May 5, 2015 —
For immediate release:
By an overwhelming majority, the members of the Non-Tenure Faculty Coalition (NTFC) Local #6546 ratified its first ever contract with the University of Illinois administration on Thursday, May 5th. The five-year contract, which runs until August 2019, covers all full-time clinical, teaching and research faculty on the U of I main campus, except those affiliated with its Law, Veterinary and Medical Schools.
The contract provides NTT faculty with three month advance notice rights, prior to the beginning of the semester and gives long term faculty at least one year of extra job security beyond the duration of their current one year contract. Participation in the Compression, Market, Equity and Retention program (CMER) formerly limited to tenure track faculty, and basic protection of academic freedom are also part of the agreement. In addition, the contract contains provisions that will regularize NTT participation in faculty governance in the coming years.
Shawn Gilmore, President of NTFC, stated “I’m incredibly pleased that our members fought for and have now ratified a contract that will stabilize the working lives of non-tenure-track faculty at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. With the support of our partner unions, as well as faculty and students from throughout the campus community and beyond, our union has been able to settle a contract that will ensure that these faculty members have the kind of long-term support they deserve.”
NTFC Local #6546 was certified by the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board in July of 2014 and began contract negotiations in October of that year. After eighteen months of meetings with very little result, union members went on a two-day strike on April 19 and 20th. The labor agreement was reached late on April 30, after NTFC members and their many supporters had walked out a second time, a week after the first strike.
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