LEO-GLAM Bargaining Recap for 4/9/2025
At our April 9th bargaining session, it was a triple TA Day!
We saw Article XII: Promotion of Librarians, Archivists and Curators, move back and forth across the table thrice, and we got it across the finish line to a Tentative Agreement! We’ve shortened the window for promotion review eligibility to 3 years at the Assistant rank, 4 years and the Associate Rank, and 5 years at the Senior Associate rank. This is a considerable gain for our early career members, and we think that coupled with clarification about dates and timelines, it will be a major improvement for our bargaining unit. We’ve also agreed to replace language giving units opaque authority to allow early promotions with more narrowly tailored language permitting timeline exceptions in writing at the point of hire based on previous experience. Again, our members found the previous state of affairs to be unfair, confusing and problematic, and we believe that this change will be more equitable and transparent, while still allowing flexibility in recruitment. Overall, we’re pleased at the progress we made collaboratively on this article to clarify the promotion process, timeline, and terminology for everyone involved. Ring the cowbell!
We also asked some questions at the table about the Salary counter that we received from the Employer last week, namely about the new language the Employer added permitting them to withhold annual increases for performance reasons including not meeting expectations outlined in an Annual Review. We have serious concerns about any attempt to circumvent the process outlined in our (not reopened this cycle) Article XV: Discipline and Dismissal, which already provides a means to address and correct performance issues and which includes the management right to reduction in pay.
Highlights of the bargaining session included:
Reached three Tentative Agreements on Article XXVII: Holidays, Season Days & Emergency Closure and Article XXIV: Unpaid Leaves of Absence, and Article XII: Promotion of Librarians, Archivists and Curators. This brings our total TA count to 17!
Passed counters on Article XIX: Professional Development, Article XII: Promotion of Librarians, Archivists and Curators, and Article XI: Appointments and Annual Reviews
Next week is an exciting one, as we’ll be holding our final in-person bargaining session, this time at Pierpont Commons on Ann Arbor’s north campus on Wednesday, April 16th. We are getting signals from the Employer that it’s going to be a very big week at the table, and we think you won’t want to miss it. We look forward to seeing a robust turnout of LEO-GLAM members as well as campus community allies (students, staff and faculty as well as sibling union members), as we move through our programming for the day, including an open bargaining session in the morning and a rally at noon. Please register by 4pm on April 15th to let us know if you plan to take part. We’ll send all of the logistical details via email to registered participants. We’re also tentatively planning an additional bargaining session on the morning of Friday, April 18th; we will share details with members as soon as we have them.