Unit 18 Contract Negotiations

To UC-AFT Non-Senate Faculty:

We are writing to you with some important news about the Memorandum of Understanding (“the contract”) between UC-AFT non-Senate faculty and the University.  As you perhaps know, the current contract expires at the end of July.  

The University has proposed to defer bargaining for one year, and to extend the entire contract for another year, until July 31, 2011. At the UC-AFT Council meeting on January 23, this proposal was presented to the assembled members, and the Council voted to recommend acceptance of this proposed one-year extension of the existing contract.

This proposed extension means that the existing contract will remain wholly in effect and the union will engage in bargaining for a successor agreement in one year’s time.  For the 2010-11 academic year, NSF would receive a general range adjustment if Senate Faculty receive one, and will be eligible for merit increases.

The Council believes that the proposed extension of the existing contract represents the best interests of our members. As you will recall, we renegotiated our salary article before the budget crisis hit, and the University has abided by those terms. NSF salaries have increased anywhere from 9% to 30% (when merits and equity adjustments are included) over the last three years.  These raises include the 3% range adjustment received in October 2009, when even Senate Faculty saw no cost-of-living increase. 

In sum, our salaries are still not where they should be, but lecturers have not been furloughed, have not faced salary cuts (though there have been significant numbers of layoffs and non-reappointments), and have continued to get range adjustments.

Under these circumstances, we believe that it is extremely unlikely that there will be money for pay increases for NSF in the coming year that improve on those already secured by the existing contract.  Moreover, since we did not take furloughs (unlike the Senate Faculty), we do not want to have to bargain over this issue.  We also might face significant attempts to erode our past gains in non-economic areas.  

In sum, opening our contract at this point in time could well result in a series of negotiations that were more about takeaways and givebacks than any positive change for members.  Therefore, we think it makes sense to postpone our return to the table and accept the University’s offer of a one-year extension. 

We write then to let you know that we will be seeking our members’ approval for the extension of the contract for another year. This will be akin to a ratification vote. The question will be simple: shall the Union extend the agreement with the University for one year?

This vote will be held in late February.  Only UC-AFT members can participate.  If you would like to join UC-AFT or if you are not sure about whether you are a union member, please contact your local field representative.

We also realize that you may have more questions than this brief memo can answer. To deal with those and to inform you all about the steps that UC-AFT is taking to resist further devastation to the unit due to budget cuts, we will hold membership meetings on each campus over the next few weeks. Please watch for specific information on when these meetings will take place on your campus.

On behalf of the Unit 18 Negotiating Team,

Alan Karras, UC-AFT VP for Grievances, alk616@gmail.com

Karen Sawislak, UC-AFT Executive Director, ksawislak@ucaft.org