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 this process. None of this would have happened without all of you.

We will hold Zoom information sessions Tuesday at 2pm and Wednesday at noon, so that members know exactly what they will be voting on for our ratification vote.

In spite of our current context–locally and nationally–we secured some important provisions in this round of bargaining. We won the largest increases in floors for our Pro Tem faculty and Career faculty (with corresponding differentials in rank) in any UA contract to date. This contract, with 12.75% salary increases over three years for almost all classifications, is the largest increase overall that faculty have won at the bargaining table, and represents a larger increase than at other recent contracts in institutions of higher education. Members will receive a one-time payment of $2,000 (prorated for FTE) in lieu of retroactive pay and importantly, we managed to push back against administration's insistence of all merit pay throughout the contract.

The basic outline of the deal is:

• One time payment: $2000 (prorated by FTE)
• April 2025: 4.5% Across-the-board
• September 2025: 3.25% Across-the-board
• September 2026: 2% Across-the-board, 3% Merit.

Career Instructors:

• One time payment: $2000 (prorated by FTE)
• April 2025: 4.5% Across-the-board
• September 2025: 2% Equity, 3.25% Across-the-board
• September 2026: 3% Across-the-board + unused portion of Equity pool Across-the-board.

Postdocs:

• One time payment: $2000 (prorated by FTE)
• April 2025: At least 2% Across-the-board
• September 2025: At least 2% Across-the-board
• September 2026: At least 2% Across-the-board

Limited Duration:

• One time payment: $2000 (prorated by FTE)
• April 2025: 4.5% Across-the-board
• September 2025: 2% Across-the-board
• September 2026: 2% Across-the-board

The Tenure Reduction Program will be sunsetted with new sign-ups ending December 15, 2025 and no impact to existing agreements.

Non-Economic Gains

Fourteen months ago, we began bargaining by fighting back against the administration’s attempts to undermine our union (through proposed modifications of our dues deduction process, clawbacks of course releases for UA officers, and attempts to compel faculty to scab during a strike). 

The bargaining team secured provisions that will improve transparency in unit policy and University policy notification and implementation, as well as justifications in denials of promotions for Career and Tenure-related faculty.

For our research faculty, though we did not manage to incorporate a Researcher Support article, we secured 15 days notice for layoffs for unpromoted faculty members and a provision that mandates that keeping position descriptions up to date be operationalized in a collaborative manner. The administration also expanded their existing bridge funding program and developed a new professional development pool for funding-contingent faculty. Given the tenuous state of grant funding right now, we are glad to have made these advances.

For our Pro Tem faculty, we incorporated provisions that mandate that Career positions be created when warranted, that reclassification not be unreasonably denied, and that the Provost articulate a reason for denying a faculty-initiated reclassification or recategorization. Importantly, we also secured much stronger language surrounding credit for prior service when faculty are reclassified into a Career position.

Career instructional faculty will now be Teaching Professors, with ranks Assistant, Associate, and Full. Though there are no new privileges that come with the change of title, this tees us up to fight for a more fulsome notion of Teaching Professor the next time we bargain.

Though this is still not a completely fair contract given the investment that we as faculty have made in the institution, your bargaining team endorses the agreement that we have reached and encourages members to vote to ratify it. We ended mediation by emphasizing to the administration that had this occurred in any other moment in time and space, the outcome would have been very different, and that they must start planning proactively for our next bargaining round. In the meantime, our Executive Council will continue to push the administration on all fronts while defending our members in our day-to-day operations.

The ratification vote will open Wednesday at noon and will end on Friday at 4:59pm. Look for your ballot in your UO email account on Wednesday.

We have two info sessions scheduled for those members who have questions before casting their vote. We will hold one session on Tuesday at 2pm, and one on Wednesday at noon. Both will be by Zoom.

We encourage members to ratify this contract and we are ready to channel your energy into proactive efforts for the next round of bargaining. Please join an info session and reach out ([email protected]) to find out how to be involved.

We need you now more than ever.