Early in the bargaining meeting last Friday (Oct. 27th), it seemed clear that the administration’s expectation was that we would drop our demands on schedule, modality, and workload in exchange for the big wins for Part-Time faculty we achieved last week. Perhaps they thought PT faculty would pressure APs, counselors, and FT faculty to back down.
But of course they didn’t. Part Time faculty know as well as anyone that an out-of-touch, inflexible, power-hoarding administration is detrimental to us and our students. Our issues are interconnected. Solidarity (for us, anyway) is more than a marketing tagline.
On Article 6, administration is beginning to bend, barely. They agreed that APs “shall be allowed flexibility in determining the modality and schedule that will enable them to meet their job requirements and department needs as determined by the Administrative Supervisor.”
This language is better than what is in the current contract, but it leaves in place an enormous loophole for any manager or administrator to set an arbitrary schedule and modality.
Administration’s proposal also leaves in place extremely outdated language around telecommuting agreements and counselor schedules, and includes a provision that all faculty (including those teaching online) be on campus 80% of the time.
With over 600 signatures on our strike pledge (Add your name here!), we know this is no time to back down. We have formally requested mediation (see timeline below). The wait time for a mediator may be several weeks, so we will keep bargaining while we wait. We will share more with you about mediation in the coming weeks, and in the meantime you can reference our Bargaining Q&A and FAQs about Going on Strike for more information on what it means to go to mediation.