Our annual summer retreat, open to all members, was held Aug 3-4, 2017. Members who attended discussed successful actions taken by the union, and ideas for things that the union needs to do in future. After a selection process and a vote, members identified three main priorities:

• Increasing NTFC membership (signed members)
• Increasing the participation of members in union actions
• Increasing the relevance of the union to campus community

Implementation committees  are being created to organize tasks around these goals. If you are interested in volunteering, email us at local6546.org/contact.

In July we surveyed NTFC members to seek input on whether to reopen wage negotiations this Fall. Our contract (Collective Bargaining Agreement) afforded us the option to reopen bargaining this year on the subject of wages only.

The results from our member survey on this question were mixed. About a third of respondents recommended that we should reopen negotiations, another third was undecided, another third clearly recommended that we should not. Our members and stewards also debated the wage reopener during the summer retreat, where concerns were expressed about how reopening bargaining might divert our energies from other important goals.

After weighing the various pros and cons identified by members, the Executive Committee voted unanimously AGAINST reopening wage negotiations. The reasons for the no votes were generally two: 

• It is more important to focus on the bargaining for a new contract in 2018
• It is more important to put our energies towards the union goals of the current year.