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Last Wednesday, Provost Philips sent instructional faculty and graduate employees a message describing a change in the approach to in-person teaching in the fall. Instructional faculty and GEs have been given the option to opt out of in-person teaching in the fall, if they have not done so already. This is great news, and we welcome this new decision by the Provost. We recommend that faculty take the opportunity now to consider the latest available information and decide whether or not they would like to opt out of in-person teaching in the fall. We have studied the university’s plans for in-person…

After four weeks of tough bargaining, we struck a tentative deal with the administration over the restoration of FTE, a progressive salary cut package, and the outlines of how we will revise the system for employing Career faculty. The bargaining team believes this is a good deal and a vast improvement on the salary cut plan offered in April.Before we get to the details, the bargaining team would like to give a hearty thank you to all the members who tuned in to watch. Over 200 unique viewers joined some part of the sessions. Bargaining via Zoom is new to all of us, and…

United Academics and the administration reconvened last week to discuss potential salary cuts, the restoration of fall FTE for affected Career faculty, and a plan for expectation of continuing employment for all Career faculty. The bargaining conversations have begun with each side presenting and discussing the principles that inform their thinking on the issues we’re bargaining. Our primary goals are to restore FTE for those who were renewed with low FTE in the spring and to institute an expectation of continued employment that would eliminate the administration’s ability to dramatically change career faculty FTE year to year. We have also…

Dear Colleague, The United Academics bargaining team met with the administration bargaining team for four hours on Friday, June 26, to begin our summer bargaining sessions. In these sessions we are attempting to find agreement on restoring FTE for Career faculty who had their FTE cut in May, a fair salary cut plan to address anticipated deficits, fixing the broken Career contract system, and a better retirement/buyout plan for our tenured faculty. This first session was designed to have the parties discuss principles as we attempt to solve our mutual problems. Our team presented some basic bullet points and we discussed how…

On Friday, June 26, from 1-5 pm, the United Academics bargaining team will begin conversations with the administration bargaining team about restoring the FTE of Career faculty scheduled to work reduced FTE next year, fixing our broken system of employing Career faculty, revising our current TTF tenure reduction/retirement program, and determining what a fair and equitable salary cut plan might look like if one is needed. This bargaining session will be on Zoom. Your video and audio will be muted, and the chat feature will be disabled. Neither party has bargained remotely before, so your patience will be appreciated if…

The survey, spearheaded by Professor Melissa Graboyes, has concluded. Dr. Graboyes shares the data and main conclusions in her Executive Summary and Survey Results (including comments). The main takeaways (cribbed directly from https://www.coronaviruschronicles.com/uo-survey) are: 1. There are wide differences in opinion between undergraduates, graduate students, staff, and faculty about whether it is wise to return to in-person instruction in Fall Term, their level of concern about the health risks, and their levels of trust in the University administration to act in their best interest and the best interest of the university community. Overall, undergraduates are more enthusiastic about an in-person Fall Term and less concerned about…

United Academics held a virtual Town Hall on Monday, June 8, 2020. A Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) page is posted here on the United Academics webpage. The FAQ responds to the dozens of questions we received during the meeting and over the last several weeks. If you don’t see answers to your questions there, drop us a line at info@uauoregon.org. We will continue to update the FAQ as new issues arise or information becomes available.