EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Your UAOSU bargaining team and the administration team met 9am-5pm on Thursday, September 5. The administration team presented Benefits and Leaves. We presented Health, Safety, Facilities, and Work Site, Promotion and/or Tenure, and Periodic Review of Faculty.
We also met 9am-4:30pm on Wednesday, September 11. The administration team presented Position Descriptions and Workload, along with a proposed Letter of Agreement on Exceptional Service, and countered with an LOA on Caregiving. We presented Leaves, Benefits, and an LOA on Generative AI. Despite indications that they would bring compensation, the administration team did not, claiming that our union is not making sufficient movement – while they have had our compensation counter for well over six weeks, during which we have had numerous sessions. Additionally they continue to strike changes to our proposals, with little explanation of their justification or reasoning. Negotiation requires that both parties work together to solve problems, and we are feeling frustrated with the administration team’s pattern of calling for movement that they themselves are not making.
UPCOMING SESSIONS
Use the links below to add these to your calendar.
- Sun Sept 22 1 – 4pm – UAOSU Fall Picnic at the Thompson Shelter in Avery Park. All faculty are invited to our annual, family-friendly event. Please RSVP at uaosu.org/picnic.
- Thurs Sept 26, 10:30am – 2pm (Cascade 143)
FULL UPDATE
For our first full-day session, the administration team presented counter-proposals on Benefits and Leaves. While they said they’d made movement, we don’t really see where, as they continue to strike nearly all of our meaningful proposals; for instance, expanding staff fee privileges, and adding economically-neutral fringe benefits for retired faculty.
We presented Health, Safety, Facilities, and Work Site. We continue to assert language around remote work arrangements – we have worked with the administration in the past to ensure that these processes worked well during COVID-19, and having it in our contract makes it more visible to faculty and their supervisors and provides rules to ensure a fair process. In addition, we continue to assert that OSU’s self-insurance should replace research equipment that is lost or damaged during normal usage, in keeping with how this insurance should already work.
After a caucus, we discussed two of the persistent issues that affect multiple articles. First is a question of terminology – while our current contract uses the term “fixed-term” to refer to faculty without tenure-line appointments, we have already made progress toward establishing continuous appointments for at least some faculty currently on fixed-term appointments, although the administration team has stated that they will not offer continuous appointments to all academic faculty. We have regularly proposed “non-tenure track,” as this is language already in use at OSU and across higher education. The administration team has proposed “specialized faculty,” as they say they do not want to define employees by what they do not have. We have made it clear that the name is not the problem: faculty want more stable working conditions. While we did not resolve this issue at the table, we are hopeful that the administration team has heard clearly that it is time to settle on this and move on.
The second piece relates to reviews, including the annual Period Review of Faculty (PROF) and post-tenure reviews (PTR). We have repeatedly proposed that in these reviews it should be made clear to the faculty member how they are assessed for each category of their work, as well as an overall assessment that is proportionate and fair. The administration team brought up examples where a duty that takes a relatively small percentage of someone’s time could have an outsized effect. Our stance remains that the review should fairly assess someone’s work overall for the time period under consideration.
Based on these discussions, we brought back PROF and Promotion and/or Tenure, largely continuing with what we have previously proposed – we are hopeful that the administration team will meaningfully engage based on our conversations at the table.
The day before our second all-day session, the administration team indicated that, if we brought back Benefits and Leaves, they would be able to bring back Compensation. At this session, the administration team presented Position Descriptions and Workload. Once again, much of what they have accepted is cosmetic, as they continue to resist the meaningful changes we seek to make for faculty. Along with their proposal, they offered a proposed LOA on Exceptional Service – while we have maintained that material compensation for the type of informal service that we know falls primarily on BIPOC and women faculty, they are proposing that each college finds ways to handle this, without any resources committed. They also offered a response on Caregiving, again committing no financial resources, only a joint-labor management committee whose recommendations would be “advisory only.”
After a caucus, we presented Benefits and Leaves. In our presentations of these proposals, we again emphasized repeatedly that we are willing to adjust our proposals, if there is meaningful engagement.
After another caucus, we presented a revised proposed LOA on Generative AI. The administration team did not present compensation, as they had indicated they would. They claimed that we have not been making sufficient movement – that our asks on financial issues are too great. The administration team has not presented any specific information about the university’s finances, and we find their claims without evidence frustrating. We are seeking to solve problems for faculty, and their willingness to largely make only superficial movement is not enough to help make OSU a better place to teach and do research.
The next bargaining session is 10:30am–2pm on Thursday, September 26 in Cascade 143. The Administration team has indicated that they hope to bring their compensation counter to this session. 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,
Kelly McElroy and Your Bargaining Team