Digest

Digest of Changes from the 2008-2012 Collective Bargaining Agreement

UFWW is pleased to present below a digest of the changes to our previous Collective Bargaining Agreement that are included in the new tentative agreement. We approached bargaining our first successor agreement with two broad goals. First, we sought to support the ability of the faculty to serve the academic mission of the university. This includes working towards competitive compensation for faculty as well as protecting our working conditions and the learning environment of our students. Second, we looked to reinforce the positive working relationship that UFWW and the broader faculty currently enjoy with the administration.

The digest below is divided into several parts. In some cases sections of the previous agreement were not changed or were subject to very minor changes. In one case a section of the previous agreement was removed. These are all briefly listed below. For those sections to which substantive change took place, the changes are listed in detail along with the actual language of the new agreement.

All of these changes reflect the two goals outlined above. Detailed information on the raises that faculty will receive as a result of this agreement can be found below under changes to section 22.

The following sections from the previous agreement were not changed:

Section 3 Faculty Senate
Section 5 Management Rights
Section 17 Academic Program Directors
Section 23 Retirement

Minor changes were made to the following sections from the previous agreement:

Preamble
Section 1 Recognition and Bargaining Unit
Section 12 Professional Conduct and Conflict of Interest
Section 13 Discrimination and Harassment Prohibited
Section 14 Workplace Violence
Section 16 Department Chairs
Section 24 Faculty Files

One section of the agreement was removed:

Section 19 Appeal Procedure in Suspension without Pay and Discharge

All grievances, including those relating to suspension without pay and discharge, can now be taken to third-party arbitration.

 

Summary of more substantive changes:

Section 2 Academic Freedom

Old language was from the AAUP’s 1940 Statement of Principles on Academic Freedom and Tenure. New language guarantees faculty the freedom “to speak or write as a public citizen without institutional discipline or restraint on matters of public concern, as well as on issues related to professional duties and the functioning of the University.”

Section 4 Partnership

Reaffirms UFWW and University commitment to a partnership committee and guarantees the right of the UFWW president to meet quarterly with the deans and the Provost to meet quarterly with the UFWW executive board.

Section 6 Union Rights

Confirms and expands the UFWW’s right to purchase release time for Union officers and other faculty members. Reaffirms that service to the Union counts as service to the University. Authorizes the Union to impose a representation fee, if it chooses to do so, in accordance with state law.

Section 7 Tenured and Tenure Track Faculty Appointments, Tenure, and Promotion

University commits to increasing the number of tenure-track positions.

7.4.1 Faculty members’ assignments cannot be changed without their consent except as the result of program termination.

7.5.5 Clarifies that department standards must be approved by faculty in the department.

7.6.2.2.1 Probationary faculty are no longer allowed to submit an individual written
and 7.7.2.2 assessment or to vote during reviews of other probationary faculty or faculty seeking tenure and/or promotion. This is designed to protect tenure-track faculty from the possibility of retaliation.

7.7.1.2 Reaffirms that “faculty may apply for tenure and promotion prior to the sixth year of their probationary period if they have established a record of accomplishment that meets department standards for teaching, scholarship, and service, based upon their annual probationary reviews.”

7.7.2.1 Reduces the number of teaching evaluations required for review dossiers. “Faculty are expected to provide the opportunity for students to complete evaluations for all sections. The teaching portfolio must include students evaluations of the instructional quality for all courses taught.”

7.7.2.3.1 Clarifies the appeals process in tenure and promotion decisions.
and 7.7.2.3.2

7.7.2.4 Makes clear that the dean’s recommendation in tenure and promotion decisions “shall be based on whether the department’s and college committee’s reviews meet the standards set forth by that department and the college.”

7.8.8 Establishes an appeals process for post-tenure review (PTR).

7.8.9 Allows faculty members who fail PTR to be evaluated within two years.

7.8.10 “Repeated failure in post-tenure review may be addressed as appropriate within Section 19 of this agreement.”

Section 8 Non-Tenure-Track Faculty

8.1.5 All senior instructors who are currently employed above 0.5 FTE will be offered a two-year commitment of employment of at least 0.5 FTE. If programmatic need continues to exist at the end of this two-year period, such senior instructors will be offered an additional two-year commitment.

The category of “affiliated faculty” (formerly 8.2.3) has been eliminated.

8.3.3 Senior instructors shall be evaluated every three years.

Section 9 Work Load

9.2.2 Acknowledges that “class size is a component of the historic department level of teaching as defined in section 9.2.1.” Requires that “any proposal to make adjustments to class size must be pedagogically sound, maintain quality, meet the needs of students, and be feasible within the resources of the unit/college concerned. The proposal must be approved by the department and the dean.”

Section 10 Paid Professional Leaves

10.2.1 Only tenured faculty members are eligible to apply for professional leave.

Section 11 Leaves of Absence

11.1.2 Leaves may be taken to care for “family members” rather than “immediate family members.” “Family members” means “members of the same immediate or extended family, such as spouse, domestic partner, sibling, parent, legal guardian, child.”

11.1.4.2.1 The duration of paid maternity leave is now defined as “one quarter or its equivalent, but not to exceed twelve weeks.” In the previous agreement, the duration of maternity leave was “approximately ten weeks.”

11.1.4.3 “Tenure-line faculty and NTT faculty with multi-year contracts will be entitled to up to six (6) weeks of paid leave to care for a new child, a newly adopted child, or a child placed into foster care.”

Section 15 Intellectual Property

15.2 Clarifies that “faculty shall have exclusive rights to all material that is not work for hire,” and clarifies the definition of “work for hire.”

15.3 States that the University will initiate a full review of the entire Patent and Copyright Policy, “utilizing and inclusive approach that will involve faculty at the initial stage of policy revision.”

Section 16 Extended Education (new section)

16.1 New section that makes clear that “all credit-bearing courses offered through Extended Education, including summer session, online, and independent learning courses, are bargaining unit work and covered by the provisions of this agreement.”

16.2 New credit-bearing Extended Education courses are subject to the curricular review and approval process for all other credit-bearing courses. Adapting an existing course for Extended Education requires departmental approval and approval of the dean.

16.3 Credit-bearing Extended Education courses, including summer courses, will count toward FTE percentage for NTT faculty for the purpose of determining eligibility for benefits and senior instructor status.

16.4 Class size for Extended Education courses is determined by the department.

16.5 Full-time faculty are allowed to teach one course for Extended Education, but, in accordance with the Faculty Policy on Consulting and Other Compensated Professional Activities, they “must not spend more than the equivalent of one day per week during the academic year in outside compensated professional activities.”

Section 19 Disciplinary Action/Discharge (formerly Section 18)

The list of actions (formerly 18.3) in which progressive discipline is not required has been removed.

19.3.5 and The University must now inform a faculty member and the Union of its intent to
19.3.6 impose discipline in writing. The University will also schedule a pre-disciplinary meeting at which the faculty member can respond to this notice of intent to discipline.

Section 20 Grievance and Complaint Procedures

20.2 Only the Union can file a grievance.

20.5 The Union and the administration agree to cooperate in the grievance process.

20.6 The Union can now file a grievance with the Provost; previously grievances had to be filed with a dean, even if an action of the Provost had led to the grievance.

Section 21 Reduction in Force

21.4.1.2 All senior instructors and probationary faculty in their first year must now be notified six months before termination.

21.10.1 Tenure-track faculty retain access to email and internet accounts in the period during which they are eligible for re-employment.

21.10.2 The university shall provide assistance in maintaining work products for the period in which faculty are eligible for re-employment.

Section 22 Compensation

22.1 Salary

22.1.3 All faculty, with the exception of new tenured or tenure-track faculty whose appointments begin in 2012-13, will receive a 5.25% salary increase effective September 16, 2012.

22.1.4 All faculty will receive a salary increase of 4.25% effective September 16, 2013.

22.1.5 All faculty will receive a salary increase of 4.25% effective September 16, 2014.

22.2 Compression and Equity Adjustments

22.2.1 “An amount equal to 1% of the total of all actual salaries paid to faculty members in the bargaining unit in 2011-12 shall be distributed as of September 16, 2012 as salary increases to selected faculty effective retroactively to the beginning of the academic salary schedule. The process of dividing and distributing this amount will be developed by a compression and equity adjustment committee to be composed of three faculty members appointed by the Union and three administrators appointed by the President or designee.”

22.2.2 “An amount equal to 0.75% of the actual salaries paid to faculty members in the bargaining unit in 2012-13 shall be distributed as of September 16, 2013 as salary increases to selected faculty effective at the beginning of the academic salary schedule.”

22.2.3 “An amount equal to 0.75% of the actual salaries paid to faculty members in the bargaining unit in 2013-14 shall be distributed as of September 16, 2014 as salary increases to selected faculty effective at the beginning of the academic salary schedule.”

22.4 Promotion and Advancement

22.4.2 Instructors who advance to Senior Instructor shall have their base salary increased by l0%, effective September 16 following the advancement.

22.4.3 Senior Instructors who were advanced to that status prior to September 16, 2012, shall have their base salary increased by 3%, effective September 16, 2012.

22.5 Department Chairs

22.5.1 Effective September 16, 2012, chair stipends will be increased by 15%. In no case will the compensation given to chairs for the current level of responsibilities decrease.

22.5.4 A chair compensation committee to be composed of three faculty members appointed by the Union and three administrators appointed by the University President or designee shall meet during Fall quarter 2012. The committee will meet with chairs to study chair recruitment, retention, and compensation issues and report any bargainable items to the UFWW and the University by March 1, 2013.

22.10 When requested, the Provost will review with UFWW representatives the faculty development and professional travel pool expenditures.

22.11.1 Parking rates for the 2012-13 academic year shall remain at the 2011-12 level. Parking rates for the 2013-14 academic year shall be no greater than 4.25% more than the preceding year’s rates. Parking rates for the 2014-15 academic year shall be no greater than 4 .25% more than the preceding year’s rates.

22.15 The University will award the maximum feasible number of Summer Research Grants and Summer Teaching Grants for each summer during which this agreement is in effect. Each grant will be in the amount of $6,000.

22.16 An extended education compensation committee, to be composed of three faculty members appointed by the Union and three administrators appointed by the President or designee, will review compensation practices for credit-bearing extended education courses. The recommendations of this committee will be presented to the parties to this Agreement by March 1, 2013.

Section 25 Workplace Safety and Ergonomics

25.1 The University will provide a work environment which complies with state and federal statutes regarding safety in the workplace.  Faculty members may request a review of a workstation for compliance with appropriate ergonomic standards.

25.2 Faculty members shall not be required to work under hazardous conditions or to perform tasks which endanger their health or safety without appropriate precautions. Protective devices and first aid equipment shall be provided to faculty members who practice in hazardous instructional environments.

Section 26 Miscellaneous

26.5 Except as provided by this Agreement and applicable law, the University will satisfy its collective bargaining obligation prior to changing any term or condition of faculty employment. Further, the University will satisfy its bargaining obligation regarding the impact of any decisions made by the University in the exercise of its lawful managerial rights which affect faculty wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment.

Section 27 Duration

27.1 This Agreement shall become effective on the date of signing and shall remain in effect through and including September 15, 2015.

27.2 The parties agree that this agreement has no reopeners for any section through the duration of the agreement.