Update for 2/28/20 Bargaining Session
| On Friday, February 28th our UAOSU bargaining team met with the administration team. The primary focus of the bargaining session was the Administration team’s Compensation counterproposal.One of many reasons we organized our union is to have a collective voice to secure working conditions that promote excellence and innovation and to protect the quality of education, research, and outreach.Unfortunately, the Administration’s Compensation counterproposal falls short in meeting the needs of faculty and in ensuring OSU is a stronger institution.The Administration’s Compensation counter-proposal includes:Merit pools guaranteed at only 1.5% for fiscal years 2021 and 2022 and only 1.0% for fiscal years 2023 and 2024. The proposed amounts fall far below the rising cost of living, meaning the average faculty member would experience an effective pay cut each year. Further, the minimum increase for all satisfactory faculty would be equally or nearly as large as the entire salary pool, preventing any unit from meaningfully awarding meritorious faculty.Provost retaining all control of the size of merit pools, beyond the minimal 1-1.5% guarantee. The Provost would be under no obligation to dedicate more regardless of the financial health of OSU or increased funding from the state.Refusal to negotiate any improvements related to child care. The Administration acknowledged that child care is a significant problem in the OSU community, but instead of working with us on solutions, they insisted that they will continue to tackle the problem alone without accountability to any provisions in our collective bargaining agreement.Refusal to include equity pools in our collective bargaining agreement. The Administration stated that equity adjustments are already happening and that they “expect” them to continue but do not want to be bound to that commitment in our collective bargaining agreement.Having transparent, predictable, and sustainable salary increases that keep pace with the rising cost of living allows us to recruit and retain highly qualified faculty members and ensures that we have the stability to best perform our teaching, research, service, and community engagement work. It’s time the Administration works with us to reach an agreement that meets these needs.We gave the Administration a counter proposal on Benefits. Our proposal would:Guarantee our current health and retirement benefits in our collective bargaining agreement;Require the Employer to increase salaries by 6% if they no longer contribute the 6% employee pick-up to PERS because of new legislation;Extend the tuition reduction program to faculty employed below 0.50 FTE;Provide a $50/month stipend to remote faculty (those who work more than 30 miles from the Corvallis campus) to help offset the cost of accessing fringe benefits only available to Corvallis campus faculty; andProvide reimbursement for up to $500 in visa and SEVIS fees for international faculty and an additional $500 for their family members.The more of us that unite as members of our union, the more strength we have to win a strong contract with salary increases that respect our integral roles in making OSU an even better institution. Join with us today by signing a membership card.Don’t forget to follow us on Facebook, Twitter & Instagram! |