4,500 at all seven universities.