The Duck & Cover

April 21, 2025

Sanctuary Union Policy. Executive Council Election Results

The United Academics Executive Council passed the following policy today. Among other things, we will be creating a legal defense fund to assist members for their family members who are targets of unlawful or suspect conduct by the federal government. If you are interested in being on a committee to help formulate policy and administer the fund, please email [email protected]. UA Sanctuary Policy Regarding Non-citizen & Naturalized Workers Whereas, United Academics (UA) recognizes that non-citizen and naturalized faculty members are indispensable to the scholarly mission of the University of Oregon and vital to maintaining a thriving campus culture; and Whereas,…

April 6, 2025

Contract Ratifies! But the fight for higher ed isn’t over.

Greetings, my excellent colleagues! First of all, I want to express enormous gratitude for our Bargaining Team: Maram Epstein (East Asian Languages and Literatures) Jake Searcy (Data Science) Charlene Liu (Art) Dan Howard (Business) Debbie Green (Religious Studies) Josh Razink (CAMCOR) Keaton Miller (Economics) Nathan Whalen (Romance Languages) Heather Wolford (UA staff) They met, planned, and drafted proposals for months before negotiations started on Feb 1 of last year. Over the following fourteen months they met innumerable times to plan, strategize, and draft (and re-draft, and re-re-draft…) proposals to bring to the table. Anyone who observed the public bargaining sessions knows that our team…

March 31, 2025

An overview of the Tentative Agreement. Next step ratification!

An Overview of the Tentative Agreement We would like to provide a more comprehensive message about the Tentative Agreement to prepare members prior to a vote on ratification. Thank you to the nearly 600 members that tuned in for our emergency meetings (sorry for those folks that couldn’t get into the first one). And of course, to everyone that has showed up consistently over the last 14 months – the Bargaining Team, the Contract Action Team, our Reps and Stewards, and every rank-and-file member that came to bargaining sessions, walked the halls talking to members, and supported us all throughout…

March 28, 2025

Sign up for Your Picket Shift! Come to the Emergency Membership Meeting on Sunday at 6pm.

Sign up for Your Strike Shifts! We need everyone to sign up for their picket shifts now. For members who are not based in Eugene, we have a remote picket line where members can meet a few times weekly by Zoom and help with some of the behind-the-scenes activities necessary to support the strike. Please check out the #remote-strike-planning channel on Slack to connect and lend a hand if you cannot make it to the physical picket line. If you are concerned that you might be targeted because your identity, immigration status, etc, or if you have accessibility concerns that…

March 24, 2025

Where we are in mediation. Latest UA public offer.

We all recognize that we are living in increasingly challenging times. Bargaining is rarely a pleasant process, but the upheaval and chaos in our federal government has created a context that we had not contemplated a few months ago, let alone when we began the bargaining process. At the same time, we continue to make amazing strides collectively in this fight for a fair contract. We have expanded our collective power, faculty have become activated and come together to engage with our union at unprecedented levels, and we have secured changes that will improve transparency and strengthen shared governance at…

March 23, 2025

Our Union! Our Plan to Win!

Dear colleagues, As Spring Break progresses, you will likely see messaging about the two visions for our university. While the administration wants faculty to focus on the risks of striking, we must remember that our primary goal is to secure a fair contract in order to improve faculty wages and working conditions and to strengthen the academic mission of the university. What are the risks of not securing a fair contract? Inflation would continue to chip away at faculty wages, our contributions would remain undervalued in the university’s mission, and the administration would feel emboldened to use the same tactics…

March 17, 2025

92% of Members Vote to Authorize a Strike

The United Academics of the University of Oregon have spoken. 89% percent of our members cast votes in the strike authorization vote, and of those, 92% voted in favor. Thank you for your participation in the vote and the rally. This vote authorizes your Bargaining Team to call a strike if they think it is the best path forward in securing a fair contract. In the coming days, there will be a flurry of communications about strike logistics, the status of negotiations (which continue on Monday!) and how to contribute your skills to effectively win a just contract. Stay tuned!…

March 11, 2025

Strike Vote Tuesday! Child care resources.

TL;DR: Emergency General Membership Meeting scheduled for Tuesday, 3/11, 5-6:30pm. Willamette 100 and hybrid. We will be opening the Strike Authorization Vote. Come join the conversation and get your questions answered. The Final Quackdown. Our last big rally to convince admin to settle a fair contract will be Friday, 3/14, 11:30-1pm. We will meet in front of the Ford Alumni Center and march down 13th to Johnson Hall. We need the biggest crowd we can muster! 40 spots open for Willamalane preschool-register your interest! UA Elections. Late day to submit delegate nominations. Read more to see what roles are…

March 5, 2025

Strike Vote starts Tuesday 3/11. Big Rally Friday 3/14 at Noon!

Membership Meeting & Strike Authorization Vote The time has come. We have been talking about this for a long time, but the administration is still demanding faculty take a pay cut in real dollars. We are holding an Emergency General Membership Meeting to answer members’ questions about bargaining, what a strike entails, and any other issues of interest. The Strike Authorization Vote will go live at the Membership Meeting and stay open until Friday, March 14 at 4:59pm. The meeting will be Tuesday, March 11 from 5-6:30pm in Willamette 100. Only members of United Academics may attend (children of members…

February 27, 2025

Fighting misinformation from admin. Actions to take now for a fair faculty contract. UA Elections!

Last, Best Offers Filed on Tuesday The administration submitted their last, best, and final offer on Tuesday evening. Though the lack of movement was unsurprising, it was still very disappointing. The Scholz/Moffitt administration is maintaining their offer of raises of 4% the first year (across-the-board) and 3% merit raises for the last two years of raises. While they did increase the salary floors slightly, they rejected all remaining union proposals (professional development time for Career faculty, expansion of tuition benefit for faculty dependents, and increased notice period for funding-contingent faculty). They rejected all provisions of our Researcher Support Article and…

September 28, 2023

Holvey Recall

As many of you know, UFCW Local 555 has launched an effort to recall State Representative Paul Holvey. Holvey has represented District 8, which includes most of south Eugene, in the Oregon legislature for the past 18 years. We believe this recall effort is misguided. Representative Holvey’s record has been exemplary in support of workers, consumers, and small businesses. He is a former union carpenter with deep roots in the labor movement and has a solid track record of improving the lives of working Oregonians. He has consistently supported increased funding for education at all levels. This recall effort stems…

February 20, 2023

Solidarity with UA Student Workers

University of Oregon United Academics supports UO Student Workers’ unionization efforts and stands in solidarity with workers’ struggle to improve working conditions on campus. Additionally, UOUA condemns the ongoing anti-union and union busting behavior of the University of Oregon, including but not limited to: Threatening student workers’ jobs or rights to organize. Discouraging or banning discussion of UOSW’s unionization efforts during work time (when other non-work related discussions are permitted). Discouraging or banning students from card-signing in campus spaces and workplaces while off-the-clock. The removal of protected union posters and materials from work-neutral spaces. The discriminatory banning of union pins…

June 29, 2022

Balancing Work and Caregiving: A Best Practices Teach-In Summary

Throughout 2021-2022, United Academics and members from the CSWS Caregiver Campaign continued their collaborative efforts to push the University of Oregon administration to address issues of equity and inclusion for UO faculty struggling to balance the demands of caregiving while fulfilling their employment expectations. On April 27, we hosted a joint zoom teach-in with 43 attendees. The contents of this report lay out the scope of the issues but also provide hands-on practical strategies to address challenges that have existed long before the Covid-19 pandemic. There is a video recording of the Teach-In available on the CSWS website, as well…

September 13, 2021

COVID Planning: The Work Continues

Dear colleagues, Many of you have read the petition sent by CSWS recently to the Office of the Provost. UAUO fully agrees with the concerns Professors Escallón, McKinley, and Stephen articulated, and we are also in full support of their ask that “caregivers of unvaccinated children (children under 12) can continue to teach and attend meetings [remotely] at least until their family members receive the vaccine.” We’ve also heard from faculty whose health puts them at serious risk by being in-person, yet they cannot qualify for ADA accommodations. And for those of us who are able to come back to campus, we…

June 28, 2021

UAUO Protest Pollack-Pelzner Linfield University

Recently the President of Linfield University, Miles K. Davis, summarily fired Professor Daniel Pollack-Pelzner, a Shakespeare scholar who had held an endowed chair in the Department of English and had represented the faculty as a member of the Board of Trustees. According to the university administration, Pollack-Pelzner was terminated for reasons unrelated to his achievements as a teacher, researcher, or publishing scholar. Rather, the administration states that he was sacked because he had “engaged in conduct that is harmful to the university,” specifically that he had “violated instructions to preserve the attorney-client privilege” and that he had “circulated false statements…

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