UVM-UA-contract-bargaining-summary-January-2021-update

UVM-United Academics contract bargaining summary, January 2020 Retirement contribution Article 20 UVM Administration proposed to: • Eliminate all employer contributions to faculty 403B a

UVM-United Academics contract bargaining summary, January 2020

Retirement contribution (Article 20)

UVM Administration proposed to:

• Eliminate all employer contributions to faculty 403B accounts for 2 years

• Eliminate retirement contributions for summer teaching and research

United Academics position: status quo on retirement

Salary (Article 18)

UVM Administration proposed to:

• Cut faculty salaries by 5% for FY21, cut salaries another 5% in FY22, and freeze salaries in FY23

OR

• Cut faculty salaries according to tuition revenue declines: FY21 salary give-back is 30% of the difference in net tuition revenue between FY21 and FY20; the FY22 salary give-back is 30% of the difference in net tuition revenue comparing FY22

to FY20; the FY23 salary give-back is 30% of the difference in net tuition revenue comparing FY23 to FY20

OR

• Cut base salary by 2.5%, 3.5%, or 5% (progressive structure) in year 1, for FY22 cut salary pool by 30% of the difference in net tuition revenue loss; freeze

salaries for FY23

OR

• Cut base salary by 2.5%, 3.5%, or 5% (progressive structure) in year 1, salary freeze for FY22; return to 2020 salary in FY23 Reduce minimum salary level by 5% Package proposal with elimination of half of retirement contributions for 3 years

• In addition, reduce severance pay for long-serving Senior Lecturers from 50% of annual pay to one month of pay

United Academics proposed to:

• Pause negotiations during the pandemic, extend the current contract by one year, and negotiate salaries with cost of living increases

OR

• Increase faculty salaries by 2.5% in year 1, 5% in FY22, and 5% in FY23

OR

• Negotiate one-time progressively-structured salary reductions related to

pandemic losses and tied to the restoration of all Lecturers whose FTEs and pay had been involuntarily reduced

OR

• Freeze faculty salaries in FY 21, increase by 2% in FY22, and 4% in FY23 as a package with status quo on benefits

Sabbaticals (Article 22):

UVM Administration proposed to:

• Reduce pay for full year sabbaticals to 50% of salary

• Eliminate sabbaticals for Clinical, Extension and Research faculty

• Eliminate all Professional Development Leaves

• Remove language ensuring compensation if University requires sabbatical deferral and then does not renew faculty contract

United Academics position: status quo on sabbaticals

Paid parental leave (in Article 20)

UVM Administration proposed to:

• Eliminate semester of paid parental leave This proposal was subsequently withdrawn to maintain most of the language of the current CBA

United Academics proposed to:

• Expand parental leave to include both parents if both are eligible faculty in the bargaining unit

• Expand parental leave to include fostering

Sick leave (in Article 20)

UVM Administration proposed:

• Sick-time accrual system similar to policy for staff, requiring faculty to use

accrued hours for breaks in the work day

United Academics position: status quo on sick leave

Tuition remission (in Article 20)

UVM Administration proposed to:

• Not cover course fees, limit the maximum number of covered credits for

dependents to 130, and limit the time period of coverage to 4 years

United Academics proposed to:

• Expand benefit to allow faculty spouses and civil union partners to take 1 course per semester for credit

Discipline (Article 13)

UVM Administration proposed:

• Many changes, including removing the Board of Trustees from the hearing

process (an area of agreement in negotiations), and altering the composition of the faculty hearing panel for cases of discipline considering long-term suspension

or termination of faculty (shifting the balance of the panel to more administrators than faculty)

United Academics position: after many versions of counter proposals, preserve the ratio

of the hearing panel to be 2/3 faculty

Intellectual Property (Article 23) and Conflict of Interest policy (Article 24)

UVM Administration proposed:

• Union giving up bargaining rights by adding “and as may be amended from time

to time.”

United Academics position: status quo on Intellectual Property and Conflict of Interest

Articles that have been Tentatively Agreed upon, no longer being negotiated:

Anti-Discrimination, Diversity and Inclusion (new title for Article 5, formerly

“Anti-Discrimination”)

United Academics proposed to:

• Establish a funded committee on diversity and inclusion with administration and union

• Incorporate a commitment to diversity and inclusion in faculty work (Accepted), and an institutional commitment to hiring and retaining faculty of color

• Incorporate gender neutral pronouns throughout CBA (Accepted)

This article was tentatively agreed upon, without the administration agreeing to a

funded committee, but with the establishment of a joint UA-Administration Working Group to study and report on recruitment and retention of faculty of color at UVM

Appointments and Evaluation (Article 14) Tentative Agreement Update:

In a recent mediation session, this article was taken off the table, with the

Administration’s post-tenure review proposal being withdrawn and with UA’s proposal for new titles and an additional promotion opportunity for Lecturers not advancing

Faculty workload (Article 16) Tentative Agreement Update:

United Academics proposed to:

• Include clear and consistent posting of department course equivalency

guidelines, clarity of items in Research faculty, Extension faculty, Library faculty workload description (Accepted)

• Expand NTT faculty periodic course release (this was ultimately not accepted by the administration)

• Offer courses to any NTT faculty with involuntarily reduced FTE before offering

as overloads to department faculty at 1.0 FTE (proposal language outlines the details)

The parties have reached Tentative Agreement on this article

Note: Until a new Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) is ratified, all provisions of the current CBA remain in effect CBA available at:

https://static1.squarespace.com/static/53977c28e4b0ac5be919b750/t/5b5f0ceff950b7feeb986ee2/153295 5895270/FT+CBA+FINAL.pdf