Bargaining is here once again! Below is some information related to the collective bargaining team, and how you can be present to support them during bargaining sessions.
Meet your Collective Bargaining Team
- David Kinsella, Political Science Professor, AAUP Member since 2002 (20 years)
- Anh Ly, Economics Department Manager, AAUP Member since 2010 (12 years)
- Leanne Serbulo, University Studies Assistant Professor, AAUP Member since 2010 (12 years)
- Óscar Fernández, University Studies Senior Instructor I, AAUP Member since 2005 (17 years)
- David Hansen, School of Business Administration Senior Instructor II, AAUP Member since 2001 (21 years)
- Jennifer Kerns, History Assistant Professor, AAUP Member since 2011 (11 years)
- Mark Leymon, Criminology & Criminal Justice Associate Professor, AAUP Member since 2012 (10 years)
When can members attend bargaining?
Our Collective Bargaining Team (CBT) is currently engaged in mandatory retraining on the State of Oregon’s interest-based bargaining (IBB) approach, negotiating bargaining ground rules with Admin, and utilizing the IBB approach to come up with said ground rules. Our CBT is meeting with Admin for a total of four sessions, each four hours long (March 29th through April 13th).
We are expecting that all or part of Session 4 on April 13 (8:30 am - 12:00 pm) will be open to the public via Zoom. However, we will not know until the end of Session 3 on April 12. (Session 3 is closed to the public as a training session and/or to complete designing the ground rules). We are expecting that bargaining will be via Zoom, at least for the first few sessions.
On April 12th, we will communicate any breaking news about the official launch of bargaining (via Zoom).
What are the goals of the upcoming public bargaining sessions?
This round of bargaining is narrowly focused on financial issues, especially salaries and cost of living adjustments (COLA). We are all feeling the pinch of the recent spike in inflation. Beyond that, salaries for many of our bargaining unit members are below where they need to be in comparison with other institutions, and in order to maintain the great faculty and staff needed to serve our students and the community. Now is the time to repair this.
The articles that are automatically the subject of bargaining during the economic reopener include 19 (“Professional Development and Support,” e.g., IPDAs–individual professional development accounts), 30 (“Salary and Retirement”), and 31 (“Insurance”).
Based on member input, including conversations with Union Reps and surveys (click here for latest bargaining survey), AAUP is opening Articles 15 (“University Privileges,” e.g., tuition for members), 25 (“Parking and Transportation”), and caregiver support (a new subject). In contrast, Admin is opening Articles 16 (“Post-Tenure Review”) and 18 (“Non-Tenure Track Instructional and Research Faculty.”
Members are the Engine Powering Bargaining! What can you do?
Several easy things…
To get the forward progress we need, AAUP members will need to show their determination early and often in this bargaining round. Member involvement is the POWER in the engine of bargaining! From this perspective, Zoom is actually quite useful. Although observers aren't visible to the bargaining teams (i.e., our members won’t be able to turn on cameras and microphones), AAUP and Admin can see the total number of people watching. Seeing dozens of members on Zoom lets Admin know that members are paying close attention to what is being said and how it is being said.
When you attend, please take notes and share them with your Union Reps.
Finally, join the Slack Channel to share thoughts & emotions. There is strength in numbers for “united we BARGAIN; divided we BEG.”
Scheduled Bargaining Sessions
So far, these are the scheduled sessions:
- IBB Sessions: These are “executive sessions,” closed to the public as the discussion centers around ground rules for bargaining
- Session 3: April 12th / 8:30 - 12:00 (closed session)
- Session 4: April 13th / 8:30- 12:00 (tentative open session; stay tuned for updates)