Big thanks to those of you who attended Tuesday’s Strategy Summit and dreaming/scheming with our union! We set priorities for the year, discussed how we will win this second faculty contract, and celebrated our grievance victories.
Faculty bargained twice this week, attempting to get this second contract done. Those of you who have attended bargaining know that 1) we won’t agree to a contract that our members will not ratify — so we are holding the line, especially on Compensation and Benefits; and 2) we can’t make substantive progress at the table unless members show up to pressure management.
On Monday (August 10), we pressured management to drop more of its egregious language limiting our ability to enforce the contract through grievance and arbitration. We also got management to increase the amount of promotional increases for TCPL and tenured faculty who earn promotion to full — the first such increase in many years. Combined with our win on getting management to increase the overload/summer/winter per-credit hour rate for the first time in memory, we are pushing the university to make material increases that will impact our members for years to come.
On Wednesday (August 12), we got the university to increase their annual wage offer by .25% in the third year, meaning that their numbers are finally all in the 2–3% range. On our side, we are still demanding 3.75% or more in each year. We also got the university to offer a ratification bonus for the first time and to move closer to our language on summer pay schedules (which have been an issue for three years in a row). Finally, we made progress on aligning with management on three non-economic articles: Performance Improvement Plans, Faculty Evaluations, and Labor-Management Meetings.
We still have disagreements over several important numbers, including annual wage increases, the cap on health insurance premium increases, and the amount capping how much management may change individual features of our health insurance plans without negotiating with us. We also disagree on Artificial Intelligence and on remaining language limiting our grievance rights.
If you would like FAM to close your contract (and win your raises) soon, show up to bargaining and teach your September 2nd class on the quad during our Labor Day Teach-Out! We need you to put pressure on management so that we can close this faculty contract once and for all (and win strong benefits for all employees at the University). We’ve seen numerous times that management backs down ⬇️ when faculty show up ⬆️!
- Turn out to bargaining on August 28
- Teach your class on the quad in Oxford for our Labor Day Teach-Out! Make your labor visible to management, who need to understand that we are the university.
When we fight, we win!
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