October 7 Update
Report From The Table Team: October 7 Negotiations
We began today’s session by requesting more negotiating dates in the month of October. Reaching a fair first contract requires sufficient time at the table, and we continue to press for full-day sessions to move negotiations forward. We also followed up on long-overdue information requested through negotiations. This request includes updated budget information and a roster of all faculty currently in the bargaining unit. It will allow us to negotiate compensation with accurate information about the costs of each side’s proposal. The admin team ensured us that the requests were in the process of being fulfilled, but, at the end of the day, we had still not received the information and left with admin promises of delivery this week.
Next, the admin team presented three counter-proposals: Benefits, Educational Benefits, and Non-Academic Leaves. We spent an hour in caucus discussing the three counterproposals. These provisions affect faculty members and our families, and we are working to secure protections that meet our needs. We made progress discussing Educational Benefits and are close to reaching an agreement on the language. We are negotiating to ensure employees and their dependents will maintain the same educational benefits that currently exist.
The Non-Academic Leaves article was more complex. We drilled down into current policy and practice at OU and explored options to extend parental leave for faculty. Our goal here is to solve the problem of faculty who are required to return to the classroom after they have exhausted parental leave for a few weeks at the end of the semester, a situation that is neither good for faculty or students. This issue is especially pertinent for women early in their careers. Although we had good discussions with the admin team, we still have some work to do to reach an agreement on this article. Finally, we will need to see the admin’s counter on Compensation and the remaining articles that make up the compensation package before we can consider our next move on the Benefits counter.
Progress at the table depends on the pressure we build together. Join us this weekend for our Homecoming actions and help make our demand for a fair first contract impossible to ignore. We need faculty, students, alumni, and community supporters standing together to show President Gonzalez and the Board of Trustees that the OU community expects them to prioritize faculty and students.
Sign up for our upcoming actions at https://www.uaou.org/calendar
Show up, bring a colleague, and make your voice heard: Fair Contract Now. Students and Faculty Deserve More!
Our next scheduled bargaining date is October 21 from 1pm-5pm at Baker Center.
