Bargaining Recap- 4/9/21

 “Leaders and Best?!”: Admin Proposals Lag Behind Peer Institutions 

We got our first “package” from admin on Friday, which included Salary, Professional Development, Felony Disclosure, and Child Care. A “package” is “to be considered a proposal in its entirety.” Agreement on any of the proposals is “predicated on the agreement to all proposals as written.” Of course, we do not have to accept the package or any of its parts. We have the option to repackage or deal with proposals individually in our counter. 

On salary, they proposed a $1500 increase to the minimums in Year 1 for Dearborn & Flint only. That $1500 increase would be added to the base salary of all lecturers with no additional raise in the first year. Year 2 and 3 would have an annual increase of 2.25% in Ann Arbor. Dearborn and Flint are tied to the Tenure-Track with a floor of 2.25%. On longevity, they countered with 3% that would only take place upon completion of a 2nd Continuing Review. They’re still refusing the $30 million for the long-term viability of Dearborn and Flint. Pay Start Date, will be September for everyone, although lecturers on the 12 month pay schedule would get the July/August prepayment in December. There will be NO retroactive payment for lost wages in past years.

Their professional development proposal returns mostly to the current contract language with a modest increase to the funds of $1,000 each year on each campus. The LEO professional development committee developed the initial proposal to address the issues of accessibility to funding. Admin made the argument for only offering $1000 to each lecturer because they want more people to have access to the funds. We think the best way for this to happen is to increase the funds and make the process easier! 

Admin rewrote their proposal on Felony Disclosure and expanded on it for clarity, including the arbitration process. They restricted its parameters to “job-related” offenses and clarified the due process and arbitration procedures. They insist that even charges that are dropped must be disclosed and failure to do so can lead to discipline.

Again, the entire child care proposal was crossed out. Admin is unwilling to even consider including LEO representation on any future committees that might form around Childcare, which is something included in the House Officers’ collective bargaining agreement. 

Admin also gave counterproposals on Article XVII: Benefits Eligibility and then MoU 2: Full-time Opportunities for Lecs and there were a number of questions from our side. MOU 2’s language now mirrors something very similar to our current contract language. The rationale behind our changes was to strengthen the existing language and practice of offering more work to part-time and laid-off lecturers. 

We passed back the Computer MoU proposal after moving significantly. In its current form, all lecturers have use of a computer on campus or remotely. This includes maintenance and sufficient hardware for teaching. We are hopeful that we will reach an agreement there soon.  

It is obvious that UM is lagging behind peer institutions on many fronts: Salary, Child Care, Felony Disclosure, & Teaching Professor to name a few. The university has said they plan to be “more fiscally conservative” in the coming year due to the pandemic. The austerity narrative has been employed to defend their lack of movement, but we know that the university is still in strong financial shape and this is really a question of priorities. They’re saying our contract asks are “about eight times the cost of their previous contract, the largest yet in LEO history.” But a reminder that our last contract brought lecturers out of poverty wages but our salaries are by no means comparable to other institutions. Administrative salaries and the numbers of administrators are at an all-time high. Lecturers teach the majority of classes at the university and bring in a significant amount more than we are paid. Moreover, the only reason it is 8 times as high is because we are insisting on adequately funding Flint and Dearborn, which UM has failed to do. 

LEO members turned their frustration with Admin’s package into action this Saturday! We had an incredible turnout of lecturers and allies for our yard sign action and march outside of President Schlissel’s residence. Students, staff, tenure-track faculty, GEO and UPAMM members, Michigan Medicine workers, and other community allies all came out to support the contract fight. Check out the coverage of it in the Michigan Daily. 

LEO members and allies march for Dignity, Parity, and Respect outside of President Schlissel’s residence this Saturday in Ann Arbor.