Lecturer Bargaining Update: Bargaining Recap for 2/5/2021
We STILL await your counterproposal
Friday morning started off with Administration’s Chief Negotiator, Chelsea Ditz, announcing that she will be stepping down from her role to take another “opportunity.” Dominick Fanelli, former LSA HR rep who was on Management’s team in 2017/18, will take over. He is currently working in Staff HR but will be on loan to Academic HR.
Following the big announcement, we clarified our proposals on job security and leapfrogging and asked further questions on management’s felony disclosure proposal. On the latter, Bob King spoke about the harm that is perpetuated by this proposal in the context of structural racism. He shared a number of facts from the NAACP's Criminal Justice Fact Sheet.
LEO Bargaining Team member Bob King (Lecturer, RC, Ann Arbor campus) reading from the NAACP's Criminal Justice Fact Sheet to counter management’s Felony Disclosure proposal. Fan art by AndyT (Lecturer, Stamps School of Art & Design, Ann Arbor campus).
After hearing management’s questions on our Covid Impact proposals, we spent a significant amount of time in Caucus preparing our response. Members shared their experiences and preferences on course modality, online prep compensation, and student evaluations, which we presented at the table in the afternoon session.
In the afternoon session, management introduced a new proposal on Title IX that severely curtails our right to grieve discipline due to sexual misconduct complaints.
We STILL have not received a single counter-proposal, and we do not yet know what to expect at the table next week. Next week will be turning up the heat with our Zoom backgrounds in an effort to finally receive some counter-proposals.
92 members attended on Friday, an increase from last week. Awesome! As always, having members present in negotiations with management and in caucus to help prepare our response is critical to win a strong contract. You can RSVP for Bargaining next week at bit.ly/LEOREGISTER or on Facebook. Invite your colleagues to attend too! If you have not joined the LEO Slack Workspace (where all of the chat conversations happen during Bargaining) please watch this video to learn how to join!
Another way we'll be building power is through work with our allies. In two weeks, Lunch with LEO will take the form of a “Community Town Hall” on February 19th from 12pm-1pm (RSVP). You can join with students, staff, and tenure-track allies to learn how LEO’s contract proposals benefit all three UM campuses. The day before LEO members will ask the administration to support our contract proposals in the public comment section of the February 18th Regents Meeting. You can tune in at 4:30 via livestream.
Finally, keep a look out for more info on the LEO General Membership Meetings. There you’ll receive updates on bargaining and UM librarians organizing with LEO. You can RSVP at bit.ly/LEOREGISTER for the dates below. Members are invited to attend any of the campus GMMs.
Ann Arbor: February 17, 7:00pm
Dearborn: February 18, 3:00pm
Flint: February 24, 10:30am