September 23, 2024
“We are talking about economics today!” UFISU Co-Lead Spokesperson Dr. Ashley Farmer
“We are not.” Administration Spokesperson Mark Bennett
While we just wrapped up our twenty-fourth (24!) bargaining session today, Administration STILL has not responded to our economic proposals. What do you think it will take to move them? More than ever, we need more voices to push this.
We did get a Tentative Agreement (TA) on Duration today (our 19th agreement)! This proposal states how long the agreement will last (which will be filled in at a later date), and when we can start the renegotiation process for our second contract. This TA actually reflects a big win for our negotiating team and our contract. Keep reading to learn why.
Today, UFISU’s Co-Lead Spokesperson Ashley Farmer began the session by presenting a packet of counter-proposals including Disability Accommodations; Appointment Procedures, Promotion and Tenure, and Evaluations; Workload; and University and Union Lobby Day. hanges in Disability Accommodations include explicitly stating that though employees with medically documented permanent disabilities should not be required to resubmit documentation of their disability, the employer can still engage in the interactive process to determin and evaluate reasonable accommodations. .
In Appointment Procedures, Promotion and Tenure, and Evaluations, major changes in our counter proposal include:
We are holdingon support for international faculty and visa procedures.
Any dispute that faculty have relating to reappointment, performance evaluation, promotion, tenure, and post-tenure review shall be handled under the appropriate ASPT appeal procedures; however, we include a new type of to the Faculty Review Committee for a faculty member denied tenure by the Provost after receiving favorable votes from D/SFSC and CFSC.
Decisions relating to academic judgement shall not be subject to grievance, but we reserve the right to file a grievance for violations of process, retaliation for union activity, and/or ULP charges.
Anonymous student feedback cannot be used as the SOLE reason for discipline or tenure or promotion denial.
If a scheduled teaching observation will not give representative examples of teaching, the instructor can suggest an alternative day.
In Workload, major changes in our counter proposal included additional language to explicitly name librarianship and reframe for their needs. While library employees typically work scheduled daytime hours, faculty may work outside hours and can adjust the distribution of their work time to accommodate those activities.
We re-presented our University and Union Lobby Day proposal, and stated this would not be part of faculty service, but just that employees shall be released from assigned duties for the day.
Administration Spokesperson Mark Bennett presented three counter-proposals today, including Grievance, Duration (which we were able to TA with a note that we reserve the right to propose that some provisions of the contract may be applied retroactively), and Layoffs (renamed from our Staff Reduction Procedures). Although we are closer together on Grievance, there remain a few major issues to resolve, including:
The Administration wants a mandatory “formal” informal step to try to informally resolve an issue before filing a written grievance. Our proposals have always included the opportunity to resolve issues informally, but we have not included informal attempts as mandatory steps in the process. dministration’s reasoning is that it matches other campus union agreements and is easier for administrators to remember. In other contracts, we have seen such mandatory “informal discussion” requirements create confusion about whether a Grievance was timely filed or not.
If a grievance falls under the Faculty Academic Freedom, Ethics, and Grievance Committee (AFEGC), it needs to be pursued through the AFEGC channels. However AFEGC decisions can be and have been overturned by the President and/or Provost without possibility of appeal in the Administration’s current proposal. We cannot accept this language because AFEGC is currently the only forum to resolve disputes related to the application of ISU policy; we contend that policies form part of our working conditions, so we need enforceable language to be able to resolve such disputes through Grievance.
In Duration, administration accepted much of our language, with more time to renew or renegotiate the contract between 90 and with 180 days of the end of the initial contract. The REALLY major movement here is that administration’s previous proposals included an Implementation section. That section included problematic language that the economic terms of the contract, which includes salary, would not be implemented unless and until sufficient state appropriations were made. That language is poison in a contract, and our negotiating team stood firm. After the pushback and questioning from Co-Leadspokesperson Tice Simmons last week about how faculty salaries are paid, the administration removed this language, enabling us to TA Duration.
Layoffs (formerly Staff Reduction Procedures), is getting much closer to our language. Major pieces still missing from their proposal include that no employee shall be laid off for the sole purpose of creating a vacancy to be filled by an administrator returning to faculty. We also have language (not included by administration) that if an employee is laid off, no classes that they have the expertise to teach can be taught for 5 years; we think this clause is important for protecting bargaining unit work.
The bargaining team is working hard to convince the administration to bring economic proposals on salary, workload, travel funds, etc. to the table, but so far the administration is not doing it. What do YOU think we need to do to get there? If you have read this far, but haven’t attended a bargaining session or chatted with a member representative in a while, please come check it out for yourself and have a conversation. Our proposals will bring changes and protections for all faculty, but we can’t do it all alone. Come see what we are doing! See you soon!