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We need your help to avert a strike. Bargaining, especially around salary, is not going particularly well. The administration is refusing to offer raises commensurate with inflation, much less a plan to get our salaries up to the AAU average. We have heard from members both on the potential necessity for us to flex our power to secure reasonable raises, but also anxiety around what that might mean. First and foremost, a strike is a last resort, and one which must be approved by the membership of United Academics to proceed. Strikes are for when our backs are against the…

Next bargaining session is Thursday, October 17 from 12:30-3:30 in Chiles 125. Thank you to all (200+) people who showed up at the last bargaining session. As you heard, the administration is more concerned with talking about bulletin boards than with our salary proposal. Eventually the administration is going to have to actually bargain over salary, and we need as many members in the audience as possible when they do. Our next bargaining session is this Thursday, October 17 from 12:30-3:30 in Chiles 125. As always, you can come and go, or bring your lunch or some work to do….

Bargaining Update for September 26, 2024 Your bargaining team met for the 15th session of negotiations with the administration on September 26th. Before we get into the details, we are deeply appreciative of the more than 200 people who attended either in person or over Zoom. We filled the room and had to use the overflow room as well. Your presence was felt by everyone at the table. A Tentative Agreement on Unit-Level Policies! The team is happy to report a tentative agreement on Article 4: Unit-Level Policies, where we strengthened the mandate that unit-level policies come from unit-level processes,…

Greetings, my excellent colleagues,This new academic year at the University of Oregon brings a bit more change than usual, such as a new athletic league, a new Provost, new programs beginning in UO Portland, and a record number of new faculty.We’ve also seen changes to the Executive Council of United Academics:Kate Mills (Psychology) is our new Executive Vice President. Kate’s enthusiasm and can-do attitude will be key for her work on the Contract Action Team to coordinate and ratchet up all of our individual efforts during these final months of negotiations on a new Collective Bargaining Agreement.Ed Wolf (Music) is…

My Experience at the 2024 Democratic National Convention Last month, I had the privilege of attending the 2024 Democratic National Convention in Chicago as a delegate for Oregon. I was pleased to see the strong union representation throughout the event, indicating that labor was welcomed and respected at the Convention. In addition to the excitement of the main events and speeches, I valued the chance to connect with fellow rank-and-file unionists—making new friends, sharing stories, and reaffirming our solidarity in the fight for working families. I also had the opportunity to meet with leaders in the labor movement, including AFT…

Every regular term of the academic year the University of Oregon publishes a course resource page, which includes some ready-made materials to launch courses. Part of this is a “starter syllabus” which has a general outline plus a lot of sample language folks can use when preparing a syllabus. Fall Term resource webpage Starter syllabus webpage The University Policy section of the starter syllabus, starting on page 13, has a few different examples of language for: Access and Accommodations Accommodations for Religious Observances Your (Students’) Wellbeing Basic Needs Respect for Diversity Academic Integrity Student Experience Surveys (Designated) Reporting Obligations Academic…

Our Fight for Fair Salaries Your bargaining team meets with administration again this week on Thursday, September 26th, from 12:30 to 3:30pm. Please note that we will gather in Lillis 112 – right down the hall from the room we typically meet in. We will present several articles, including Article 26: Salary. We have pored over the data underpinning the administration’s most recent proposal and have developed our counterproposal based on, and in response to their data. We anticipate a robust conversation about compensation during the session. We will also present our counterproposals on review processes for tenure-related and Career…

Your bargaining team met with the administration once again on August 26th for our final session of the summer.  Though we continue to make progress on several non-economic articles, we continue to engage them on several points of contention that your team feels are important to improve our current contract. One of those sticking points concerns the grievance process. United Academics hopes to codify a time frame in which faculty members can engage in what we have called an Independent Conflict Resolution Process. Oftentimes faculty members do not immediately seek out assistance from their union when problems arise, and they…

Greetings, We are writing as representatives of the Executive Council of United Academics of the University of Oregon (UA). UA is the exclusive union representative of faculty at the University of Oregon. As faculty representatives, stewards, and leaders, we work every day to improve our university and the state of higher education in Oregon. We are writing today to update you on the status of our negotiations with the administration for our fourth full Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA). While there has been quite a bit of progress on certain articles of the CBA with give and take from both faculty…

Bargaining Update for August 13 Your United Academics bargaining team met again with the administration’s team last Tuesday. While we continue to make progress on several non-economic issues, the administration’s intransigence on faculty salaries is becoming increasingly clear. The administration returned Article 26 – Salary to us. Once again, they have not moved from their initial offer of 3% raise pools for each of the next three years. Of course, given that inflation has hovered around 3.3% for the past year, their offer represents a pay cut in real terms, on top of the real losses faculty have experienced throughout the pandemic. Despite expressing an…