BARGAINING UPDATE
November 27, 2023
We filed an unfair practice charge demanding admin stop violating the law
Takeaways:
Dear colleagues,
This morning we filed an unfair practice charge with the Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board. Over the last several months the administration has repeatedly violated their legal obligations to bargain in good faith with us. Our charge is based on their unlawful failure to respond to our proposals on Research Support after more than a year; their unlawful efforts to solicit input on working conditions from bargaining unit faculty in the Falk School; and their unlawful refusal to include certain bargaining unit faculty in our health plan. Each of these charges goes directly to the bargaining process: the law requires our employer to respond to our proposals in a reasonable time, to negotiate exclusively with our Union, and to maintain the status quo for all bargaining unit faculty while negotiations are ongoing.
Before the break a large group of faculty went to the Chancellor's office to communicate our frustration with delay tactics and their failure to bargain over economics. The Chancellor clearly told us that she expects her team to start making more rapid progress and that she agrees our work is important and deserves to be rewarded. While afterward they presented their counterproposal on Compensation, they have not taken any steps to resolve the issues we detail in our charge, despite us giving them multiple opportunities to do so. Instead, their team consistently shows up to bargaining sessions unprepared and sometimes hours late. When we have a contract we will be able to resolve disputes like these through the grievance procedure, but now our only recourse is through the Labor Board. We are committed to enforcing our rights as a Union and we will use all of the tools available to force the administration to negotiate a first contract that fairly compensates our work and protects and expands our benefits.
We look forward to working with the administration to settle these charges quickly and to move forward toward finalizing our first contract.
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!
- Today we filed an unfair practice charge with the Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board, demanding that the administration meet its legal obligations to bargain fairly
Dear colleagues,
This morning we filed an unfair practice charge with the Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board. Over the last several months the administration has repeatedly violated their legal obligations to bargain in good faith with us. Our charge is based on their unlawful failure to respond to our proposals on Research Support after more than a year; their unlawful efforts to solicit input on working conditions from bargaining unit faculty in the Falk School; and their unlawful refusal to include certain bargaining unit faculty in our health plan. Each of these charges goes directly to the bargaining process: the law requires our employer to respond to our proposals in a reasonable time, to negotiate exclusively with our Union, and to maintain the status quo for all bargaining unit faculty while negotiations are ongoing.
Before the break a large group of faculty went to the Chancellor's office to communicate our frustration with delay tactics and their failure to bargain over economics. The Chancellor clearly told us that she expects her team to start making more rapid progress and that she agrees our work is important and deserves to be rewarded. While afterward they presented their counterproposal on Compensation, they have not taken any steps to resolve the issues we detail in our charge, despite us giving them multiple opportunities to do so. Instead, their team consistently shows up to bargaining sessions unprepared and sometimes hours late. When we have a contract we will be able to resolve disputes like these through the grievance procedure, but now our only recourse is through the Labor Board. We are committed to enforcing our rights as a Union and we will use all of the tools available to force the administration to negotiate a first contract that fairly compensates our work and protects and expands our benefits.
We look forward to working with the administration to settle these charges quickly and to move forward toward finalizing our first contract.
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!
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