UC - AFT NEWS

• UC-AFT Executive Council meeting agenda, July 22, 2005
• Non-Senate Faculty/Unit 18 Ratified Contract Agreement, August, 2005
• Supporting other UC unions on strike: dos and don'ts
• Fall, 2004UC-AFT Perspective (1 MB pdf)
• UC-AFT Election Candidate Statements
• Local 1474 election information
• UCB Extension English Language Program to close
• Lecturers Bargaining archives
• UC Administrators' Compensation Packages
• Roddy and Klar meet with Dynes

Lecturers/Non-Senate Faculty Bargaining Update
June, 2005

Ratified Agreement

Colleagues:

In June of this year, the Unit 18 Bargaining Team reached an agreement with the University in the recent round of contract reopeners. By electronic vote, it has now been ratified by the membership. As you might recall, the University opened two articles: Layoff (17) and Duration (40). The Union opened two additional articles: Appointments (7a) and Merit Review (22). Each side sought improvements for its constituents, and each side sought to correct problems that have occurred since the contract was implemented two years ago. What follows is a summary of the ratified agreement.

The Union achieved the following in the Appointments Article (7a):

1) An automatic two-step increase for pre-six NSF in their fourth years, assuming that they have not been previously awarded a merit increase of at least that amount. This is an improvement over the current one-step "bump" at year 4.

2) The University has agreed to review the performance of those pre-six NSF who are interested in reappointment (provided there is work) BEFORE a decision to reappoint or not reappoint is actually made. This is a major improvement over current language, which only required a performance assessment AFTER a decision to reappoint had already been made.

3) Pre-six NSF who have worked in multiple departments and are currently accruing courses towards a continuing appointment in several departments may request a one-time credit of quarters/semesters that courses taught in departments outside their "home" department count towards continuing status in their home department. This request must be made by the end of November and it is limited in that the University is under no obligation to grant the request. But it is an important victory. Some departments have been prohibited from granting credit towards a continuing appointment for work done outside the department. This program is limited to courses on the same campus. This will help to solve some of the problems for pre-six NSF who work in multiple departments by getting them access to a Continuing Appointment sooner.

4) The University has agreed to issue Letters of Appointment for pre-six appointees by June 15, unless there is a specified reason that makes it impossible, such as uncertain funding or enrollment.

5) The University has agreed that all policies limiting appointment lengths must go through "regular consultative processes," which means that a Chair or Dean can not simply make up a policy or rule on their own that says that all appointments are limited to a year or two years and that reappointment after that point is impossible.

6) There are some other, smaller adjustments that clarify contract language that have caused interpretation problems over the last couple of years. For example, the language in Article 7a that some campuses used to prevent using two and three year contracts has now been struck.

Achievements in Merit Review article (22):

1) Explicit allowance of accelerated and exceptional merit reviews. That means that early merit reviews (after, say, two years instead of three) and larger than two-step merit reviews is allowed. This was always the case, but it is now explicit in the contract.

2) The University will provide an explanation to the NSF if a merit increase is denied. This represents a change in practice on some campuses.

3) The retention of simultaneous exchange of contract proposals for future bargaining. The University had proposed that the Union go first before the University made any proposals of its own.

What the University achieved in Article 17 (Layoff):

1) For NSF who are laid off, and then recalled, the University may offer a temporary re-employment of up to one semester or quarter without having to rescind a layoff. If, on the other hand, the re-employment goes for longer than that term, the layoff must be rescinded.

2) The recall rights for pre-six year NSF who have been laid off shall not exceed the length of their contracts, which is generally going to be one academic term. The recall rights for Continuing Appointees who have been laid off have been shortened from three years to two years.

3) NSF who refuse two offers of re-employment after a layoff will have their recall rights terminated. This is a clarification of existing contract language.

What both sides achieved:

1) A FIVE-YEAR contract, with limited reopener bargaining. The next reopener bargaining will be over Salary, Workload, and two other articles (one to be designated by the Union; one by the University) in the fall of 2006. In 2008, each side may open three articles. The entire contract will expire in 2010.

2) A joint contract implementation manual, to be completed by the end of this calendar year. This manual will allow both sides to discuss shared understandings of what the contract means, how it should be implemented, and what the remaining points of dispute are. It will be available to those who administer the contracts on each campus as well as to Union officials, stewards, and staff. This ought to make the grievance process go much more smoothly in the future and, it is our hope, minimize the actual numbers of grievances that are filed. Perhaps most importantly, it will bring uniformity across the system for NSF -- regardless of for which campus they work.

3) Finally, we also have table talk concerning the salary increases granted to our members in the governor's compact for the next three years. Once the state budget passes, we believe our members will be getting at least a 2% increase each of the next three years. In any event, our increases will be the same as Senate Faculty.

What we did not achieve:

1. Mandatory two year contracts for all pre-six NSF after the second and fourth years. However, as part of the contract implementation manual described above, the university has agreed, IF it suits the needs of the particular program, to encourage the use of two-year contracts for pre-sixth year lecturers.

If you have any questions, please direct them to a bargaining team member.

Bob Samuels, President
Alan Karras, Vice President, Grievances
Mike Rotkin, Vice President, Outreach
Ben Harder, President, UC Riverside
Karen Sawislak, Executive Director

For your information: Click here for a full text of the Bargained Articles (7a, 17, 22, 40)