Bargaining Update

Last Friday was our sixth bargaining session. After signing tentative agreements on the four articles we agreed on last time, we continued looking at Hours of Work & Commitment.

In the last session, multiple specialized faculty members came and spoke about their experiences of serious overwork. Currently, in instances where a faculty member is concerned about their excessive workload, the only person they can go to is their unit’s Executive Officer (generally, the department chair). Here are some reasons why this is highly problematic: 

1. The executive officer is often the same person who assigned them excessive work to begin with.
2. For non tenure faculty with little job security, the executive officer has sole discretion of whether the faculty member is to be reappointed for another contract.
3. The executive officer is under no obligation to justify non-reappointment decisions. So specialized faculty have no protections against retaliatory or capricious non-reappointment, making the fear of retaliation very real.
4. To resolve a disagreement between two parties, it is a best practice for a third party to mediate the conflict. Especially when there is a significant power differential, as in faculty and EO’s, a third party is needed to ensure protections for the vulnerable complainant.

Our proposal involves defining clear job duties for each position, and allowing bargaining unit members to file a grievance with their union if they feel they have been assigned an excessive workload. The grievance procedure will effectively hold administration accountable, while protecting bargaining unit members from retaliation.

We presented our comprehensive proposal back in December, so the ball was in the admin’s court to present their own proposal on Hours of Work & Commitment.

The admin team’s proposal was shocking in its lack of substance. They proposed maintaining the status quo and codifying it in our collective bargaining agreement. Despite our lead negotiators’ clear explanations of why the current procedure lacks proper checks and balances, the admin team made it clear that they value flexibility for management over protections for faculty.

Another concerning moment came when the admin team flatly refused to discuss the possibility of the University funding the collective bargaining agreement. This is worrying because in the case of an increase to the salary floor, for example, units/departments will be squeezed financially due to higher expenses without corresponding increases to their budgets. We will have more information soon about a resolution to be brought to the University Senate to remedy this problem!

How You Can Help

The admin team is giving us poor quality counterproposals to see if we have the support of our membership behind us. If we lack that support, they will keep hammering us with empty language and nonexistent protections. 

Even if you have not come to union events often or at all, you have an important role to play! Our Flyering Scavenger Hunt is coming up on Friday, March 29, 2-4pm, and it would be wonderful to have as many specialized faculty there as possible to show support! We’ll have more information in a separate post. In the meantime, mark your calendars!

Next Session

As we are still very far apart on Hours of Work & Commitment, we will table it for now and will await more proposals from the admin team at our next session.

• Friday, March 29, 9am-12pm
• Location: TBD

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In Solidarity

Theresa Dobbs

NTFC Communications Chair

ntfc6546@gmail.com

Bargaining Update

Today was our fifth bargaining session, and it was a productive one! We are ready to sign tentative agreements on four articles: Grievance, Personnel Files, Unauthorized Work Stoppage, and Nondiscrimination. This should bring us closer to receiving a proposal on wages from the admin team.

After agreeing about those articles, we began discussing another article: Hours of Work & Commitment. In this article, we have proposed a system that holds units accountable for providing documents outlining job responsibilities that are fair, transparent, and up-to-date. We also have proposed that every faculty member’s duty percentage be congruent with their job title (for example, a Research Assistant Professor should not have teaching as 50% or more of their duty percentage).

The admin team was initially skeptical about whether overwork is an issue among specialized faculty. 

Three specialized faculty members came up to the bargaining table and spoke about their experiences and the serious overwork they’ve found themselves compelled to do. In all cases, they were expected to do extensive work that exceeded their 100% appointment without additional compensation. 

After hearing this testimony, the admin team engaged in dialogue with us, and agreed to consult with admin at the colleges about this problem. They seem to be undecided whether intervention is needed to prevent overwork, or whether it should continue to be dealt with on a case-by-case basis, when people complain. Given that many specialized faculty have short-term contracts and little guarantee of job security, many are reluctant to complain about overwork. We hope that the admin team will see that a better procedure is needed to protect specialized faculty from overwork.

Tell Us About Your Overwork!

The admin team weren’t sure overwork is an issue, citing that they have not heard many complaints coming in to HR. This is a time to speak up, so they can see that it is indeed a problem many of us face! If you’ve been expected to do work that exceeds your duty percentage, here are two ways to take action:

1. Contact Illinois Human Resources and let them know.
   1. (217) 333-2137
   2. ihr@illinois.edu 
2. Contact your union! Any information you share with us will be kept confidential.
   1. ntfc@gmail.com 

Next Session

We will continue discussing Hours of Work & Commitment at our next bargaining session, which is ironically during Spring Break. If you’ll be in town, feel free to join us! All members are welcome. 

• Friday, March 15, 9am-12pm
• Levis Faculty Center, room 300

Dear Colleagues,

I am writing to let you know that I have resigned my position as President of NTFC, as well as my role as co-lead negotiator for the 3rd contract.

This was a deeply difficult decision. I have loved being your President, and I have loved helping to represent us at the bargaining table. But, my mother has been diagnosed with late stage pancreatic cancer, and I cannot faithfully execute either of these roles during this time.

It has been an absolute honor to serve NTFC, and I know I am leaving our union with strong leadership still in place.

It is of note that we are currently fighting for a leave policy that would have allowed me to stop teaching and be with my mother full-time. If I were Specialized Faculty at the University of Illinois Chicago, I could do this right now. As Specialized Faculty at the flagship campus, I cannot. Maybe our Board of Trustees and  administrators can afford to take unpaid leave (FMLA), but I cannot. 

And remember, even if the other side does concede this to us in Contract 3, without a union, they would not have given it to us. If they were going to, they would have done so in the last 15 years. They want the status quo. We demand better. This is why we are here. This is what we are fighting for. 

I’m sure many of you have been in a situation similar to the one I currently face. I wish no future members ever have to join us. 

To make sure they don’t, please support our Bargaining Team in whatever way you can in these negotiations. 

Let’s make sure none of us ever has to be in a hospital room counting sick days and burning through their savings just to be with the ones they love in their final days.

In Solidarity,
Amanda Bales
Teaching Assistant Professor, English
Your Former NTFC President

Reading Day Work-In

Specialized faculty have been working hard all semester, and it’s time for that last push! Join us on Reading Day next Thursday, December 7, 9am-2pm in the Illini Union Courtyard Cafe. You can bring your grading, invite students for office hours, or whatever your Reading Day routine looks like. We’ll have coffee and refreshments waiting for you. Consider wearing your new NTFC scarf- that way we can easily find each other!

Bargaining Opening Day

We’re excited to invite you (all NTFC members) to Bargaining Opening Day! Come to Levis Faculty Center, room 208, 1-4pm on Thursday, December 14. Our bargaining team will present our proposal to University administration. If you can take the time to attend, it will make a big difference as a statement of support and solidarity. 

Our Proposal

Thanks to everyone who contributed by telling us what issues matter to you, via our surveys and in-person meetings and events! This proposal has come into being as a result of NTFC members and their ideas. To learn more about our proposal, come to Reading Day. You may also reach out and email us with any questions! There is also detailed information available on our social media (Here are links to our Instagram and Facebook).

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