Update on Expanded Bargaining

3/24/2023

Dear Colleagues,

Greetings from the FSU Core Bargaining Team. We are writing with an update on bargaining for the 2023-2026 successor contract.

In January, we made an initial proposal to allow up to 30 FSU members to observe in-person bargaining sessions and allow those who couldn’t attend to observe using a live-stream video. The administration sat on that proposal for almost two months before rejecting it out-of-hand, and instead proposed closed-door bargaining in which nobody could observe the sessions. This is expressly against FSU policy which states that our members must be able to observe all bargaining sessions in a process known as “expanded bargaining.”

Engaging in expanded bargaining is our obligation to you and it is something we will keep fighting for. A few days ago, we proposed to bargain the 2023-2026 contract using the exact same modality as the 2020-2023 contract, in which the administration agreed to allow up to 30 FSU members participate as part of our “expanded bargaining team” on Zoom in a Webinar format (like Faculty Council meetings). It worked well last time, and we expect it would work well this time. We await their reply and hope it doesn’t take another two months, because we are eager to engage in expanded bargaining and share our proposals with you. We will keep you updated!

Sincerely,

Core Bargaining Team

Caroline Coscia, Political Science, Senior Lecturer II

Katie D’Urso, MTA Field Representative

Ellen Frank, Economics Department, Senior Lecturer

Jessica Holden, Healey Library, Librarian III

Lorenzo Nencioli, FSU Senior Staff Member

Jason Rodriquez, Sociology Department, Associate Professor

Brian White, Biology Department, Associate Professor