UPDATED: July 23, 2020

The University has followed up on our concerns and those expressed by other members of the faculty by adding the following language to the pledge:

“Faculty, staff and students are not required to sign the Illinois Community Pledge. Those who sign the Pledge are not entering into a binding agreement with the University, but instead are voluntarily expressing their personal commitment to keeping the campus community safe.”

This was further clarified in a message shared by the Executive Committee of the Academic Senate that you may have received from your home departments. (full text below)

Given this information, we recommend that you review the pledge and consider signing at your own discretion. We do not foresee any resulting issues with disciplinary procedures or unfair contractual obligations for those who choose to sign the pledge. 

As always, stay safe and healthy in these times and reach out to us with your work-related questions and concerns. We’re here to help in whatever way we can!

In solidarity, 

The NTFC Executive Committee

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Full text of email from Academic Senate Executive Committee:

Many of you have had questions about whether the COVID-19 Illinois Community Pledge is a legally binding document. We have now followed up with the Offices of the Chancellor and Provost to confirm that the answer to this question is no. To make this clear, the new version of the pledge explicitly states now that “[t]he pledge is a voluntary way to show your Illinois family that you care.” The term “voluntary” contains a footnote with the following explanation: “Faculty, staff and students are not required to sign the Illinois Community Pledge. Those who sign the Pledge are not entering into a binding agreement with the University, but instead are expressing their personal commitment to keeping the campus safe.” 

Given the level of interest in this topic, we recommend that you forward this e-mail to members of your units. We have been informed that over the coming weeks, the pledge at the link above will also be updated to add further background and supporting information to the sections on contact tracing, You should be able to see those updates as they appear. I hope you are all well and that this message helps to address some questions and concerns that senators and other members of our community have had with respect to the pledge. The Senate Executive Committee will continue to keep you apprised of developments that may be relevant as we learn of them.

In Solidarity

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NTFC Communications Committee

UPDATED: JUNE 23, 2020

The transition to online-only teaching, the closing down of campus, and other, significant changes to working conditions brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic have resulted in two recent bargaining sessions between NTFC representatives and the administration. Like many other higher education unions, we worked to develop a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the administration to get these items guaranteed by a written agreement.

The MOU memorializes the parties’ understandings about how the unprecedented circumstances of Spring 2020 affect the existing collective bargaining agreement. The parties also note that, because the COVID-19 pandemic is a dynamic situation, further bargaining may be needed to address future developments. Overall, it is the desire of the University to minimize the impact of COVID-19 on employees as much as possible

Items Covered by the MOU

The items here cover the impact of Spring 2020 on current and future matters. They have been agreed to and are awaiting final signatures. Bargaining sessions regarding the impact of mixed in-person and online instruction in the fall semester are schedule to begin in early July. The administration is in accordance with the following:

Promotions 

It is the intent of the University that these processes continue as usual, with as little impact from COVID-19 as possible. A communication will be sent from the Provost’s office to College human resource (HR) staff advising them that faculty processes should continue, which will include specialized faculty. Any specific issues with these processes should be brought to Labor and Employee Relations (LER) so they can be addressed. 

ICES Scores

Including Spring 2020 ICES scores for any future evaluation and promotion purposes will be optional, with no negative impact for those who choose not to include these scores. The University recognizes that this is an unusual time, and that students may use ICES scores as an opportunity to express frustrations about course-related matters over which specialized faculty members have no control.

Evaluation of Research, Service, Artistic, and Creative Work

The parties acknowledge that the pandemic could have a negative effect on the productivity of bargaining unit members in their research, service, artistic, and creative work. The effects of the disruptions caused by the pandemic on the research programs of bargaining unit members may have ramifications beyond Spring 2020. Departmental, college, and university bodies that evaluate the research, service, artistic, and creative activity of bargaining unit members shall take into account the short-term and long-term effects of the pandemic when making decisions evaluating bargaining unit members. Further, those decisions will in no way hold reduced research, artistic, or creative activity due to the pandemic against faculty in cases of evaluation or promotion. In performance evaluations, bargaining unit members may note reduced activity due to the effects of the pandemic.

Reappointments and Multi-year Contracts

NTFC members who are eligible for multi-year contracts and had already been notified of their eligibility do not need to receive the typical communication required by Article X, Section B(2) regarding their reappointment status, since the multi-year contract confirms that they are being reappointed for the upcoming academic year. In lieu of the reappointment communication, an e-mail was sent to these members to notify them that the multi-year contract would serve as their notification, and that they would not receive a separate notice.

Rollover of Professional Development Funds

The Union requested that members be able to rollover professional development funds, considering that many specialized faculty members typically use these funds in the Spring to attend conferences that were cancelled due to COVID-19. The University agrees that it makes sense to allow these funds to rollover on a one-time, non-precedent setting basis. This applies to professional development funds awarded pursuant to the collective bargaining agreement.  Professional development funds awarded by colleges or departments separate and apart from the collective bargaining agreement shall still follow existing college or department rules and procedures about such funds. Because these funds are handled within each college, the logistics of how the rollover is handled will need to be determined.

Inadvertent Data Breaches

The University recognizes that the move to online courses is new for many specialized faculty members, and that mistakes can happen. An initial data breach occurrence typically results in education of the specialized faculty member to prevent a similar incident from occurring in the future. Employment action, including discipline, is typically issued for willful breaches, or for recurrent issues.

Our union works best when we all communicate what our concerns and priorities are. Have something you want us to discuss at the next bargaining session? Contact us.

In Solidarity

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NTFC Communications Committee

The transition to online-only teaching, the closing down of campus, and other, significant changes to working conditions brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic have resulted in two recent bargaining sessions between representatives of NTFC and the administration. Like many other higher education unions, we’re now working towards a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the administration to get these items guaranteed by a written agreement.

Items to be Covered by the MOU

There has been some informal discussion of what this fall will look like in terms of in-person/online-only instruction. On this topic, the administration indicated at our most recent meeting on May 1st that, should any in-person instruction resume, faculty would likely be given the opportunity to determine for themselves what risks they are willing to take. It was indicated that those over 60 or those who are otherwise put especially at risk by the virus will, in any case, likely not be required to resume in person instruction.

On the whole, we are confident that future bargaining sessions will continue in this positive direction.

The administration was amenable to the below proposals/discussions:

• Promotional Case Progress: we’re working to ensure that departments take into account the lack of peer to peer reviewing, the closure of labs, the closure of libraries, and the special circumstances affecting working conditions when considering promotions. We especially want the administration to instruct departments to consider the special circumstances and how they relate to promotions for those under or working toward Teaching Assistant Professor and Research Assistant Professor titles.
• ICES Forms: ICES Forms are slated to not be included in promotion dossiers, per the request of individual faculty members to have them removed. While this was earlier communicated by the Provost, we’re proposing this language be included in our MOU so that we can hold the administration to this promise for several years down the road.
• Mult-Year Contracts: We want the administration to remind departments of their obligations per Article X of our contract to offer multi-year contracts to certain faculty.
• Professional Development Funds: We’ve proposed that the $500 in Professional Development Funds guaranteed by our contract should rollover one time this year. This is due to the fact that many opportunities to use these funds, such as conferences or traveling for research, have been cancelled or made unsafe.
• Inadvertent Data Breaches: We don’t want faculty who are new to technology like Zoom and other online teaching tools to be punished should they violate data policies therein. Rather, we’re emphasizing that the administration instruct departments to provide resources and make a teaching moment out of any first-time offenses.

Our union works best when we all communicate what our concerns and priorities are. Have something you want us to discuss at the next bargaining session? Contact us.

In Solidarity

NTFC Communications Committee

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