Our March 25th session began with eloquent and emotional testimony on the topic of promotion. We sincerely thank members Emily Newberry (Librarian, Flint Thompson Library), Jayne Ptolemy (Curator, Clements) and Grace VanderVliet (Curator, UMMA) as well as Bargaining Team member Dave Choberka for sharing their (often frustrating and problematic) experiences with promotion and advocating for an equitable and, transparent promotion process for all LACs. Appreciation also to the many LEO-GLAM members who attended to express their support and solidarity for your colleagues. We were also happy to reach a Tentative Agreement on the Term of Agreement article, which lays out a 3-year term for the contract. Click through to read all the details.

Our March 18th session saw us making progress on a number of articles passing back and forth as counters. You may note that some of these have morphed from their original forms–for instance, our initial proposal on Non-Discrimination and Harassment, where we continue to hold our position, has been split into two separate articles. This is also the case for the Promotion article, which we proudly passed today.  Click through to read the details.

Our March 11th session marked our return to bargaining after a 2-week hiatus during Spring Break. The bargaining committee used this time to begin work on counters to the proposals on our side of the table (to follow along, see our Proposal Tracker), 3 of which we passed today. We were glad to TA the Vacation Pay article. Additionally, we passed a new proposal on Posting, Hiring & Notification, which should be the last new proposal (and this time we really mean that). Click through to read the details.

Our February 18th session marked a milestone, as we met our ground rules deadline to pass all proposals across the table for the first time. Bargaining Team member Dave Choberka took the lead in presenting our Salary proposal, which is grounded in the principle of equity. The presentation included a number of visualizations of how our proposal would increase equity across campuses and units, including a one-time equity adjustment in year one and annual increases in years 2 and 3 of the contract, as well as standardized increases upon promotion. Click through to read the details.

Our February 11th session was full of counters, and another Tentative Agreement–this time on Academic Rights & Responsibilities. We’re quite proud of this article, which affirms that LACs are faculty, and that we fulfill important educational, research, and service roles within the University. It also clarifies that all LACs are eligible to serve as Principal Investigators on sponsored projects.  Click through to read the details.

Our February 4th session might seem deceptively spare compared to some of the rapid-fire activity of past weeks, but in fact was very productive with the LEO-GLAM Bargaining Team making strides on a number of important economic proposals that we are preparing for the table in the coming weeks. As you may know, our ground rules stipulate that all proposals be on the table by February 18th. Click through to read the details.

Our January 28th session was a productive one. In addition to passing two new proposals, we reached a TA on Union-Employer Meetings (aka Special Conferences). For the first time we also had a “sidebar” conversation away from the bargaining table involving a subset of both bargaining teams to allow for more informal discussion. The conversation was productive, and we look forward to admin bringing counters that reflect the shared understanding achieved in the small group. Click through to read all the details.

Our January 21st session was an action-packed day that involved multiple new proposals and multiple counters on both sides. We were able to reach a TA on the Holidays, Season Days & Emergency Closures article, after 7 passes back and forth! We’re pleased that Admin agreed that when our buildings are closed (on Christmas Eve, for instance) we should have the option to work remotely without being forced to take a vacation day. We were also able to reach a TA on Accessibility & Accommodations, which made this a 2-TA day. Click through to read all the details.

Our January 14th session started with a TA on the Ground Rules proposal to guide negotiations—after 11 passes back and forth!

We were glad to see that administration affirmed our faculty status and our right to the protections of academic freedom. We are proud of some of the new proposals that we advanced, which asserted the agency of LACs as professionals who can best decide how and where to accomplish our work, asserted that our workspaces should be accessible, and set guidelines to ensure that those in term appointments are treated fairly.

However, we were dismayed by several other proposals put forward by the Admin bargaining team. Click through to read all the details.