Bargaining Update

3/29/18

Salary:   We were offered 1% as of July 1, 2017, plus an additional 1% in merit if the state reaches its revenue target of $27 billion. 

• Fiscal year 2019 (2018-19): To be determined. 
• Fiscal year 2020 (2019-20): To be determined. 

The FSU is working with a coalition of unions across the UMass campuses for higher salary increases, no take-backs; an additional .5% in addition in lieu of steps; and any merit in addition to a real cost of living increase. 

Junior faculty sabbatical/research intensive semester

The FSU is still working on this. 

Union work

The Administration proposes:

A reduction in the number of course load reductions (CLRs) for union work

Removal of current language that allows banking CLRs for this work

Parking Bargaining

The Administration is proposing:

$15/day on campus (new garage, campus center, Lot D)

$9 at Bayside

We have met with the administration only once. No counter proposals were given by the FSU. We only met to ask clarifying questions on their proposal and any documents they provided that were affiliated with their proposal.

Here are some answers from the administration on parking:

They do not know about handicapped parking fees on campus and will get back to us on that. 

They do not want to have 60, 45, and 20 park passes.

They will buy back any unused passes such as the above. 

You will pay for electricity should you charge your electric car in the garage (and they do not plan for you to get a discount on parking).

They are open to many suggestions, AS LONG AS THEY REACH THEIR REVENUE TARGETS

They are saying that parking is a zero sum:  if they don’t get their revenue target, something else in our contract must change (lower salary increases, etc.).  They are saying their budget for 2018-19 is based on parking revenue from their proposal. 

Article 20 Librarians--We have reached a final agreement on Article 20

• An exception clause was added to the minimum years of service
• A procedure was added for librarians assigned to new supervisory roles
• The Annual Report and Evaluation for Librarians, will now be called the Annual Librarian Report and Evaluation of Professional Activities to align with the faculty. The report also adds language to clarify professorial activities.

Distance Learning

• The administration has decided that departments and not CAPS will administer DL courses. 
• For all faculty, DL courses will now contractually be treated in exactly the same way as in-person courses. For NTT faculty, this means that DL courses will now officially be subject to the course assignment regulations in Article 21, as is (mostly) the current practice.
• Given that CAPS will no longer administer DL courses, we were able to reach agreement that several current practices will be written into the contract for the first time to ensure that they continue:
• a) right of first refusal for DL course developers,
• b) receiving a $3000 course creation stipend,
• c) the royalty fee of $500 when someone else teaches the course.
• The administration insisted that it wants departments to be able to develop what it terms “shell courses.”  These courses will be the property of the department and the department will assign the instructors. Intellectual property rights for such courses will remain with the departments and not with the individual faculty member.  We were able to reach an agreement that allows for the creation of shell courses but still provides protections for faculty, especially the right not to be forced to create a shell course.
• A new provision will allow departments the option to contract with faculty members, e.g. by offering a stipend or course release, to develop a DL “shell” course intended to be taught with varying instructors and content. The FSU would be required to be party to all such agreements so that faculty can ensure agreement on these in their departments.
• The Administration sought to end the practice of paying an overage fee ($100) for every student above the course limit for distance learning courses.  Since this was a CAPS and not a contractual policy, and since relatively few instructors were actually affected by this policy, we agreed in exchange for language enhancements in Article 15 (Faculty Workload).

Faculty Workload/Article 15

• We will be significant improvements and clarifications written into the new contract that affect all faculty.
• (a) individual faculty members have the final decision about adding additional students to their courses once the course enrollment limit is reached
• (b) departments have primary responsibility for setting course caps.
• Current contract language specifies that the average workload in a department can’t be changed during the life of the contract. We will keep the existing language.  This means that:
• The administration and deans cannot force an instructor to accept students above the course cap.
• The administration and deans cannot on their own raise course caps.  Departments set the caps.

Continuing Education

• Fall/Spring CAPS courses (offered off-site or between 3 p.m. Friday and Sunday regardless of location) will now be labeled “Continuing Education” courses. They will continue to be paid at the individual faculty member’s rate.
•  Summer/Winter session courses will also now be classified as “Continuing Education” courses and will be subject to a clarified seniority assignment system based on total number of summer/winter courses taught. Those with seniority standing will continue to be guaranteed up to two courses in the summer and up to one in the winter, subject to department course availability.
• Summer/Winter continuing education courses will be paid to tenure track faculty and NTTs with the rank of Lecturer or above at the rate of $5,100 (the previous rate was $4,800 for TT and post-probationary lecturers).
• Associate Lecturers will be paid $4,500 per Summer/Winter continuing education course (increased from the previous rate of $4,400 for probationary lecturers); and any Associate Lecturer who is currently paid more than that amount, such as those converted from Lecturer in the previous contract, will not have their Summer/Winter rate lowered.

Clinical Nursing Faculty

• Clinical Nursing faculty negotiations were left unfinished in the previous contract and we were determined to settle Clinical issues in this contract. After quite a bit of heavy and intense bargaining, lots of creative thinking, and a few creative compromises we are very close to resolving Clinical issues.  That resolution will enable us to finish Article 21 bargaining.  We will update members as soon as we reach tentative agreement.
• Here are the issues:
• The major point of contention in Clinical negotiations has been workload.
• The Administration has recognized that the current workload structure for clinical faculty cannot be sustained and has shown willingness to address our concerns.
• We are exchanging proposals on workload and expect to meet finalize an agreement on this issue.