UC-AFT Faculty Bargaining Update #35-37 January 15, 21 and 26, 2021

UC-AFT Faculty Bargaining Sessions #35-37

January 15, 21 and 26, 2021

Zoom
 

Member and Ally Participation at Historic High

Over 250 Teaching Faculty members came to a bargaining session in January. That’s 11% of our membership, which is unprecedented in the history of UC-AFT. Our members were joined by well over 100 Senate faculty, student, community and labor allies. Our big bargaining turnout day on January 21 had 300 people in the zoom room at one time. If we include our Feb 1 Virtual Rally, 320 individual Teaching Faculty members participated in our campaign over these four dates. That’s 14% of membership showing up in support.

Negotiations Status Overview
 

We have tentative agreements on 17 articles. That leaves about 20 articles open. Of these, about half are higher priority for us or the University. Proposals over the next few sessions are likely to focus on moving toward tentative agreements on lower stakes, lower priority articles.

Articles Passed in January: Sticking Points and Progress

January 15, UC passed proposals on 10 articles, and UC-AFT passed Article 9 Professional Meetings, Concerns. Management told us that they could move no further on these articles: Article 30 Discipline and Dismissal, Article 32 Summer Sessions, Article 4 Non-Discrimination, Article 2 Academic Freedom, Article 3 Academic Responsibility, Article 28 Management Rights, Article 35 No Strikes, Article 41 Parking, and Panel of Arbitrators.

On Article 30 Discipline and Dismissal, the University has refused to include language that requires progressive discipline, which would be verbal notice, written notice and remediation plan, then more serious discipline up to and including termination. Their outlandish position is that they cannot figure out how to write out the progressive steps...which as you see above is easy enough!

At the January 21 session, UC-AFT passed our proposals on Article 21 Compensation and Article 40 Duration and we had a lengthy and substantive discussion of our Article 7a proposal for rehire rights for pre-continuing faculty. The University asked a lot of questions about rehire rights, most of which were geared to make our proposal seem unworkable. Unfortunately for them, our proposal is modeled on rehire rights that currently work fairly well in the California Community College and CSU systems.

Our Article 40 Duration proposal would have the next contract expire in three years on February 29, 2024. Our Compensation proposal would move our current salary range to a scale with determined salary points at 3% increments. Increases the first year would be associated with the move to the scale and adjustment of the scale up by one increment. Each year of the contract, the scale and individual salary points would move up similarly. In the final year, we’ve also proposed an additional 2% cost of living increase or the equivalent of what the Senate faculty get if it’s more than 2%. These raises would be in addition to merit and continuing increases received during the life of the contract.

At the January 26 session, we passed Article 23 Summer Sessions and management passed Article 9, Article 17 and New Article-Health and Safety.

On Article 9, Professional Meeting, Programs and Concerns, the University is seeking to impose a new cap on the amount of professional development funds that can be rolled over from year to year if unallocated or unspent. The ability to roll over funds allows for larger grants to be awarded for special projects that have proven value to our members.

On Article 17 Layoff, UC agreed to drop their proposal to shorten the layoff notice period to two weeks for a low enrollment class cancellation. They have reverted to the 30 day notice required in the current contract.

On Article 23 Summer Session, our proposal would ensure that all members teaching summer session on all campuses are eligible for employer contributions to the supplemental defined contribution plan while teaching Summer Session. And, more significantly, our proposal would expand access to credit toward continuing appointment for Summer Session courses when a full years credit (3 Q or 2 S) are not accrued by the lecturer during the academic before or after teaching a Summer course.

Management Says...No Further Movement on Several Articles

Nadine Fishel, UC’s chief negotiator, told us that they could move no further on the 10 Articles they passed on January 15. Then, in a recent meeting, she also informed us that management would pass one additional and final proposal on Article 7a. Nadine knows that Article 7a is our top priority and that our position is that it must include clear and consistent review process and criteria, multi-year appointments, and rehire rights based on qualifications and performance.

Where Does This Leave Us ?

Bargaining is intensifying. We’re getting closer to tentative agreements on many articles and closer to hard positions on the remaining priority articles. Now is the time to double down on our organizing, on bargaining participation and on pressuring the management around our core demands.

Next Session:

February 12, 2-5PM

February 26, 2-5PM (Big Turnout Day!)

RSVP here: bit.ly/ucaftbargaining
We need observers. We need witnesses. We need solidarity. Join us at bargaining!