May 12th Bargaining Update by Alan Karras

The news is, for the most part, good. The University has backed away from its proposal to eliminate layoff notice for continuing appointees, and the two sides are now very close to agreeing to the layoff article. Some small issues remain, of course, but there has been agreement on the larger issues in this article. Similarly, the University has moved considerably toward our position on merit review. I can't provide the details yet, but there will be some improvements in both the process and the opportunities for merit.

Some progress has been made on the duration article as well. There is still room to come together on the length of the contract and the number of reopeners allowed in each year. But, again, we are seeing
real bargaining here. So too on the Appointments article. In this article, the gap remains the widest--but much of this is because the changes that we have proposed require significant consultation across
the campuses. We expect push back, and have gotten some, but we believe that the University is taking the proposals seriously and has shown that they are willing to move towards us where they can. This article will be more challenging to get a great result through negotiations, but we are pushing hard to have our priorities understood. This is a sea change from much of the last round of bargaining in 2000-2003.

Both sides remain optimistic that quick settlement is possible, hopefully by the end of June. I will keep you posted on any developments, and of course, feel free to contact me with questions.