Pay Raise Update, PSU Support, UMB Immigrant Rights Organizing, AFR Due Date
8/7/2025
Dear Member,
Just a brief interruption to your period of non-responsibility with a few items of interest.
Pay Raise Update!
We are close to receiving our retroactive pay raises!
After we ratified our new contract, we started work on getting it funded. And really, it takes a village. Getting funding for our contract into the supplemental budget bill, which was voted on just two days after we ratified the contract, only happened because of the MTA. MTA government relations staff and MTA President Max Page went to work. Their knowledge, contacts and quite frankly the MTA relationship with government leaders made our funding happen. Without their work we would still be waiting for contract funding. This is our dues money in action.
We also want to thank both UMB HR and the UMass President’s Office who prepared the required paperwork so that it was ready to go when we announced the ratification vote. In less than six hours we went from ratification to funding submittal to the Governor and Legislature.
The supplemental budget bill is now with Governor Healey, and we expect her to sign it soon. The FSU is in communication with Vice Chancellor Marie Bowen regarding the raise processing timeline. Once the schedule is known, we will inform you.
Support PSU in their contract fight
The Professional Staff Union is still in negotiations for their 2024-2027 contract. Their next session with administration is Tuesday, August 12th. Please join PSU at 12PM in the Plaza for a rally to support them in their fight to obtain a fair contract.
UMB Immigrant Rights Organizing Meet Up
August 18th 12:00-1:00PM Campus Center 3rd Floor, Room 3540
This meeting is a follow-up to the July 9th all-union UMB rapid response organizing meeting. We’ll be discussing rapid response and mutual aid organizing and planning out next steps to host a training session early in the Fall semester. Part of the mutual aid discussion will include ways to support incoming international students going through the arrival process.
(contact FSU or Caroline Coscia for registration information).
Monday, September 1st, 9:30AM
Join union siblings and workers across the state to stand up for labor and workers on this important holiday. Just as all of you and millions across the country showed up for rallies and marches for May Day and No Kings Day, we need to do so again. Protests alone won’t stop rising authoritarianism, but they are necessary to demonstrate that we will defend our democracy. There’s a simple calculation that researchers say has held true around the world – if we can get 3.5 percent of the population to participate – that's about 12 million people.
Annual Faculty Reviews (AFRs)
AFRs are due on Monday, September 15th. Here is the link https://www.umb.edu/academics/provost/afr/
Librarian Annual Reports are due on September 9th.
Sincerely,
Caroline Coscia Jason Rodriquez
Senior Lecturer II Associate Professor
Political Science Department Sociology Department
President Vice President