Bargaining Session Report
Our latest bargaining meeting with the Oakland team was Friday, June 18, 2021. Oakland responded to some of our earlier proposals and submitted several new proposals to us. There was discussion between the teams and we will be responding at a future date.
This diary post is our longest to date; there were several proposals put on the table by Oakland that would have significant impacts on faculty working conditions.
New proposals by Oakland:
- Changes to Appendix A: Research and Full-Time Adjunct Faculty. Full-time adjunct faculty are full-time positions, but do not lead to job security. (Please see page 83 of the current Agreement for more details.) Oakland proposed to change the title of this position from adjunct professor to professor of practice in the interest of having a title that better reflects the position and does not confuse it with other uses of the term “adjunct”. The current Agreement limits the number of these positions. Oakland proposed that there should be no limit on the number of such positions.
- Department chairpersons in the bargaining unit. Oakland proposed that department chairpersons be removed from the Bargaining Unit. They would make the position of department chairperson administration instead of faculty.
- Graduate students teaching credit courses. Oakland proposed to increase the number of credits that can be taught by graduate assistants from four to six per semester.
- Post-tenure review. Oakland proposed the creation of post-tenure review.
- Joint appointments. Oakland proposed a group of measures to allow faculty to be hired with joint appointments in more than one academic unit. Their proposal also includes language for how faculty with joint appointments would be reviewed/evaluated for promotion and tenure. In the current agreement, a faculty member only participates in the governance of their primary academic unit unless the secondary unit and both Oakland and the Association agree, but Oakland’s proposal would take the Association out of this decision.
- Grievances on CAP decisions. In our current Agreement, actions by FRPC are not grievable. (See page 23 of the current Agreement.) Oakland proposed that this also apply to CAP.
- Arbitration of tenure decisions. In our current Agreement, when a grievance goes to arbitration, the arbitrator’s decision is binding on both sides. Oakland proposed that in the case of grievances from tenure reviews, the arbitrator’s decision would only be advisory and non-binding.
On the proposal to remove department chairpersons from the Bargaining Unit, we have already informed Oakland that we do not wish to entertain such a proposal. (Note: This subject is not a mandatory topic of bargaining.) We will be reviewing the other proposals above and responding to them.
Oakland presented counter-proposals to two of those we presented on May 26:
- Credit for prior experience when hiring special instructors. In response to our proposal to give newly hired special instructors credit for prior professional experience, just as newly hired assistant professors are allowed such credit, Oakland made a proposal that would allow one year of credit for prior teaching experience.
- Review of workload policies. In response to our proposal to provide clear deadlines for review of workload policies, Oakland proposed a system that sets a series of deadlines and creates review at both the Dean and Provost level. Their proposal gives the Provost the power to assign teaching loads which are based on credit hours.
We are in the process of reviewing their responses.
We did TA a few more simple language items:
- Preeamble. The two sides agreed not to change the Preamble of the Agreement (page 1 of the current Agreement, before Article I).
- Not open Article XV. The two sides agreed to TA Article XV with no changes made.
- Appendix G. This is updated to reflect current names of administrative offices where personnel records are held.
- Appendix K. The Department of Labor FMLA posting (page 98 of the current Agreement) will be replaced with the current document.
The two teams are set to meet again Wednesday, June 23rd.