What makes a collective bargaining agreement so complex?
Barbara Altmann, Vice Provost for Academic Affairs and Professor of French
May 30, 2013
We have reached the six-month mark in the ongoing contract negotiations between the University of Oregon and United Academics, so this is a good time to review our progress.
Some had hoped that we would have a contract by June. So far, that hasn’t happened, but it’s important to acknowledge that both sides have been working hard, and there is significant progress to report:
- Earlier this month the talks reached a significant milestone, with all articles now on the table.
- The two sides are in substantial agreement on about 20 percent of the articles.
- Of the remaining proposals under discussion, about half await response from the union and half from the University.
UA represents roughly 1,800 faculty members in many different classifications and everyone recognized that this will be a complex and critical first contract. The work includes translating the university’s employment practices into contract language and reinforcing our standards of excellence.
This first contract will establish the basis for any future labor agreements with faculty, so it’s important to get it right.
While salary and other economic issues have drawn much of the attention and debate, there are literally dozens of proposals and counterproposals on the table, ranging from assignment of professional duties to intellectual property, from ethics to academic freedom. All of these proposals are posted on this page, along with summaries of every bargaining session.
There has also been some tension around what policies do and don’t belong in a labor agreement. A collective bargaining agreement is a binding contract that will create legal obligations on the part of the University and faculty members. Some of the Union’s proposals attempt to address concerns that are properly addressed not in a labor agreement but in University policies. Not surprisingly, the parties often disagree about which policies belong in the collective bargaining agreement.
In my first update, posted on December 12th, I wrote that the negotiations began in the spirit of cooperation and professional collaboration. Six months later, the same is still true.
I am confident that we will reach a sound and fiscally responsible agreement that will best serve the University of Oregon – including students, faculty, staff, and our other stakeholders.
Let me repeat something else I wrote in that first update six months ago: If you have questions about the contract negotiations, I invite you to contact me at baltmann@uoregon.edu or at (541) 346-2172.
