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Greetings, my excellent colleagues! First of all, I want to express enormous gratitude for our Bargaining Team: Maram Epstein (East Asian Languages and Literatures) Jake Searcy (Data Science) Charlene Liu (Art) Dan Howard (Business) Debbie Green (Religious Studies) Josh Razink (CAMCOR) Keaton Miller (Economics) Nathan Whalen (Romance Languages) Heather Wolford (UA staff) They met, planned, and drafted proposals for months before negotiations started on Feb 1 of last year. Over the following fourteen months they met innumerable times to plan, strategize, and draft (and re-draft, and re-re-draft…) proposals to bring to the table. Anyone who observed the public bargaining sessions knows that our team…

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…

Sign up for Your Strike Shifts! We need everyone to sign up for their picket shifts now.  For members who are not based in Eugene, we have a remote picket line where members can meet a few times weekly by Zoom and help with some of the behind-the-scenes activities necessary to support the strike. Please check out the #remote-strike-planning channel on Slack to connect and lend a hand if you cannot make it to the physical picket line. If you are concerned that you might be targeted because your identity, immigration status, etc, or if you have accessibility concerns that…

We all recognize that we are living in increasingly challenging times.  Bargaining is rarely a pleasant process, but the upheaval and chaos in our federal government has created a context that we had not contemplated a few months ago, let alone when we began the bargaining process.  At the same time, we continue to make amazing strides collectively in this fight for a fair contract.  We have expanded our collective power, faculty have become activated and come together to engage with our union at unprecedented levels, and we have secured changes that will improve transparency and strengthen shared governance at…

Dear colleagues, As Spring Break progresses, you will likely see messaging about the two visions for our university. While the administration wants faculty to focus on the risks of striking, we must remember that our primary goal is to secure a fair contract in order to improve faculty wages and working conditions and to strengthen the academic mission of the university. What are the risks of not securing a fair contract? Inflation would continue to chip away at faculty wages, our contributions would remain undervalued in the university’s mission, and the administration would feel emboldened to use the same tactics…

The United Academics of the University of Oregon have spoken.  89% percent of our members cast votes in the strike authorization vote, and of those, 92% voted in favor.  Thank you for your participation in the vote and the rally. This vote authorizes your Bargaining Team to call a strike if they think it is the best path forward in securing a fair contract. In the coming days, there will be a flurry of communications about strike logistics, the status of negotiations (which continue on Monday!) and how to contribute your skills to effectively win a just contract. Stay tuned!…

TL;DR:   Emergency General Membership Meeting scheduled for Tuesday, 3/11, 5-6:30pm. Willamette 100 and hybrid. We will be opening the Strike Authorization Vote. Come join the conversation and get your questions answered. The Final Quackdown. Our last big rally to convince admin to settle a fair contract will be Friday, 3/14, 11:30-1pm. We will meet in front of the Ford Alumni Center and march down 13th to Johnson Hall. We need the biggest crowd we can muster! 40 spots open for Willamalane preschool—register your interest! UA Elections. Late day to submit delegate nominations. Read more to see what roles are…

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…