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On Thursday, we met with the administration bargaining team for our sixth session. The teams exchanged five proposals on five small issues. You can see all the proposals here. There were new proposals on Articles 9, 11, 39, 40, and Trainings. Our update this week focuses on what we anticipate in the coming weeks. Over the course of the last couple of years, as the administration has entered into negotiations with the campus unions, they have consistently worked to convince the campus community that the University of Oregon has no money. Although this tactic is not surprising, it has been…

Executive Summary The two teams discussed key issues related to tenure and sabbatical. We debated whether the administration should have the sole discretion to delay sabbatical leaves, the obstacles to taking leaves faculty in small departments face when there is no commitment to replace their labor, the need to reform the tenure and promotion denial appeal system, and whether the administration can comply with state law and get the union accurate information about faculty on time. Through our conversations, we discovered that we have some fundamental differences of opinion on whether everything at UO is working just fine or we…

As you may have seen, the UA bargaining team has made several proposals that have the intent of improving the working life of our faculty who primarily work on sponsored research. Over the last few years, many faculty have approached us with suggestions and requests for help in making it easier to conduct sponsored research at the UO. The bargaining team incorporated those diverse perspectives into proposals at the table. Of course, we also know that “sponsored research” is a very broad world at UO, and what might work in one area of campus might not be great for another…

Executive SummaryThe administration bargaining team proposed that tenured faculty could have their FTE reduced to 0.6, 0.4, or 0.2 FTE after an unsuccessful third-year post-tenure review.  They also proposed to define the “review period” for promotion reviews be the last six years only.The United Academics bargaining team proposed a new “Teaching Professor” position. Senior II Instructors and Lecturers can ask for an intensive teaching review that would assess teaching skill and pedagogical philosophy. Successful candidates would have an indefinite appointment. We also proposed that Career faculty FTE could only be lowered by a maximum of 0.2 FTE (based on the…

2020 looks to be a busy year for United Academics. We begin bargaining this week, and we encourage you to come to our first bargaining session this Thursday, January 9, noon-3pm in the Crater Lake Room of the EMU. We will be presenting many of our most important proposals at the first session (including salary increases, better job security for career faculty, and parental leave). Healthy attendance at bargaining sessions improves our bargaining position since it shows the administration that faculty are paying attention and are behind their bargaining team. Please come and bring a colleague or three. You need…

Dear Colleagues and Comrades,As you may know, your faculty union, United Academics, is preparing to bargain toward our new collective bargaining agreement. Our first day of regular table sessions will be Thursday, January 9, from 12-3 in EMU Crater Lake North. Future sessions will be Thursdays 12-3 as well, so mark your calendars.In preparation for those sessions next term, your bargaining team is meeting with the administration’s team to discuss the ground rules for how bargaining will go.  In general, bargaining follows a set pattern, much of which is legally enforced. Some of the basics are below to get you started. If you…

Dear Colleagues,  During recent remarks to the University Senate, President Mike Schill alerted the campus to yet another potential budget crisis. He identified four reasons for his concern about budget “fragility:” the ongoing difficulties with PERS funding, the decrease in international students, low reserves, and the loss of “flexibility” due to faculty unionization.  We were surprised to have President Schill cite United Academics as a cause of budget fragility. In the summer of 2015, UO President Michael Schill and then-UA President Michael Dreiling negotiated a two-year salary extension to the faculty contract, with raises of 2.0% and 2.125%. We agreed…

Our first session will be on January 9, 2020. We will be introducing most of our economic bargaining planks at that session. These include our salary/raise proposals, our child care proposal, and more. We’re hoping for a big turnout on day one, so put January 9, 12-3 PM on your calendar. You are welcome to drop in for a few minutes or stay the whole time! Please stop by the UA Office for fliers to add to your building’s bulletin boards or you can download a PDF here.Download