A message from FAM’s Negotiating Team:
Dear colleagues,
As your FAM Negotiating Team, we have an update about bargaining, specifically as it concerns artificial intelligence (AI) and the new AI task force:
We have sent University management a cease-and-desist letter regarding the AI task force they created.
This is not because we don’t value faculty and librarian input about AI—precisely the opposite. We want to protect faculty and librarian rights around AI and hold management to whatever policies and processes are created at Miami.
Because we are a union, management must negotiate with us about anything impacting our terms and conditions of employment. To that end, the NT has proposals on the table (one for each unit) carefully composed by our Bargaining Council based on results from the bargaining surveys completed by FAM members. These are proposals that protect faculty and librarians’ job security, teaching, and research—including AI’s impact on the work we do.
Our AI proposals were rejected outright by management, who claimed that AI is not a mandatory subject of bargaining—meaning they viewed AI as having nothing to do with our working conditions. They suggested it is a problem for the future that doesn’t affect current employees. On both counts, we vehemently disagree. Teaching and research are faculty’s core duties, and AI is bargainable because it affects these working conditions. By appointing the task force on AI, the university implicitly acknowledged that AI impacts faculty and librarian working conditions and thus is a mandatory subject of bargaining.
We value faculty and librarian input on policies and practices concerning AI at Miami. We value the work that the task force is engaged in. In fact, we asked you about AI and related topics nearly a year ago and gathered your ideas, questions and concerns in our bargaining surveys. But management rejected our proposal and said AI is not an issue at Miami—then went directly to our members, circumventing the bargaining process and, we believe, violating the process of bargaining as laid out in Ohio law. By going directly to faculty while also rejecting FAM’s AI proposals, we believe management has engaged in direct dealing, which is illegal.
We are more than willing to work with the university on the issue of AI—as shown by our attention to faculty input in our proposals—but we could not let a blatant violation of the bargaining process continue. Management is trying to keep AI out of the contract, and a task force does not protect faculty and librarians’ work like a contract does. This is why we demand that the task force be suspended until we can come to an agreement with management on the issue.
As the SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes dramatically proved last summer, AI is bargainable and FAM can and should negotiate it at the table. A majority of faculty voted to form FAM so that we can have a legally binding contract addressing issues like AI that affect your working lives. We want to make sure our members’ rights, YOUR rights, are protected as we explore how AI affects our work.
Come to bargaining on April 17 at Demske Staff Development Center (424 Wells Mill Drive, Oxford) beginning at 10:00 am to hear more about FAM’s stance on AI. Wear your FAM t-shirt (or something red) to show your solidarity with faculty and librarians working to get us a great contract.
Reach out with any questions: info@famiami.org.
Solidarity,
Your FAM Negotiating Team
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