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Dear Colleague, Collective bargaining has been suspended since March 11. With so much uncertainty about the state of the university and the academy, neither party felt comfortable resuming bargaining. Over the last week, United Academics and the administration have been working  on a deal that would end this round of bargaining uncompleted. We have not yet agreed to a deal, but we wanted to inform you that we are in negotiations. The intent is to reach a deal quickly before the administration carries out their plan to renew Career faculty at just 0.1 FTE. The deadline for renewal notification has…

Executive SummaryMember responses vary, but with recurring themes. Many members are interested/willing to take some sort of a pay cut if it saves faculty jobs.Many members want oversight over any recouped wages to ensure they go towards supporting the central mission of the university (and not, for instance, new contracts with third-party vendors). Members believe that the proposed starting of cuts at 40K is too low and capping the progressive structure at 200K is also too low. Many members are upset that the administration is using the contracts of the 211 faculty up for renewals as leverage to force an agreement with…

Dear Colleagues, On Tuesday, President Chris Sinclair and Executive Director Dave Cecil met with the UO’s Director of Employee Relations Missy Matella and Executive Vice Provost Janet Woodruff-Borden. They discussed the administration’s wage cut proposal for two hours. They had a follow-up meeting yesterday afternoon. The email below describes the wage cut proposal, UA leadership’s questions and problems with the proposal, ideas we raised during that discussion, and consequences of not agreeing to their proposal. Because these conversations are less than 36 hours old, the email below is not a full summary of all points of the plan or a…

In light of the COVID crisis, many tenure-track and tenured faculty at UO are asking how safe their jobs are. Although not all tenure-track and tenured faculty are in the United Academics bargaining unit, the policies that govern the faculty not in the bargaining unit are similar enough that the processes described below apply to all tenure-track and tenured faculty, save the provision that no bargaining unit faculty can be terminated for financial exigency during the life of the collective bargaining agreement.Below is a description of the job protections and vulnerabilities for the tenure-track and tenured faculty at UO.Once a…

United Academics held our quarterly general membership meeting remotely on Friday, April 10, 2020. The leadership of United Academics understands there are many questions about how the university and the union are dealing with the disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. If you have additional questions, please do not hesitate to contact UA. 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…

Join us this Friday at 4pm for a UA Town Hall! Please use the link below to join the meeting:https://zoom.us/j/650902861?pwd=MXJCT3RZeFJTS2VpZXYyQmt5T3hQZz09Password: 881126We can’t meet in real life, but we can still get together remotely. Call in to our Spring Union Meeting which will take a town hall format.  We are currently in meetings with administration about a wage cut plan for faculty. We will be discussing the plan and what we know of leadership’s thinking, and we’ll be soliciting your feedback as we move forward. UA officers will also answer your other questions about how the university and the union are…

Dear Colleague:United Academics will be hosting our quarterly general membership meeting remotely via Zoom this Friday at 4pm.The leadership of United Academics will be on hand to answer members’ questions about how the university and the union are dealing with the disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Faculty are understandably anxious about the financial impact on the university, their units, and in the case of Pro Tem and Career faculty, their jobs. President Schill indicated that the administration will be talking with us about how faculty can “sacrifice” to help the campus. We anticipate discussing their proposal on Thursday and…

Dear Colleague,Earlier this morning, the leadership of United Academics sent the letter below to President Schill and Provost Philips. This letter was drafted after many meetings and hours of conversation between officers, stewards, and representatives in response to many statements of concern from Career faculty who are up for renewal this year. We have had a very good working relationship with the administration during the COVID crisis, and we are positive that relationship will continue as we discuss how to provide Career instructional faculty with the security they need to focus on their important work. Dear President Schill and Provost…

Dear Faculty, Over the past few weeks, it has felt like something is new and different (and usually worse) every day. The situation for faculty has been difficult – we’re all tired from keeping on top of the news, grading our suddenly-online finals, adapting our work to be remote, the uncertainty about our students’ access, uncertainty about our jobs, having children at home for many of us, and more. It has been hard. And many of you have taken on additional work, on top of all that, for your community, campus, families, and students. In all of our meetings with…

Just a few weeks ago, your union was focused on negotiating a strong contract, handling grievances, and fielding questions and concerns. Prepping for bargaining and meeting administration every week took up a lot of energy, and elected officials and staff were contemplating timelines and strategy. It’s an understatement to say that today we find ourselves in a very different landscape. With COVID-19 spreading rapidly across the U.S., the impact on universities is immediate. Questions and complications arise hour by hour that need urgent yet thoughtful responses. As you know, United Academics is member run and member driven. Faculty officers are…