Unit 18 Bargaining Update #11

Bargaining Update #11

Colleagues:

I write to update you on the state of lecturer negotiations after this week’s sessions in Oakland. We have, I believe, entered into the final phase of these negotiations.

As many of you will no doubt have seen or heard, UC is implementing a salary increase for unrepresented faculty and staff this fall. I am very pleased to tell you that a very similar program has been offered to us—and we are now working out with UC how best to spend the available funds. (The exact dollar amount of these funds is not yet clear, but each side has made “supposals” about how the increase can be implemented. Once the actual dollar amount is calculated, we should be able to quickly finalize the economic package and its implementation timetable.)

We have also come to agreement on almost everything that we can come to agreement on in the non-economic articles. We await only some final language drafting, which I will do with the University’s Chief Negotiator over the next three weeks. Once we’ve done that, we’ll share the language with our respective teams and sign off on the articles together—hopefully on 19 September when we next meet.

In addition, there are three articles where agreement on changes that either the Union or the University would like to make is not looking likely. These areas are in 7a (where we want to require the University to do a minimal assessment of all pre-six lecturers each year), 7b (where the University wants to clarify the rare situation where the need goes away before the excellence review is completed), and layoff (where we want to increase the notice period for those facing reductions in time that would cause them to lose eligibility for benefits). It is likely that both sides will have to live with current contract language a bit longer.  

Finally, there are a very few areas that affect only a particular campus—and we must wait while UC’s team works to resolve the Union’s specific issues on those campuses. All of this, we hope, can be done in time for us to reach a tentative agreement no later than the last week of September; since we are so close, we extended the contract until 30 September. I’ll write again then—or sooner if there is any news.

Please feel free to contact your local staff person, who will contact the bargaining team, with any questions you might have.

Alan Karras
Unit 18 Chief Negotiator
Senior Lecturer  & Associate Director, International and Area Studies Academic Programs, UCB