BARGAINING UPDATE
May 11, 2023
Takeaways:
Dear colleagues,
Thank you for your support this past academic year. Our power comes from you and we are seeing the results of our solidarity actions in the progress we are making at the bargaining table. We had a productive bargaining session with the administration on Tuesday. We received counterproposals from them on workloads, layoffs, and tenure-stream and tenured faculty. The administration’s workloads proposal was responsive to some of our priorities, such as having clear and transparent expectations for our overall work and policies around workload increases. We are optimistic we are making progress toward an agreement on this article. The counterproposals on layoffs and tenure were the first substantive proposals from the administration on these topics, and we had been growing increasingly concerned that the administration was refusing to bargain over these critical issues. We are still reviewing their language, but on first look their counterproposal on tenure appears productive as we seek to lock in the protections of tenure while improving transparency and accountability. Their counterproposal on layoffs does not provide protections that we need, and that are normal in a contract like ours. It also undercuts protections we are achieving in other proposals. However, it at least gives us a starting point for negotiation. Addressing these issues will be a key focus for us in upcoming bargaining sessions.
We presented a package of counterproposals on job security, addressing appointment, renewal, promotion, and contract length policies for all groups of faculty, with the goal of moving closer to an overall agreement. We believe we are at a point in negotiations where there is common ground on these issues, and we are hoping the administration will respond promptly and responsively. In the afternoon we also presented a response to their workloads proposal.
There are still a number of noneconomic issues we need to work through in coming bargaining sessions, including some core priorities that we are still apart on, but we believe that both sides largely share a vision in most of the noneconomic areas for our first contract, and we hope that we will be able to move rapidly toward agreement in these areas. In the most recent bargaining sessions, the administration has presented responsive proposalsto move this process forward; we hope they keep up this momentum over the summer.
We next meet with the administration on May 16.
In solidarity,
Your bargaining committee
Tyler Bickford (chair), Professor, English, Oakland
Nicholas Bircher, Part-time Professor, Nurse Anesthesia, Oakland
Lauren Collister, 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
Haitao Liu, Professor, Chemistry, Oakland
Stephen Robar, Associate Professor, Political Science, Bradford
Sabrina Robinson, Part-time Instructor, Slavic, Oakland
Valerie Rossi (clerk), Teacher, Falk Laboratory School, 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 had a productive bargaining session on Tuesday, exchanging a large number of proposals making progress on key topics, including workloads, job security, and tenure.
Dear colleagues,
Thank you for your support this past academic year. Our power comes from you and we are seeing the results of our solidarity actions in the progress we are making at the bargaining table. We had a productive bargaining session with the administration on Tuesday. We received counterproposals from them on workloads, layoffs, and tenure-stream and tenured faculty. The administration’s workloads proposal was responsive to some of our priorities, such as having clear and transparent expectations for our overall work and policies around workload increases. We are optimistic we are making progress toward an agreement on this article. The counterproposals on layoffs and tenure were the first substantive proposals from the administration on these topics, and we had been growing increasingly concerned that the administration was refusing to bargain over these critical issues. We are still reviewing their language, but on first look their counterproposal on tenure appears productive as we seek to lock in the protections of tenure while improving transparency and accountability. Their counterproposal on layoffs does not provide protections that we need, and that are normal in a contract like ours. It also undercuts protections we are achieving in other proposals. However, it at least gives us a starting point for negotiation. Addressing these issues will be a key focus for us in upcoming bargaining sessions.
We presented a package of counterproposals on job security, addressing appointment, renewal, promotion, and contract length policies for all groups of faculty, with the goal of moving closer to an overall agreement. We believe we are at a point in negotiations where there is common ground on these issues, and we are hoping the administration will respond promptly and responsively. In the afternoon we also presented a response to their workloads proposal.
There are still a number of noneconomic issues we need to work through in coming bargaining sessions, including some core priorities that we are still apart on, but we believe that both sides largely share a vision in most of the noneconomic areas for our first contract, and we hope that we will be able to move rapidly toward agreement in these areas. In the most recent bargaining sessions, the administration has presented responsive proposalsto move this process forward; we hope they keep up this momentum over the summer.
We next meet with the administration on May 16.
In solidarity,
Your bargaining committee
Tyler Bickford (chair), Professor, English, Oakland
Nicholas Bircher, Part-time Professor, Nurse Anesthesia, Oakland
Lauren Collister, 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
Haitao Liu, Professor, Chemistry, Oakland
Stephen Robar, Associate Professor, Political Science, Bradford
Sabrina Robinson, Part-time Instructor, Slavic, Oakland
Valerie Rossi (clerk), Teacher, Falk Laboratory School, 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!
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- Status of bargaining
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- Get involved with the Communication and Action Team
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