EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Your UAOSU bargaining team and the administration team met from 9:30am-1pm on Thursday, December 12. We discussed the impact of the recent strike by CGE, and then the Administration passed No Strike, No Lockout and Termination Not for Cause. After a caucus, we passed Benefits, Leaves, Compensation, and Term of the Agreement.
UPCOMING SESSIONS
Use the links below to add these to your calendar.
- Tues Dec 17 10am-4pm Cascade Hall 135
- Fri Dec 20 9:30am-4pm Cascade Hall 135 – We will bring cookies and warm drinks, so please come help make this session festive.
FULL UPDATE
We opened this session with a discussion of the need to bargain over the impacts of the recent strike by graduate employees. As you may recall, we have issued a demand to bargain over the assignment of graduate employee work to bargaining unit members. This may take the form of a side letter or be rolled into existing proposals, given that the contract is currently open. As part of this process, we will file an information request to better understand which faculty were affected, and in what ways. As always, if you have questions or concerns about this, please email us at info@uaosu.org.
The administration team passed two counterproposals. In No Strike, No Lockout, they continue to remove language ensuring bargaining unit members are not expected to cover the work of striking employees. In Termination Not For Cause, they continue to strike all mention of Faculty Senate oversight over curricular and programmatic changes. Importantly, we asked questions about how the Administration sees this article applying to continuous appointments. Unfortunately, they maintained that layoffs for continuously appointed faculty would not be subjected to protections against non-renewal, and not permitted to have recall rights. Rather, they would be limited to the terms as they have proposed in the Appointments article – namely, that faculty could be terminated with four months notice. To be clear: we will continue to fight for job stability for faculty.
Your team brought four counterproposals. In Benefits, we are getting close to agreement. We continue to propose that the tuition reduction (staff fee privileges) be expanded to 16 credits per term at OSU, and that they could be used concurrently by up to two family members. In Leaves, we continue to propose that all promoted faculty, regardless of classification, should be eligible to take sabbatical leaves. For Family and Medical Leave, we continue to emphasize that the 120 hours we won in our first contract should not be pro-rated based on FTE. We also are seeking to clarify how that leave interacts with other forms of leave – we are hopeful we are close to agreement here.
In Compensation, we continue to emphasize the disparity between what Administration has repeatedly told the Board of Trustees (see the Ten-Year Business Forecast here) about the growth and financial strength of the institution and the paltry raises they have offered. We have again brought back a flat adjustment and regular across-the-board adjustments, alongside merit raises – which must be offered through a pool, so that there is a dedicated amount of money that will be distributed to faculty. We continue to make progress on increasing the salary minimums, and we maintain that these minimums must continue to rise throughout the duration of the contract. We maintain that overload should be paid at the regular salary rate of the faculty member doing the work. We again proposed that Ecampus development fees should go directly to the faculty member. And we again proposed a pool to support equity adjustments.
In Term of Agreement, we have proposed a three-year contract. The administration has proposed a five-year contract.
The next bargaining session is 10am–4pm on Tuesday, December 17 in Cascades Hall 135. 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