Today our bargaining committee passed a counter to the University’s proposal to change Article 6 (Discipline or Dismissal) and proposals related to our bargaining demand of improving Academic Excellence (contained in Workload, Workspace/Materials and Training). UW agreed to our proposal to reach Tentative Agreement on Article 25 (Training), which leaves the existing language unchanged. The University gave us a counter proposal on Article 4 (Appointment Notification), as well as Article 5 (Childcare), and stated that they maintain their last proposal on the Grievance Procedure. While they did not pass a counter to our Leaves proposal they made the absurd statement that it could cost $43 million per year.
During our discussion about Non-Discrimination UW continued to show little willingness to agree to our proposal to take on issues of institutional oppression and exclusion by incorporating language that would provide ways of grieving microaggressions.
As for economic topics, UW today proposed a cut in tuition waivers, that would represent at least $160 per quarter increase in mandatory fees. Specifically they proposed that the SFR and UPass Fees will become mandatory for ASEs with waivers.
We stated categorically that this represents a significant take away to current terms of the agreement, that would result in ASEs taking a loss in pay, and that members had overwhelmingly cited fee waivers as among the most significant aspects of their compensation package. We also reiterated that the arbitrator had already ruled that imposing these fees in 2012 was a violation of the contract.
Last we continued to press UW to respond to our outstanding information requests and the status of the RFP for alternatives to the GAIP Plan. Again UW had no information forthcoming on this topic.
Our next bargaining session will take place Wednesday, April 9, at 12:00 noon in Condon 311. All members are encouraged to attend!
For a full list of bargaining dates and times please click see the union’s website or the union’s calendar.