December 6, 2019 Negotiation Session
Notes contributed by Negotiating Team member Dr. David Johnston, Natural Sciences
On December 6, 2019, the Oregon Tech and OT-AAUP negotiating teams met for the second session of their fourth round of negotiations.
The OT-AAUP team presented their counter proposals to Preamble, Severability, and Totality of Agreement.
There was some discussion over the language that OT-AAUP added to the Preamble article, as well as over some of the language OT-AAUP removed from the Severability article. OT-AAUP explained that the added language was meant to help set the tone for the agreement, to remind all parties why the faculty voted to unionize, and emphasize that all parties are devoted to the improvement of the University. The Oregon Tech team was concerned that additional language could provide an avenue for faculty in the future to file a grievance against the University. Both teams agreed to present a new Preamble counter at the next negotiating session.
As to the Severability proposal, the OT-AAUP team felt it was prudent to keep the Severability article short, as many of the points in the original proposal are covered under Oregon State law. There was a brief discussion over whether it was best to include language from the statute. The Oregon Tech team stated they would review the issue and present a counter proposal at a later time.
The Oregon Tech team agreed, in principle, to the Totality of Agreement counter proposal, but said they wanted to discuss it one more time.
The OT-AAUP also presented a new proposal, Personnel Files, which dealt with the ability of faculty to have access to their personnel files stored both by Human Resources and the Provost’s office. The Oregon Tech team asked for some clarification around the timelines and type of information that was kept in these files. The teams agreed that the Oregon Tech team would review this article further and present a counter at a later time.
The Oregon Tech team presented a counter to OT-AAUP’s Non-Discrimination proposal. The Association team was concerned that the counter referenced current OIT policy, and voiced their concern regarding the administration’s “flexibility” when following or applying current policy. OT-AAUP said they would review Oregon Tech’s proposal and would likely counter at the next session.
The Oregon Tech team also presented a proposal on Notices & Communications, which deals with how the University and the Union should exchange official notices. The Oregon Tech proposal called for email to be the primary means of communication. There followed some discussion about the reliability and security of email. It was decided that the OT-AAUP team would propose a counter at the next session.
Lastly, the teams agreed on meeting times for the Winter 2020 term. The teams will meet on January 16 & 17, January 30 & 31, February 13 & 14, February 27 & 28, and March 12 & 13.
*In an email conversation from December 12, 2019. It was decided to cancel the February 13 & 14, due to the New Wings Registration event.
