UC-AFT Faculty Bargaining Session #31 Zoom October 27, 2020

UC-AFT Faculty Bargaining Session #31

October 27, 2020

Zoom

We Have Ability, We Need Stability!

Our members along with faculty, student and community allies continue to show up to bargaining and give voice to the experiences and values underlying our demands for job stability. Opening comments once again offered an extremely powerful testament to our members’ commitment to our students, to teaching and for a transition to jobs with dignity and security.

“I hope that all of the UCOP representatives here today realize that we are skilled, experienced, talented and passionate educators. We have ability, we need stability. Please, please bring us a legit proposal that we can actually take seriously, and that will provide us job security now.” Caroline Luce, UCLA

UC Pulls a Bait and Switch...Now They Want a Long-Term Contract

After demanding that we pivot to a short-term contract at the onset of Covid, UC management suddenly insisted that we go back to negotiating a long-term contract. For the table team and the 78 observers in the room, this unexpected change felt like a bait-and-switch.

NF: Let me be clear, if we are going to make progress on 7a, it will not be for a short term contract. The demands that UC-AFT had on 7a were not acceptable. So, it will not be for a short term contract. I want to make that clear.

NF: I didn't say that your most important article is off the table, I said that the demands that you’ve put on the table for job security do not warrant a short term contract. The university will not be passing a short-term proposal.

Nadine’s comments also opened the door to a job security proposal from management that may be closer to our demands than anything we’ve seen to date.

Management then said that they would not be able to give us a 7a (job security) proposal until we have reached agreement on many of the other outstanding articles. We’ve reached tentative agreements on 20 articles, and we have some work to do on about 20 more. Our table team and observers expressed outrage at the idea that the University would refuse to engage on our most important demands until everything else is off the table.

As a result, UC management committed to bringing a FULL contract proposal to the table at the next session on November 12th, 3-5pm. They also agreed to our request for a full-day bargaining session as a follow up to their package proposal on November 12.

With Shift in Duration from Management, UC-AFT Holds Back Proposals

Our team came prepared to pass four proposals. When we learned that management had changed its position on Duration from a short-term, 2 year contract to a long-term, 4-5 year contract, we decided to hold our proposals and reevaluate before passing them.

We did pass our next proposal on Article 42 Online Instruction. Due to time constraints and our Article 42 spokesperson having to leave the call, we did not present or discuss Online Instruction. Our team was clear that we need a robust article that covers many more considerations than current contract language, and that we will not let emergency Zoom instruction become the norm after the pandemic has subsided.

Next Session: November 12, 3-5pm...All Hands for Job Security

We need everyone to turn out to bargaining on November 12 when management will pass their next job security proposal. This will likely be the most important session in the last several months. We need observers. We need witnesses. We need solidarity. Join us at bargaining!

RSVP here: bit.ly/ucaftbargaining