Headlines

Bargaining update for March 14, 2024

Thanks to everyone who came out on Thursday for the bargaining session. Save the dates and keep showing up! Spring term bargaining sessions will be held on odd weeks from 12:30-3:30 in Chiles 125. In our first session after the break (April 4, 12:30-3:30 in Chiles 125) we will speak more specifically to the administration’s salary proposal. We need you to be there to show the administration that faculty will not accept raises that signify an actual cut in pay for most, and that excludes large groups from the entire process. The administration seems less concerned about solving actual problems our…

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Come support your bargaining team this Thursday in Chiles 125!

Bargaining This Thursday! We packed the room during our last bargaining session-thank you, those of you who came in person or watched via Zoom. Let’s do it again this Thursday, March 14 (Chiles 125, 12:30 to 3:30)! It is possible that administration will present their counter to Article 26: Salary, so stop by (or come and go) as you have time. We will respond with a counterproposal to Article 41: No Strike, No Lockout in which the administration wants the ability to replace striking employees with your labor. If you think being forced to cover the labor of striking student…

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Unit Policy Revisions

Greetings, dear colleagues, Although the negotiations for our new contract have begun, important items from our current collective bargaining agreement (CBA) remain in process or yet to be implemented. In the CBA the membership of United Academics ratified in July 2022, we agreed with the administration that units need to update their policies to reflect significant changes in the CBA and to address several concerns, including course loads and equity in service assignments. The deadline for these changes is coming up. This email thus reiterates, updates, and adds to a communication I sent in January 2023 on the subject of…

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UA presents our wage proposal in bargaining this Thursday!

Thursday is the day! We need a strong turnout this Thursday, 12:30-3:30 in Chiles 125, as the UA Bargaining Team presents our economic package to the administration. Our Article 26: Salary represents a significant increase to faculty pay through across-the-board, merit, and equity raises, as well as promotion increases. The UA Economics Team will present information showing where faculty salaries at the University of Oregon stand in regard to our comparator institutions and our plan to bring faculty salaries up to competitive levels.  We will present a few other articles (Article 21: Review Decision Appeals, Article 34: Caregiving), pose questions regarding…

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United Academics Officer Nominations Now Open

United Academics is holding elections for six officer positions this year, with nominations due by March 22, 2024. All members in good standing* are eligible to serve as officers and to nominate other members in good standing. Self-nominations are also permitted. If you’re interested in running, current council members will happily talk with you and answer your questions. As always, you can contact UA staff with any questions at [email protected]. Open positions: The Executive Council (EC) is the primary leadership body of United Academics with a focus on initiating, overseeing, or revising the program of your union. The positions that are…

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Bargaining update for February 15, 2024

Dear Colleague: At our next bargaining session, we will be presenting our economic proposals-including our proposed raise package to battle inflation, internal and external inequities, and put us back on par with our AAU competitors. We need your support! The more people we have in the room cheering on the bargaining team the more pressure we put on the administration, and as we saw with GTFF bargaining, this can have a real impact on what the administration offers and what we ultimately accept. Come by Chiles 125 on Thursday, February 29, anytime between 12:30 and 3:30 to support the bargaining…

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Bargaining update for February 1, 2024

Your bargaining team met with the administration for our first bargaining session last Thursday. It was an amicable encounter and began with the typical niceties that characterize initial sessions. Your bargaining team brought eight articles and the administration brought one. We look to strengthen shared governance through proposals in Articles 3: Shared Governance and 4: Unit Level Policies. With our addition to Article 6: Policies and Practices, we want to ensure that faculty are made aware of policies implemented across the administrative hierarchy that ultimately affect their working conditions. Our proposal in Article 8: Personnel Files aims to ensure the…

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Bargaining begins. We need your support!

Bargaining will begin this Thursday, February 1! We hope that many of you can make the time to attend. Hopefully, you can do so in person, but a remote option is also available. The support and presence of our faculty at bargaining sessions sends a powerful signal that faculty are engaged and paying attention. In this round of bargaining, we will propose significant salary increases, expanded support services and changes that aim to increase transparency in processes related to review, hiring, and reclassification.  As always, we wish to strengthen shared governance that emphasizes the autonomy of departments and units. As…

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GTFF and UAUO bargaining updates

New tentative agreement reached for the GTFF United Academics would like to congratulate our union siblings at the GTFF on their historic tentative agreement with the University of Oregon.  We are thoroughly impressed with the amount of work their members put in to guarantee this win for all of their bargaining unit. To quote the GTFF, “Although this TA halts our strike plans, it is a testament to the enormous amount of energy, preparation, and passion that our members have devoted to building a credible strike threat. Our members put all of their power into this fight, and we won.”…

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An impending GTFF strike. What you need to know.

Greetings, colleagues. As you likely have heard, the GTFF has declared an Intent to Strike starting Wednesday, January 17, 2024. An Intent to Strike is the last official requirement before a legal strike can occur. While there will be another bargaining session on January 11, all signs point to a strike. We outline some basics for faculty in this email; more can be found on UA’s digital newsletter, The Duck & Cover. If you have any questions about expectations, feel pressured to perform additional labor, or just want to know what you can and cannot say to GEs or undergraduates,…

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Solidarity and Community Events

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…


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…


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…


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…


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…