EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Your UAOSU bargaining team and the administration team met from 9:30am to 1:30pm in Cascades Hall 143. The administration passed a “package” of 5 Articles (Compensation, Benefits, Leaves, Research Support & Copyright, and Term of Agreement) and a counterproposal to our Letter of Agreement on Support for Caregivers. Collectively, they exhibit a shocking lack of respect for faculty and the critical work we do to fulfill the institution’s mission. The Compensation Article we passed back in March proposed reasonable increases to meet the needs of faculty who have experienced a long period of high inflation and whose salaries fall near the bottom when compared to peer institutions. In response, the administration has proposed a six-year contract with no salary reopeners and increases of just 1.8%–3.0% in FY 2025, 0%–2% in FY 2026, and 0%–1% for FYs 2027–2030.
UPCOMING SESSIONS
Use the links below to add these to your calendar.
FULL UPDATE
The administration’s Compensation counter struck our proposal for an $8,000 inflation and peer adjustment and our proposal for annual across-the-board adjustments of 3.5%. Instead, it proposes a six-year contract (in their Term of Agreement proposal) with only merit increases. Those increases would only be 1.8%–3.0% in FY 2025, 0%–2% in FY 2026, and 0%–1% for FYs 2027–2030. Because the administration does not propose setting aside a “salary pool,” they could effectively give no salary increases at all after FY 2025. Under this proposal, faculty salaries will continue to decrease in real value and fall further behind our peer institutions, some of which have recently provided significant raise packages. The administration also reduced the increases we proposed to minimum salaries and rejected our proposals for post-promotion raises and a salary equity pool. The administration also reduced proposed increases to minimum salaries and Sea Pay; rejected post-promotion raises; and rejected a salary equity pool.
On Benefits, the administration’s proposal accepted our incorporation of language conforming to Oregon’s new part-time faculty health care program but struck the other changes we proposed: increasing the Employer’s share of Postdoctoral Scholar health insurance to achieve parity with other faculty; securing a set of basic benefits for retired faculty; freezing the cost of parking; and adding an additional tuition reduction (staff-fee privileges) that could be used at OSU. Finally, the administration declined our proposal that international faculty visa processes be handled through Human Resources.
The administration’s counterproposal on Leaves struck our proposals for a sick leave bank (although their team indicated their interest in revisiting this in the next CBA when they have upgraded their systems) and our effort to protect faculty from being required to work on weekends, during spring break, or when their worksite is inoperable. They also struck our proposal to expand access to and increase salaries during sabbatical leave, proposing simply that the Employer would adhere to university sabbatical policy. The administration proposed a change to our 120 hours of Paid Family and Medical Leave; the two Parties previously agreed that the 120 hours was available to part-time as well as full-time faculty, but they are now proposing to pro-rate this leave. The administration accepted some of our language incorporating changes to leaves as a result of the new Oregon Paid Family and Medical Leave mandate but insists on doing only the minimum required by law.
In their Research Support & Copyright counter, the administration rejected our proposal for a 3% Bridge Funding Pool, arguing that the 1% pool we won in our first CBA had not been exhausted so there is clearly not a need for more. This contradicts the information we received from the Research Office in December that the pool had, in fact, been fully utilized. They also rejected our proposal to return at least 5% of recovered F&A costs from externally funded grants to the Principal Investigator and our effort to secure an instructor’s right of first refusal to teach an Ecampus course that they designed/created.
Finally, the administration brought a counter to our Letter of Agreement on Support for Caregivers, after we expressed our frustration that they simply refused to respond to this important need. We had proposed a one-time pool of $500,000, similar to what UO has done, to be distributed for caregiver needs by a joint management-labor committee. The administration refused to commit any funding, leaving only a joint committee. We do not see the need for another purely advisory committee to point once again to the desperate shortage of childcare and eldercare in Oregon.
The next bargaining session is 12pm–4pm on Tuesday June 18th in Cascade Hall 143. We plan to present articles on Promotion and Tenure, Union Rights, and more. Even if you can only drop by for half an hour, your attendance matters: show the administration that faculty are watching this process.
You can find a list of the currently scheduled bargaining sessions, as well as read our updates and proposals at uaosu.org/bargaining.
Our power in negotiations comes from all of us working together as a united faculty. Becoming a member is the first step in supporting your bargaining team and securing a strong second contract . You can become a member online by going to uaosu.org/join.
In solidarity,
Marisa Chappell and Your Bargaining Team