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Unit 18 UC-AFT Bargaining Team Member Mike Rotkin

May 9, 2003
By Mike Rotkin

After over three years of bargaining, it finally appears that the Lecturers and the University Administration are close to agreeing on a new contract. Both teams struggled until 2:30 A.M. the morning of May 9 to bring in a final agreement. However, a few important issues are yet to be resolved. The final differences appear to be more about the timing of financial arrangements and the final language in a few provisions than about any fundamental issues in the structure of the agreement. While the UC-AFT team was prepared to bargain as late as necessary to wrap up the new contract, the Administration team decided it was best to finish our discussions in the near future. Although we were disappointed in our inability to get a final agreement, we were nonetheless heartened to know that an agreement appears possible and even likely by the middle of May.

Any agreement reached, of course, will be subject to the ratification of the UC-AFT members of Unit 18. The process is as follows:

1. Following tentative agreement between the bargaining teams, the UC-AFT statewide Council will vote on whether or not to recommend ratification to the membership of Unit 18. Because there is no Council meeting before July, the Executive Committee will formally poll local campus Presidents on the proposed new contract. Campuses will cast between 2 and 5 votes each. Votes are allocated based on each campus' UC-AFT membership.
   
   
2. If the statewide Council of the UC-AFT recommends ratification, all of the UC-AFT members of Unit 18 will be polled in a formal ballot. The ballot material will describe the provisions of the proposed contract. The proposed contract, itself will be available on the web and in hard copy through union staff and local leaders. Members of the bargaining team will be available for meetings on each campus to describe and answer questions about what is contained in the proposed contract.
   
   
3. If the contract is ratified by a majority of the UC-AFT members of Unit 18 who cast ballots, all of its provisions will go into effect. It is important that any lecturer who wants to vote on the ratification of the contract actually join the UC-AFT immediately.

Based upon the proposed articles exchanged by both parties in the early morning hours of May 9, it appears that the new agreement will include a new continuing appointment system for existing and future post-six year lecturers to replace the current system of three-year contracts. Post-six year lecturers will only be able to be terminated either because their work goes away (courses get taken over by Senate members or aren€t offered) or because the University is able to demonstrate that the quality of their teaching has significantly declined. Before being terminated, such lecturers must be given a written plan to improve their teaching and a reasonable opportunity to do so. A final decision to terminate would be subject to a review by either the Academic Senate or a neutral arbitrator, with the choice to be made by the lecturer.

Pre-six year lecturers would receive new protections as well, including a prohibition on non-reappointments in order to avoid making post-six year commitments. This would mean an end to the practice on several campuses of "churning" lecturers after a few years of teaching. There would also be a prohibition on replacing lecturers simply to find less expensive ones. The Administration would also be barred from non-renewals that violate academic freedom rights or which were based on illegal forms of discrimination. Decisions to reappoint a lecturer will require consideration of the individual's academic file and may only be based upon material in the file. Claims by the UC-AFT that the above protections have been violated will be subject to review by an outside arbitrator.

The new contract will raise the minimum salary for pre-six and post-six year lecturers (on a schedule that is still being discussed) and all of the lecturers employed during the past year will receive retroactive pay increases based on work since October 2000. In addition, pre-six year lecturers will be guaranteed a step increase in pay in the fourth year and continuing lecturers will receive a merit review every three years. If their work is found meritorious, lecturers will receive a minimum two-step salary increase (about 5%).

The new contract ties health, welfare and retirement benefits to those provided to the Academic Senate. It includes new benefits provisions for lecturers employed on quarter by quarter contracts; a new review for retirement benefits for lecturers who enter the retirement system for the first time; and a new provision allowing many lecturers who go in and out of the benefit system based on shifting percentages of work to buy into their plans at the University rate.

The new agreement will also include a new professional development fund on each campus to support attendance at conferences, and possibly academic leaves as well. Decisions about the distribution of the funds will be made by a committee of lecturers. Although the new contract does not guarantee such participation in any particular case, it will remove previously existing bars to lecturers serving on Academic Senate and University committees.

A new committee, including lecturers, will be established on each campus to investigate problems of workload and make recommendations for their resolution. The contract will provide for re-openers if satisfactory solutions are not implemented by the University.

Finally, with very few exceptions, the provisions of the new contract will be subject to a new system of grievance and arbitration. The new system adds a new final grievance appeal to the system-wide office of Labor Relations and a system of outside arbitration in order to make its provisions enforceable. Grievances will be able to be filed against the University officials alleged to have violated the contract rather than only against a lecturer's immediate supervisor, as was the case in the old contract.

There are many other provisions in the new contract that are too detailed to explain in this brief update and there are many concerns raised by the UC-AFT which will not be fully resolved by the proposed new contract, including some issues related to job security, salary, and workload. More information about these issues will be available before members are asked to consider ratification of the new contract.

However, the Unit 18 bargaining team is pleased to report that we are very close to resolving a protracted struggle over a new contract. We believe that the proposed new contract will represent a truly significant improvement in the lives of our members. The bargaining team wants to thank our members and other supporters who helped us build the campaign necessary to make such significant advances at the bargaining table possible.