EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The UAOSU bargaining team and the administration team met at 10am on Tuesday, March 21 in the LaSells Stewart Center and on Monday, March 25 from 1-4 in Cascades Hall. Over the course of the two sessions, we passed 2 article proposals (Promotion and/or Tenure, Academic Freedom and Shared Governance) and 4 counterproposals (Totality of the Agreement, Personnel Records, Non-Discrimination and Respectful Workplace, and Grievance Procedure) to the administration team. We received 1 counterproposal (Discipline and Termination) and a verbal rejection of our proposed Letter of Agreement regarding Support for Caregivers.
UPCOMING SESSIONS
Use the links below to add these to your calendar:
- Wed. April 3 9am-12pm (LaSells Stewart Center)
- Thurs April 11 9am-2pm (LaSells Stewart Center)
- Wed April 17 9am-12pm (LaSells Stewart Center)
FULL UPDATE
On 3/21/24, we passed two articles that are fundamental to the work of faculty: Promotion and/or Tenure and Academic Freedom and Shared Governance. With only one member of the administration’s team present there were no counterproposals offered.
Promotion and/or Tenure – Our team began by highlighting our success in previous negotiations of an agreement between the Faculty Senate, UAOSU, and the administration to eliminate external letters of evaluation for instructors. This worked well as an example of collaboratively working on policy changes, which has been fundamental to our discussions, yet remains an area of disagreement between the parties. Our stance remains that we have a right to bargain changes to policy, including promotion and/or tenure policies. The administration indicated there are many types of changes and asked if we propose language to bargain any changes to the Promotion and Tenure guidelines, and we said ‘Yes’! Our CBA should offer a clear map to working conditions for faculty, which means that administration cannot simply change policies that would meaningfully change our working conditions.
We proceeded to highlight important proposed improvements to Post-Tenure Review (PTR) and a new category for Post-Promotion Review. Consistent with our PROF proposal, we are advocating for a summative review prior to being put on a PTR. For PTRs specific to research, we propose a range of 1-3 years to meet expectations, to allow for reasonable time to re-ramp up a research agenda.
The new Post-Promotion Review category would allow faculty who have already been promoted to the highest rank in their classification to be eligible to receive a post-promotion review once every six years. It would be an internal review, and result in a post-promotion raise to be determined by the faculty unit.
Academic Freedom and Shared Governance – UAOSU added “and Shared Governance” to the original Academic Freedom article to illustrate our belief in these items appearing together. UAOSU added language protecting personal expression in light of policy changes adopted by administration. We further added language clarifying how grades can be changed without faculty consent. UAOSU advocated for allowing all faculty access to shared governance, and reiterated language consistent with a joint administration and Faculty Senate document regarding shared governance.
On 3/25/24, We received 1 counterproposal (Discipline and Termination) and a verbal rejection of our proposed Letter of Agreement regarding Support for Caregivers. UAOSU passed 4 counterproposals (Totality of the Agreement, Personnel Records, Non-Discrimination and Respectful Workplace, and Grievance Procedure) to the administration team.
Discipline and Termination – The administration brought a counterproposal in which they accepted our proposal that performance improvement plans are non-disciplinary. A lengthy discussion ensued regarding when a unit member waives their right to UAOSU representation and whether notice of the formal agreement is shared with UAOSU. Our intent is to ensure the collective bargaining agreement is adhered to, and that people do not feel pressured to enter into side deals that undercut our contract.
A similar discussion ensued regarding job abandonment. The administration added concerning language that states ‘fails to perform’ is essentially the same as abandoning duties.
Support for Caregivers – The administration declined our proposed Letter of Agreement (LOA), indicating that it is not necessary because they are doing a lot of work on caregiving support, and that a significant amount of funding is going into restructuring and active implementation of caregiving at OSU. When asked if they could provide a list of projects, the administration said, while they didn’t have it prepared, they would likely be able to provide one. We look forward to receiving this list, but we still believe that our proposal will add important resources for faculty caregivers and a say in their distribution irrespective of the projects already in the works.
Totality of the Agreement and Personnel Records – We brought a counterproposal on Totality of the Agreement, which continues to include specific references to administration’s legal obligations to bargain with us. Our counterproposal on Personnel Records seeks a reasonable timeline on requests and better communication when documents may take longer to track down.
Non-Discrimination and Respectful Workplace – We brought a counterproposal reinserting a section titled Respectful Workplace that addresses bullying, which advances work done by the President’s Committee on the Status of Women. We want to be able to augment existing grievances to address bullying, when necessary.
Grievance Procedure – UAOSU brought a counterproposal adding clarity to the use of academic judgment, clearer timelines that allow for informal resolutions to occur prior to a formal grievance, and an alternative that allows a grievant to use the Faculty Senate Faculty Grievance Committee. We discussed how to ensure that we can see any grievance resolutions to make certain that they are compatible with our contract, a point we similarly made about resolutions to discipline issues.
Our website provides a table with links to the 24 articles and 1 LOA for which we have presented proposals, along with the administration’s proposals on 13 articles.
The next bargaining session is 9am–12pm on Wednesday, April 3 in the LaSells Stewart Center. 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,
Lori Cramer and Your Bargaining Team