As you know, your bargaining team reached a tentative agreement (TA) with the administration last week on a new Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) governing salaries and working conditions of most academic faculty at OSU. While we did not win everything we wanted or everything faculty deserve, we believe we won the best agreement that was possible in the face of an intransigent administration and amidst the continuing chaos and uncertainty in our country. We locked in key protections we won in our first contract and secured significant new provisions that advance faculty stability, equity, and respect. You can see the full CBA here and a summary of the changes here.
Next Step: Ratification! Before the new CBA can go into effect, UAOSU members must ratify it. While all bargaining unit members are covered by the CBA and have access to union support in enforcing its provisions, only union members can vote on ratification. We encourage non-members to join your union now to participate in the ratification process.
Voting will begin tonight, Tuesday, April 22 and remain open until 10am on Wednesday, April 30. If you are a member, you will receive an email, sent to the address where you receive union messages, with a link to cast your vote. Your bargaining team and Executive Council endorse this agreement and urge you to vote YES.
Come to our town hall, tomorrow, Wednesday, April 23, noon-1pm in the Valley Library Willamette Classroom and on Zoom to find out more about the TA and get your questions answered. Register here: uaosu.org/townhall.
Key Features of the Agreement
You can read the full agreement here and a summary of changes here.
- A compensation and benefits package that advances equity and excellence, including:
- A $3000 increase to base pay for AY24-25. In lieu of retroactive pay, bargaining unit members will get a one-time payment of $2,500, pro-rated to FTE, upon ratification;
- Merit raises with a minimum of 2% and maximum of 4.25% for AY25-26, AY26-27, AY27-28, and AY28-29;
- Increases of 7%-11% to minimum salaries for all categories of academic faculty;
- A doubling of Sea Pay and the ability of PIs to pay more;
- A doubling of the staff fee privilege (tuition reduction benefit) – bargaining unit members will now have a second tuition reduction for undergraduate credits at OSU;
- Protection of our 120 hours of paid family leave in addition to improvements to state law;
- Limits to the use of negative evaluations to exclude faculty from merit increases to when a “preponderance of assigned work” has not met expectations or when some category has been deemed to have not met expectations in consecutive years.
- Increased stability for faculty, including:
- Continuous appointments for all academic faculty after promotion, which will eliminate the need for annual contracts – this means that promoted non-tenure-track faculty can only be non-renewed for cause or if the position is eliminated entirely through the process spelled out in the Termination Not For Cause article;
- Continuation of our annual bridge funding pool equivalent to 1% of all recovered overhead to support faculty who face a gap in funding;
- Established right to clarity on promotion process for faculty with joint or split appointments within the same unit and regular assessment of whether the joint or split appointment is necessary;
- Increased ability to challenge negative reviews or failures to achieve promotion under certain circumstances.
- New tools for addressing workload problems, including:
- New elements that must be included in college or unit teaching workload policies;
- A requirement that teaching workload guidelines be reviewed and potentially revised, with faculty input, at least every four years;
- Established the right of faculty to refuse overload assignments in most cases;
- A task force that will develop mechanisms to recognize and address the excessive formal and informal service load carried by faculty of color, women faculty, and faculty from other underrepresented communities, and a requirement that colleges and Cascades implement mechanisms to recognize and address exceptional service.
- A compensation and benefits package that advances equity and excellence, including:
- Improvements in health, safety, and worksite provisions, including:
- Inclusion of language clarifying access to and rules about remote and flexible workplace;
- Clarity about when faculty can be required to work remotely during campus closures;
- Commitment from the administration to insure (i.e., replace) lost, stolen, or destroyed lab equipment;
- Establishment of faculty right to access safety data for worksites and preemptive notification of pesticide application at worksites.
- Protection of academic freedom, including:
- Assertion of faculty right to assign grades and limits on when grades can be changed without faculty consent;
- Assertion of the rights of faculty to participate in service and shared governance.
Again, please join us at Wednesday’s town hall to learn more and get your questions answered. What we have secured in this round of negotiations is thanks to the strength of our membership; if you’re not a member yet, we encourage you to join today.
In solidarity,
Marisa Chappell, Lead Negotiator
Lori Cramer
Louisa Hooven
Filix Maisch
Kelly McElroy
Bill Thomas
Dan Andersen
Megan Dickison