Articles by newsletter

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…

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…

TL;DR:  We declared impasse after the administration refused to move on their sub-inflation raise proposal. We enter a new phase where we need engagement from all members to secure a fair contract. Things you can do: Attend Strike School Tuesday 2/25 or Friday 2/28. (RSVP) Attend the Virtual Town Hall on Thursday 2/20. (Zoom in) Sign your strike pledge and talk to your colleagues about signing theirs. Talk to and/or share information with your students about impasse and the impact of a strike. IMPASSE DECLARED! Today, your bargaining team declared impasse. To explain this decision, it is worth reviewing how we…

TL;DR:  Hear about our national affiliates’ response to executive orders affecting higher education. Sign your Strike Pledge, and talk to your colleagues about signing theirs. Attend our Strike School (2/14, 2/18, 2/25) and learn how to carry out an effective strike. Executive Actions and Threats to Higher Education We are closely monitoring the executive orders and subsequent legal responses that affect higher education. The current federal administration is trying to overwhelm the system by issuing a large number of executive orders. Their intentions include having local organizations lose their focus to stop them from achieving their principal goals. Given the pace…

Mediation Update for February 7, 2025 Your bargaining team met with administration for our second mediation session on Friday, February 7.  The session began with a conversation with Jamie Moffitt, the University’s Senior Vice President for Finance and Administration and Chief Financial Officer. We appreciated having a chance to speak with her, not so much due to the information that the administration team conveyed in this meeting – the same concerns regarding payments to PERS and PEBB, state disinvestment, enrollment figures and other anxieties that they have expressed since before we ever unionized – but for the chance to convey…

General Membership Meeting In anticipation of the administration making minimal moves on economic proposals, we are now taking strike pledges. We will be talking about these as well as where we stand in mediation, our pressure campaign to attempt to avoid a strike, and our next steps at the General Membership Meeting Thursday, 5-7pm in Allen 221. Business begins at 5:30pm. You may also join us by Zoom. Bring your colleagues, ask questions, and share your thoughts and concerns. We’ll provide pizza and soft drinks. We’d love to see all members there. We Want to Hear From Researchers! Researcher Social…

Tl;dr: Your bargaining team met with the administration’s team and the state mediator on Friday, January 24th for a 10-hour session. We made progress on non-economic issues, but we must still prepare for the possibility that we will be forced to strike. Therefore, we have three more contract actions this week to help build pressure for a fair contract. These actions include the launch of a UA strike pledge campaign, saving the date and inviting colleagues to the February 6th General Membership Meeting, and helping us reach our goal of 1,000 signatures on our community support letter! CONTRACT ACTION HIGHLIGHTS: WEEK…

Your bargaining team met with the administration’s team and the state-appointed mediator for our first session on Friday, January 24. It was a long day but ultimately productive in terms of working through some of the non-economic proposals still left to resolve. The day began with introductions and a description of processes during mediation, and we then met with the Provost for a conversation. We were pleased that the Provost engaged with our team. Provost Long expressed that he understands the concerns faculty have that led us to mediation for the first time since unionizing. We made sure to convey…

Negotiations and mediation have been the primary focus of our union activities for the last several months.  Nevertheless, as our campus community continues to engage in shared governance, a couple of systemic issues have cropped up that need attention. Unit Policy Development Units were charged with revising their Assignment of Professional Responsibilities policies last year.  In many units that process played out as described in our Collective Bargaining Agreement, but we have heard concerns from many other corners of campus.  Some faculty were not informed whether or not submitted proposals were approved by the Office of the Provost.  Some were informed…

TL;DR: To build pressure for a fair deal, we are asking YOU to take three contract actions that help grow our collective power: This Friday (Jan 24) post a Canvas announcement and/or update your email signature with info about bargaining; share context (slides + script) with your students about our contract fight; and talk to 2-3 coworkers about what YOU think we need to do to win the contract we deserve! ___________ Last week, our Contract Action Team launched our Contract Action Kit — a toolkit of resources and actions that you can take to help us secure a fair contract…