BARGAINING UPDATE
December 15, 2023
Ready to win our contract in the new year
Takeaways:
Dear colleagues,
We met with the administration yesterday for the last bargaining session of 2023.
This year we have won major improvements: presumptive renewal for full- and part-time non-tenure-stream faculty, strong grievance and discipline procedures, new protections for workloads and evaluations, and now a strong new policy on academic freedom. Academic freedom was a high priority for you in the bargaining survey, but it has been one of the most challenging articles to negotiate, since it goes to the heart of questions about the limits of the administration's power. We are pleased to report that we have finally tentatively agreed to a strong article protecting our academic freedom, which covers all faculty in our bargaining unit and will be enforceable through our grievance procedure. As we see almost every day in state and national news, academic freedom is under threat across the country, and this article will ensure that we are all able to use our knowledge and expertise without threat of discipline, interference, or retaliation from supervisors or outside political forces.
As we prepare for the final stages of bargaining over economics in the new year, we want to thank all of you who stood together in 2023 to fight for a strong first contract. We are now fully engaged in economic bargaining, and we are making real progress toward policies on leaves, including exciting new programs for full- and part-time non-tenure-stream faculty. We still have big fights in front of us on compensation and benefits, but the number of outstanding issues continues to shrink, and—with your support—we are well positioned to wrap things up quickly in the new year.
If you haven’t done so yet, we encourage you to sign a membership card today so you will be ready to vote on our contract when the time comes. As always, feel free to reach out to a Communication and Action Team member in your area with any questions or feedback.
As you finish grading and wrap up your work from a busy semester, we wish you all a relaxing and restorative break. We will need to rest and recharge for a big final push, and we look forward to standing together in 2024 to finish what we started.
In solidarity,
Your bargaining committee
Tyler Bickford (chair), Professor, English, Oakland
Pete Bell, Teaching Assistant Professor, Chemistry, Oakland
Nicholas Bircher, Part-time Professor, Nurse Anesthesia, Oakland
Chloe Dufour, Faculty Librarian, ULS, Oakland
Anthony Fabio, Associate Professor, Epidemiology (Public Health), Oakland
Lech Harris (secretary), Part-time Instructor, English, Oakland
James Hill (archivist), Visiting Assistant Professor, History, Oakland
Megan O’Brien, Master Teacher, Falk Laboratory School, Oakland
Sabrina Robinson, Part-time Instructor, Slavic, Oakland
Evan Schneider, Assistant Professor, Physics and Astronomy, Oakland
Paul Scott, Assistant Professor, Health and Community Systems (Nursing), Oakland
Jeffrey Shook, Professor, Social Work, Oakland
Stacey Triplette, Associate Professor, Spanish, Greensburg
Abagael West, Teaching Assistant Professor, Biological Sciences, Oakland
Links!
- We have a strong, enforceable TA that will protect academic freedom for all faculty in the bargaining unit
- We end the year with our contract close to finished, but we will need every bit of your energy in the new year to bring this home
Dear colleagues,
We met with the administration yesterday for the last bargaining session of 2023.
This year we have won major improvements: presumptive renewal for full- and part-time non-tenure-stream faculty, strong grievance and discipline procedures, new protections for workloads and evaluations, and now a strong new policy on academic freedom. Academic freedom was a high priority for you in the bargaining survey, but it has been one of the most challenging articles to negotiate, since it goes to the heart of questions about the limits of the administration's power. We are pleased to report that we have finally tentatively agreed to a strong article protecting our academic freedom, which covers all faculty in our bargaining unit and will be enforceable through our grievance procedure. As we see almost every day in state and national news, academic freedom is under threat across the country, and this article will ensure that we are all able to use our knowledge and expertise without threat of discipline, interference, or retaliation from supervisors or outside political forces.
As we prepare for the final stages of bargaining over economics in the new year, we want to thank all of you who stood together in 2023 to fight for a strong first contract. We are now fully engaged in economic bargaining, and we are making real progress toward policies on leaves, including exciting new programs for full- and part-time non-tenure-stream faculty. We still have big fights in front of us on compensation and benefits, but the number of outstanding issues continues to shrink, and—with your support—we are well positioned to wrap things up quickly in the new year.
If you haven’t done so yet, we encourage you to sign a membership card today so you will be ready to vote on our contract when the time comes. As always, feel free to reach out to a Communication and Action Team member in your area with any questions or feedback.
As you finish grading and wrap up your work from a busy semester, we wish you all a relaxing and restorative break. We will need to rest and recharge for a big final push, and we look forward to standing together in 2024 to finish what we started.
In solidarity,
Your bargaining committee
Tyler Bickford (chair), Professor, English, Oakland
Pete Bell, Teaching Assistant Professor, Chemistry, Oakland
Nicholas Bircher, Part-time Professor, Nurse Anesthesia, Oakland
Chloe Dufour, Faculty Librarian, ULS, Oakland
Anthony Fabio, Associate Professor, Epidemiology (Public Health), Oakland
Lech Harris (secretary), Part-time Instructor, English, Oakland
James Hill (archivist), Visiting Assistant Professor, History, Oakland
Megan O’Brien, Master Teacher, Falk Laboratory School, Oakland
Sabrina Robinson, Part-time Instructor, Slavic, Oakland
Evan Schneider, Assistant Professor, Physics and Astronomy, Oakland
Paul Scott, Assistant Professor, Health and Community Systems (Nursing), Oakland
Jeffrey Shook, Professor, Social Work, Oakland
Stacey Triplette, Associate Professor, Spanish, Greensburg
Abagael West, Teaching Assistant Professor, Biological Sciences, Oakland
Links!
- If someone forwarded this to you, sign up to receive these emails
- Find previous bargaining updates here
- Status of bargaining
- Get in touch with your Council rep
- Get involved with the Communication and Action Team
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