Bargaining Report #8, Bargaining Session #8, September 10, 2013
At our eighth Bargaining Session, September 10, 2013, the AAUP-PSU Bargaining Team heard proposals from the Administration on the following articles: Article 8 (Past Practices), Article 11 (Released Time), Article 17 (Academic Professionals) , Article 18 (Fixed-term and Research Faculty), Article 35 (Personnel Files), AAUP New Article (Academic Quality), and AAUP New Article (Parental Leave and Catastrophic Leave Bank)
NOTE: Next Bargaining Session, Friday, October 4, 2013, 12:30-3:00pm in Market Center Building room 650.
Here are summaries of the day’s negotiations:
Article 17 (Academic Professionals): In our last bargaining session, we had proposed that Academic Professionals with 1 to 3 years of service be given 150 calendar days notice of termination. This is an increase from the current 120 days notice, but a decrease from 180 days notice that we had proposed earlier. For those members with 3 or more years of service, we proposed 270 days notice which is an increase from the current 180 days notice, but again, it is significantly reduced from the 360 days notice that we proposed earlier.
The Administration’s response is to leave the current termination notices as they are in our contract. They also eliminated the section of our proposal that states that Academic Professionals receive 1% pay increases upon satisfactory annual reviews. Although current evaluation contract language is dramatically curtailed due to their position of not including permissive language about evaluation, many of our conditions for fair and timely performance reviews were incorporated into their proposal. We are considering this further.
Article 18 (Non-Tenure Track Faculty and Research Faculty): Similarly, in our last session, we proposed only to alter Section 7 of Article 18 with the purpose of extending the notice of termination of appointment. We had proposed that non-tenure track faculty have the following termination notices:
Less than 3 years of service 4 academic terms
3 to 5 years of service 6 academic terms
More than 5 years of service 9 academic terms
The AAUP Collective Bargaining Team also proposed that there be specific limits placed on the Administration’s mid-contract reductions of full-time non-tenure track faculty FTE. The obligation of full-time faculty to devote themselves to their work at PSU should be reciprocated with PSU’s obligation to guarantee their contracts at least to the following levels of commitment:
Full Time (1.0 FTE) Non-Tenure Track Faculty Members shall not have their FTE reduced below the FTE amounts established below:
Less than 3 years of service 0.75 FTE unless otherwise requested by the faculty member
3 to 5 years of service 0.90 FTE unless otherwise requested by the faculty member
More than 5 years of service 1.00 FTE unless otherwise requested by the faculty member
At the September 10 session, the Administration proposed eliminating multi-year contracts entirely and substituting the following notices of termination of employment:
Less than 3 years of service One full academic term
3 or more years of service Two full academic terms
The Administration’s proposal diminishes the periods of notice of renewal currently practiced. They propose to eliminate multi-year contracts that at least 45% of our Fixed-Term Faculty already have, and they made no concessions on reduction of workload during a contract year. They also eliminated the section of our proposal that states that Fixed-term and Research Faculty receive 1% pay increases upon satisfactory annual reviews.
Although current evaluation contract language is dramatically curtailed, many of our conditions for fair and timely performance reviews were incorporated into their proposal. We are considering this further.
Article 8 (Past Practices):
The Administration opened this article and changed some language to insure that their rights with respect to past practices follows the Oregon State statutes regarding notice of policy change and rights to bargain those changes along with the timelines specified by statute. This appears to be a confirmation of our current practice. Still, we are considering any ramifications.
Article 11 (Release Time):
The Administration opened this article, but they chose to close it unchanged from current language. We have no current intentions to change this either.
Article 35 (Personnel Files):
The Administration opened this article, but they chose to close it unchanged from current language. We have no current intentions to change this either.
New Article (Academic Quality):
In our last bargaining session, we proposed a new article to our contract that explicitly addresses AAUP’s goal of continuing improvement of academic quality at PSU. This article is intended to complement the work of the Faculty Senate’s March 2011 resolution for a Holistic Approach to Strategic Institutional Development. We proposed limits to class size and student/instructor ratios; a reduction in faculty course loads; a return to 1999/2000 student-faculty ratios; a gradual increase to 80% of PSU faculty that will be tenure-related; and a gradual increase of faculty salaries toward 99% of the average of our comparators by 2019.
We also proposed three separate task forces be established to develop recommendations for our next contract. They are as follows:
Faculty Research Support Task Force: 2 from Faculty Senate, 2 from AAUP, 2 from Administration
Charge: Develop recommendations for the next contract to improve research support consistent with PSU comparator institutions.
Online Courses, Awarding of Credit for Prior Experience, and Intellectual Property Task Force: 2 from Faculty Senate, 2 from AAUP, 2 from Administration, 2 from Association of Students of Portland State University (ASPSU)
Charge: Develop recommendations for development, delivery, and compensation for Online Courses, for review of the awarding of credit for prior experience, and to develop policies for protecting intellectual property in all course development.
Administrator Evaluations Task Force: 2 from Faculty Senate, 2 from AAUP, 2 from Administration, 2 from Association of Students of Portland State University (ASPSU)
Charge: Develop recommendations for the next contract to establish evaluation procedures and criteria for the evaluation of all administrators from Department Chairs to the President on regular time cycles.
Despite strong arguments from our team and statements of support from ASPSU student representatives, the Administration rejected this article in its entirety.
New Article (Parental Leave and Catastrophic Leave Bank):
We proposed a new article that will bring PSU policy on leaves closer to those of other Oregon State Institutions of Higher Education. Specifically, with one or two minor changes, we proposed the same parental leave benefits currently enjoyed by our colleagues at the University of Oregon. We also proposed the establishment of a Catastrophic Leave Bank [CLB] similar to our colleagues at Western Oregon University. The CLB proposal is identical to the proposal that our team developed collaboratively with the Administration two contracts ago. It is intended to provide assistance to our members who, on the very rare occasion, have exhausted all other leave and still have to deal with a catastrophic illness of themselves or of a close family member.
The Administration rejected our proposal regarding a Catastrophic Leave Bank arguing that any needs that arise could be accommodated without this particular institution. The Administration is considering our request for Parental Leave Benefits, but they wish to consider it as part of the entire fiscal obligation (which is still undetermined).
Next Bargaining Session #9, Friday, October 4, 2013, 12:30-3:00pm, Market Center Building, Room 650
SUPPORT AAUP BARGAINING: Please attend bargaining sessions. Stay as long as you can. Bring your colleagues, please. Your presence makes a difference