Negotiations

10/21/2020

Dear FSU Members,

Update:   During our bargaining session on October 14^th, the FSU responded to (and rejected) Admin’s proposals for no pay raises (for 3 years), increased workload (and increased course caps), and restricted academic freedom.  We also presented two proposals, one seeking salary equity for librarians and the other attempting to limit and redefine the category of Associate Lecturer.

10/19/2020

In which we consider some of the complexities of censorship is this moment of Zoom.

Greetings, Colleagues:

10/8/2020

Dear FSU Members,

As part of the FSU’s commitment to expanded bargaining (see the FSU policy here), we invite you – as members of the FSU bargaining team – to our next bargaining session on October 14^th from 1pm to 3pm, where the Core Bargaining Team will respond to Admin proposals (around salaries, course caps, academic freedom, etc.) while presenting some new proposals of our own.

10/5/2020

In which we consider the matter of why UMB’s administration would choose to propose new contract language on “academic freedom” and what questions this raises about cultures of surveillance. 

The examination combines the techniques of an observing hierarchy and those of a normalizing judgement.                      

--Michel Foucault, Discipline and Punish 

Greetings, Colleagues: 

10/2/2020

Dear FSU Members,

On Wednesday, the FSU Core Bargaining Team, along with our 30 member Expanded Bargaining Team, received proposals from Administration (attached) that would eliminate raises for three years, curtail academic freedom, explicitly require unpaid work during the period of non-responsibility, and potentially increase course sizes significantly. Quite simply, the administration wants us to do more work for less pay and with diminished autonomy.