January 30th, 2020 Negotiation Session
Notes contributed by Negotiating Team member Dr. David Johnston, Natural Sciences
The Oregon Tech and OT-AAUP bargaining teams met on Thursday, January 30 for the first session of their fifth round of negotiations.
Brian Caufield, Oregon Tech’s chief negotiator was at the Portland-Metro campus, and was joined by his colleague Christine Meadows, Assistant Director of Labor Relations at USSE. Dave Groff, General Counsel for Oregon Tech, joined as an observer.
The OT-AAUP team began the session by reading a statement drafted by Chief Negotiator, Cristina Negoita. The full text of the statement can be found on the OT-AAUP website. In summary, the statement reaffirmed the Associations position that, as part of current policy, the faculty expect, and should get, a 2% raise, WITHOUT needing to agree to any conditions. Additionally, we conveyed that many of the faculty are severely dismayed by the administration’s disregard for current policy and willingness to treat the faculty unfairly. We asked that these concerns be communicated directly to Dr. Naganathan. After, once again, stating their position that they believe Oregon Tech has acted within its rights, the Oregon Tech team agreed to convey our concerns directly to Dr. Naganathan.
The parties then began discussion of the proposals that both parties thought were close to agreement.
The OT-AAUP team presented counter proposals on Non-Discrimination and Notices & Communication.
The Oregon Tech team passed counter proposals on Preamble, Distribution of Agreement, Personnel Files, and No Strike/No Lockout.
Of note, the OT-AAUP team retained their language in the Non-Discrimination article to include harassment and retaliation. Additionally, the OT-AAUP team retained the language to include political affiliation and political activities as a protected class. The Oregon Tech team had no immediate questions or concerns, but stated that they would need to discuss the proposal in caucus.
The Personnel File proposal that Oregon Tech passed was a counter to OT-AAUP’s proposal from December 5. The OT-AAUP team had no immediate questions or concerns, and agreed to discuss it in their caucus.
The parties then agreed to adjourn for the rest of the session and discuss the articles that both parties felt were closest to reach tentative agreement on; namely, Preamble, Distribution of Agreement, Severability, and Notices & Communication.
January 31 negotiation notes can be found here.
