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Your bargaining team met with the administration’s team and the state-appointed mediator for our first session on Friday, January 24. It was a long day but ultimately productive in terms of working through some of the non-economic proposals still left to resolve. The day began with introductions and a description of processes during mediation, and we then met with the Provost for a conversation. We were pleased that the Provost engaged with our team. Provost Long expressed that he understands the concerns faculty have that led us to mediation for the first time since unionizing. We made sure to convey…

Negotiations and mediation have been the primary focus of our union activities for the last several months.  Nevertheless, as our campus community continues to engage in shared governance, a couple of systemic issues have cropped up that need attention. Unit Policy Development Units were charged with revising their Assignment of Professional Responsibilities policies last year.  In many units that process played out as described in our Collective Bargaining Agreement, but we have heard concerns from many other corners of campus.  Some faculty were not informed whether or not submitted proposals were approved by the Office of the Provost.  Some were informed…

TL;DR: To build pressure for a fair deal, we are asking YOU to take three contract actions that help grow our collective power: This Friday (Jan 24) post a Canvas announcement and/or update your email signature with info about bargaining; share context (slides + script) with your students about our contract fight; and talk to 2-3 coworkers about what YOU think we need to do to win the contract we deserve! ___________ Last week, our Contract Action Team launched our Contract Action Kit — a toolkit of resources and actions that you can take to help us secure a fair contract…

TL;DR: We need YOU to take three contract actionsthis week: join UA’s internal Slack and opt into UA texts; make our union more visible by flyering your workplace and wearing your UA gear every Thursday; and follow UA on all our socials! Instagram, Threads, Bluesky, Facebook. We hope your Winter quarter is off to a good start! As you know, we are entering mediation with the administration on January 24th. Bargaining is coming into the inevitable end-game stages where the pressure will continue to increase on both sides. While we have spent hours, days, months explaining faculty needs and fighting…

TL;DR Syllabus statement regarding a potential strike. Admin using fear, uncertainty, and doubt to influence faculty; let us know when you see it. Soft launch of strengthenUO.org, our resource for the general public regarding our contract campaign. We hope everyone had a restful winter break. For those teaching this quarter, we have a syllabus statement at this link that you can use or modify  to inform your students of potential disruptions to class due to a strike. We begin mediation with the administration starting in late January, and we hope that we can avoid a strike with the help of…

Admin Calls for Mediation Our bargaining session on December 5 shifted the dynamic of our contract negotiations moving forward, as the administration’s team announced they intended to file for state mediation. They chose to send this announcement over email rather than facing our members in person—who packed the EMU Crater Lake rooms after rallying, marching through the EMU, and making our voices heard across the campus. After minor discussion on the few proposals left for our side, the administration presented Article 26: Salary packaged into a deal with Article 28: Miscellaneous Benefits and Article 33: Sabbatical. A package offer means that all the specific proposals in each article…

TL;DR The final scheduled bargaining session is Thursday, December 5, 12:30-3:30, with the brief United for UO rally at the EMU amphitheater at noon. The administration has still refused to acknowledge the erosion of wages due to inflation and the increase in administrative work being pushed down to faculty. They have steadfastly refused to move our wages to the average of our comparators. This is likely our last opportunity to try to convince the administration that we will not accept real wage cuts, and fair compensation is a much better alternative to the disruption of a potential strike. Final Bargaining Session Most of what remains in terms of bargaining has…

TL;DR: Bargaining is becoming less productive as time progresses. We expect this process to enter mediation soon. Come to bargaining Thursday November 21, 12:30-3:30, in Chiles 125. Still No Movement from Admin Thank you to everyone that came out to bargaining last Wednesday. The Oregon Falling rally buoyed our team’s spirits and showed administration the broad support for our proposals. We are bargaining again on Thursday, November 21 from 12:30-3:30 in Chiles 125. Your presence is still necessary to motivate the administration to take our demands seriously now, before we may have to take more dire actions later. Your team presented our proposal…

Earlier this week the Scholz administration sent a bargaining update stating that they remain “committed to a compelling total compensation structure that retains and recruits faculty in service of our shared mission” subject to the financial constraints faced by the institution, pointing to state disinvestment and a competitive market for students at our current tuition levels. The truth is that the university is in a better financial position than it was a decade ago, and that faculty are in a worse position. State support has increased faster than inflation, tuition has increased faster than inflation, yet faculty salaries haven’t kept up. The administration continues to erode the…