Contract

Dear Colleague,

We have been following two issues that we would like to update you on:

NTT Layoffs:  At the “Open Meeting to Strengthen the Budget Process” on May 12, the Administration stated the following:

● Notices of non-reappointments will be sent to all NTTs who are Associate Lecturers and to Lecturers with semester by semester appointments.  Some may be re-hired this summer, but this will obviously difficult to NTTs to plan their lives. 

● The University will raise the student/faculty ratio.

Dear Colleague,

We hope you had a great break!  The FSU has been busy.  Here are a few updates:

3/22/16

Implementation Date

The Administration has agreed to acknowledge all promotions from the previous contract through the start of Spring 15. That means that any promotions or status changes (i.e. eligible for Lecturer I, Lecturer II, or post-probationary status) that would have occurred under the 12-14 contract as of the start of Spring 15 will be recognized for purposes of conversion to the new language.

Incorrect Titles, Post-Conversion

3/22/16

Removal of Tenure

An arbitration hearing for a tenured faculty member who was dismissed in violation of just cause was recently held. We expect a decision soon.

Improper Denial of Tenure

A tenure track faculty member who was denied tenure recently had their grievance denied at the step ll level (i.e. at the President’s level). The issue in this case is unequal treatment upon the administration’s failure to apply consistent standards for tenure review. The FSU will be taking this to arbitration.

You may have heard that the legislature has adopted a tuition retention statute which will allow UMass to retain in-state tuition, starting this coming September. As a result, our new contract requires that management and the UMass unions renegotiate the terms of our tuition benefit, and that’s exactly what FSU is doing, in coalition with nearly twenty UMass unions across the system.