UC Faculty Members Reach 'Historic' Deal; Strike Averted

San Francisco CA

17 November, 2021

11:50 AM

Description

LOS ANGELES, CA — The union representing University of California faculty members reached what it called a "historic" agreement with the school system Wednesday just hours before thousands of lecturers at the nine campuses were set to hit picket lines. The two sides on Wednesday agreed on a tentative contract that "revolutionizes the first six years of a lecturers career at the UC," according to the University Council-American Federation of Teachers union. The union represents thousands of lecturers and adjunct professors hired on a yearly or quarterly basis, as well as librarians. The new agreement gives all teaching faculty the right to fully paid leave of four weeks and the right to return to work with the same protections as federal or state family medical leave, according to the union. The tentative contract outlines a transition plan for 2022-23 appointments, job stability, review criteria, workloads, eligibility for medical leave, expanded retirement and health benefits and compensation. "As part of our renewed commitment to harmonious and healthy labor-management relations, the University of California and the UC-AFT have reached a tentative agreement for a five-year successor contract, covering lecturers throughout the University of California system," UC officials wrote in a statement Wednesday morning. According to the union, the agreement includes the following. A transition plan providing job stability provisions that will take effect beginning July 1, 2022.Job stability with multiyear appointments in the first six years, with reviews before reappointment and the right to be reappointed if deemed effective.A pathway to apply to become a senior continuing lecturer.Specific and transparent performance review criteria.A $1,500 signing bonus upon ratification and 3 percent annual salary increments.Expanded eligibility for paid medical leave to all bargaining unit faculty.Increased support for members with children to fully paid leave of four weeks.Expanded retirement and health benefits for summer sessions lecturers.Professional development funding."This is a landmark and transformative achievement," UC-AFT President Mia McIver said in a statement. "This is the best contract in UC-AFT history and, we believe, among the best for contingent faculty nationwide. We are pleased with how the parties have come together to reach an agreement emphasizing the importance of the role lecturers play at the University." The scheduled two-day strike would have emptied classrooms across the state this week as some 6,000 lecturers and other campus workers planned to join in the work stoppage. The strike was proposed as a labor dispute reached a head after simmering for more than two years. The union previously accused UC President Michael Drake's administration of failing to bargain a contract to address a buffet of issues, including a paid family leave policy. Ahead of the strike, UC officials called the threatened strike "grossly unfair." "The University of California is disappointed with UC-AFT's decision to pursue a two-day strike — withholding instruction is grossly unfair to our students and a strike does not move us closer to a contract," University of California officials told Patch in an emailed statement. The union filed seven unfair labor practice charges with the California Public Employees Relations Board over the last 20 months, it said. The charges remain unresolved. The union alleged that the UC's current family leave policy had an eligibility threshold that excluded thousands of lecturers, the majority of whom teach part time and are more likely to be women and caregivers than their tenure-track colleagues. The policy provided eight weeks of paid leave for some employees to care for a seriously ill family member or to bond with a new child, the union said. The UC said it presented union leaders with a proposal last month that included what it called "substantial pay increases, an enhanced appointment system with more stability for lecturers," evaluations for lecturers with fewer than 12 semesters of teaching credit in a department at the end of each appointment term, greater transparency in job expectations and mechanisms for addressing workload concerns. University officials enhanced that offer on Tuesday, offering, among other things, four weeks of leave at 100 percent of pay for all bargaining unit members, including those members who may not be eligible for the family medical leave policy, Ryan King, associate director of media relations for the UC president's office, told Patch in an email. "We continue to meet with union leaders in good faith ... with the aim of achieving a fair five-year agreement. This latest round of bargaining follows two and a half years of negotiations and a mediation period," UC officials said Tuesday. The UC-AFT is affiliated with the California Federation of Teachers and the American Federation of Teachers. City News Service contributed to this report.