Bargaining Session #6
Hi everyone,
First off, we want to let you know that our next bargaining session will be this week on Friday, Aug. 2nd at 2-5pm! Please RSVP to attend in-person or on zoom HERE.
Here’s your bargaining update from Mike Mavros (Bargaining Committee), Melissa Beers (Organizing Committee), and Marilyn Sides (former FIPAC chair)!
We made progress during Bargaining Session #6 (all available to read fully on our proposal tracker)! Probably the biggest update is on academic freedom, where the College agreed that "Academic freedom shall be guaranteed to all bargaining unit employees in the execution of their duties and responsibilities and in matters related to the College." This is probably the strongest language for academic freedom out of any higher ed union contract, setting the new gold standard! We think our testimony last session helped move the needle here.
We are moving a lot closer to agreement on several key substantive articles, including Health & Safety, Workspace & Materials, and Grievance & Arbitration. We introduced one new article on Artificial Intelligence, where we proposed that the College can't replace us with AI or use AI to summarize or generate any materials associated with evaluating us.
The College introduced one new article on Appointments and Reappointments. Their initial position has some pretty radical shifts from the status quo. To summarize:
The College made it clear that they intend for Visiting Lecturers to truly be a temporary position, and to try to hire into the Lecturer/ISL role whenever possible for long-term needs.
As such, their initial proposal for the Lecturer/ISL reappointment calendar is 2 years / 3 years / 5 years / 5 years / ..., which improves the status quo.
The College stated they were committed to increased transparency around reappointment, allowing for folks on multi-year contracts access to their unredacted R&P letters, a chance to respond to those letters in writing, and a grievance process for denial of reappointment for performance-related reasons like "bad teaching"
The most striking changes were the proposal to form new Departmental Review Committees, that are effectively identical in structure and function to existing Departmental R&P Committees, and to eliminate evaluation through the CFA, instead making all final reappointment decisions go through the Provost's Office
Marilyn: As a former member of FIPAC, it is a pleasure to attend these sessions where the College has to listen to and negotiate with us. What most stood out to me in this recent session was the omission of the CFA in our discussion of the reappointment process. Even observers get to participate in the discussions when the College’s side is out of the room. Here we started to have a lively debate about if having the CFA as part of our reappointment has truly been a good thing or not. A big plus to attending the sessions is to get a solid education on how our jobs are defined and ill-defined by the College. When we get closer to the fall semester and the Bargaining and Organizing Committees start to call more on the larger group for support in bargaining a strong contract, it will be crucial for NTT’s to thoroughly understand the context and consequences of decisions.
Melissa: It has been quite the learning experience watching our Bargaining Committee hash out each meticulous detail behind the scenes and then respond to comments in the moment with the College and their legal counsel during Bargaining Sessions. They have become quite the force to be reckoned with! I have observed all of the bargaining sessions, most in person. I highly recommend all Bargaining Unit members attend bargaining sessions. I feel the observers put as much or more pressure on the College's team when they have to comment and defend their positions to all of us present. The day we had 20+ people bargaining and observing was a very powerful day. Please make the time to attend!
During the past two sessions I have finally noticed some more willingness to negotiate on the College's side, and we have gotten much closer to agreement on the topics Mike mentioned above. The hard work that everyone has put into these articles is paying off.
My thoughts about the College's proposed Appointment and Reappointment article are mixed. There are some interesting changes proposed, including the reappointment calendar; however I have serious concerns about going back to the days where we were not reviewed by the CFA. While I know there are potential issues with the CFA understanding all of our roles, I value the thoughtful review by several colleagues when I go up for reappointment, vs a conversation between a "Departmental Review Committee" and the Provost's Office. The College stated that this return to the old system would be in exchange for the ability to have grievance and arbitration under certain conditions of non-reappointment. I am not convinced these are mutually exclusive, as the College implied. I am interested to hear what other WOAW unit members are thinking and feeling about this topic.
It will be interesting to see how the Bargaining Committee reconciles the College's article with the ideas we have around Appointment and Reappointment.
As we head into the Fall and put more articles on the table, it will be even more important to show support of the process through attending Bargaining Sessions, Town Halls and communicating with your liaison about your support, concerns or ideas!
We plan on continuing this conversation about Appointment/Reappointment and Evaluations in our next bargaining sessions THIS FRIDAY, August 2nd, 2-5pm and on Tuesday, August 20th, 10am-2pm. RSVP for the Aug. 2nd session here.
Best,
Mike, Melissa, and Marilyn