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Welcome Nick Goodell!

In the frenzy of bargaining, we have failed to welcome our new Operations Coordinator, Nick Goodell to the NTFC family. Nick began working for us just as Bargaining began, and he has been a tremendous asset.

A little about Nick–

Nick Goodell is a recent graduate of the University of Illinois, where he studied history and philosophy. Locally, he is on the editorial collective of the Public i, the Board of Directors of the Urbana-Champaign Independent Media Center, and organizes with the Party for Socialism and Liberation. He is passionate about labor and working-class history, and has been involved in several local labor movements. He is very excited to be working for the NTFC and to be putting education first in the best way–collective organizing.

Kind, quick, and forward-thinking, we are thrilled that Nick has joined us. We are a better, more effective union with him on our side.

We Have a New Contract!

Our members have overwhelmingly voted to ratify our Tentative Agreement with the administration. When we organize, we win!

Important, positive changes will begin taking place this fall. If you have specific questions about what’s new in the contract, please reach out to us here. We will also be giving a rundown of our new contract at our General Membership Meeting, orientation, and our Welcome Back Party this fall!

A full copy of the contract will be up on the website soon.

Statement of Solidarity with SEIU Local #73

We, the Non-Tenure Faculty Coalition Local #6546 AFT/IFT/AAUP, express our full support and solidarity with the building and food service workers of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local #73 in their fight for a fair contract with the University of Illinois administration. SEIU #73 members recently authorized a strike by a massive majority. We demand that the university administration negotiates a fair contract now for SEIU workers.

The labor provided by SEIU workers is invaluable to our campus and community. Each day, they clean, maintain, and help keep dozens of campus buildings safe, while also feeding thousands of students, faculty, and staff at the university.

The university administration does not appear to respect this labor, however. Building service workers have long been understaffed and overworked, while dining workers struggle to maintain their hours during summer lay-offs. All are underpaid and overly policed by their supervisors. The administration has shown that it is more concerned with SEIU workers tucking in their shirts than it is with paying them a living wage and ensuring their safety in the workplace.

In bargaining, the administration is pleading that they do not have enough funding to properly pay SEIU workers. This is despite the fact that the university is in its strongest financial position in years and has a seemingly endless stream of money with which to make multi-million dollar renovations and additions to buildings and facilities on campus–buildings that SEIU workers will be cleaning and maintaining.

We call on the administration to prioritize paying all of its workers a livable, decent wage, and to provide safe working conditions through a fair contract. We, the NTFC, stand with the SEIU’s fight for a #SayinPay, and will support them however we can.

In Solidarity,

The Non-Tenure Faculty Coalition Local #6546 AFT/IFT/AAUP

Information Sessions about the New Tentative Agreement

Our members are about to have a ratification vote on the new contract proposal! We want to make sure that members have all of the information they need to be able to make their decision. On July 3rd and July 8th, from 12:30 to 4:30pm, there will be information sessions on the new Tentative Agreement at the NTFC Office. Some of our officers will be present to answer all of your questions and concerns about the new proposal at these times.

There are also several digital resources available that provide more information about the new TA. Our Treasurer and our Bargaining Team Chair created a video that dissects some of the most important parts of the new proposal. At the top of this page is also a graphic that gives an overview of how this proposal compares to our first contract.

If you would like to see the full contract proposal, please send us an email at ntfc6546@gmail.com with the subject line “View Full TA Request”. We cannot yet make the proposal public, so it is only available by request from our members at this time.

This is an important time for our union, and we want to make sure everyone feels comfortable moving forward with their voting decisions. If you have any concerns, again, please reach out to us!

Bargaining Update 6/21/19

We are proud to announce that we have reached a tentative agreement on the full contract for August 2019 to August 2023.

After more than a dozen bargaining sessions, meeting weekly, we have reached an agreement addressing all the priorities we heard from our members.

Among other things, the agreement guarantees:

Merit pools for every year of the contract
Merit pools include a minimum pay increase
Increases to the pay-floor
Professional development funds for every single person every year of the contract
Compression raise for those who have been employed at least 5 years
Solidifies current promotion structures in the collective bargaining agreement
A one-time signing bonus to alleviate increases to health insurance in the first year
Multi-year contracts for the professorial track, and those outside the professorial track retain the 1+1 rolling benefit
Process for gaining access to the library after retirement
Improved union rights to data about our unit and presentation time at new faculty orientation
Departments will have to publicize workloads for full time positions, so it’s clear that extra work requires extra pay

In the coming days, you will have the opportunity to review the full contract language in order to vote on whether you think the union should ratify the contract.

This would not have been possible without your commitment to showing up at bargaining sessions, communicating your priorities to Stewards, and the Call-the-Provost action this week. NTFC is an entirely member-run union, so this win belongs to everyone who committed their time to making it possible.

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