Bargaining Session: July 29, 2019

On July 29, 2019, representatives of the University attended the twelfth bargaining session with the union committee that represents post-docs and ARSs.

The parties discussed the changes the union committee presented at the last session in its Recognition proposal and continued their discussion of the union committee’s proposal on Workload. In addition, the union committee presented revisions to their proposals on Employment Files and Discipline and Dismissal. 

In the last session, the University had revised its proposal to incorporate the union committee’s Employment Files provision regarding removal of warning letters after 3 years, but the revised proposal presented by the union committee in this session changed that provision to specify removal after just 2 years.  The University questioned why the Union changed the provision regarding removal of warning letters after the University had incorporated it into its proposal in an effort to come to a tentative agreement. The union committee’s revised Employment Files proposal also added a new requirement that at the end of employment, after a final 30-day period during which the employee could review and comment on the contents of the file, the file would be sealed and no additional material added. The University offered to further revise its proposal in response to the union committee’s concerns about the file contents to provide a mechanism for an employee to disagree with material in the file, but no agreement was reached. 

The parties agreed to continue working on closing the gap between their different Recognition proposals. In addition, they engaged in a detailed discussion of the union committee’s Discipline and Dismissal proposal and the existing University procedures for dismissal.

In light of the discussion during the last session of the availability of part-time leaves, the Union agreed to further revisions of its proposal on Workload, and a tentative agreement was reached.

The parties scheduled additional negotiations sessions for September 2019.

The next meeting is scheduled for August 8, 2019.