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Union Members,
Big News! We just had our second bargaining session with our administration, and here is a quick recap.
We presented 10 new contract proposals. Our administrators are going to come back with counter proposals, but here is what we are trying to achieve:
- Recognition- All union contracts include an article that specifies who is in the union. This article confirms that all NTTF in BCLA, SFTV, and CFA are part of the union.
- NTT Faculty Language, Titles, Ranks, and Categories- This article seeks to align titles and ranks of NTT faculty with those used at other universities. This would ensure that LMU is following industry best practices by creating three ranks for each class of NTTF and outlining a clear path for promotion.
- Faculty Appointment, Reappointment, and Seniority- The goal of this proposal is to ensure that NTT Faculty who have a track record of effective and consistent teaching will not have their courses arbitrarily taken away and given to somebody else. It also calls for longer contracts and it ensures that our members will be given their course assignments early enough to plan for each semester.
- Provision for and Pathway to Full-Time Employment- Many of our part-time lecturers are interested in full-time employment, and this article seeks to achieve that by requiring the university to offer newly available classes to current lecturers (thus making them full-time) when it is possible to do so.
- Workload and Responsibilities- This article is intended to define the workloads and responsibilities of our unit members. It does this by providing clear examples of what work counts as service and what counts as teaching, and it also ensures that NTT faculty can attend departmental meetings.
- Posting Position Vacancies- When full-time NTT and tenure-track positions become available, the university must notify our members and provide enough time for them to put together an application. Qualified unit members will also be guaranteed a first round interview.
- Performance Evaluations- This article creates a schedule for evaluations and provides clear criteria for how faculty are to be evaluated. The goal of this article is to improve the quality of teaching at LMU, while also ensuring that the process is fair and that faculty are given opportunities for improvement and guidance when necessary.
- Unemployment Insurance- Many of our members are qualified to receive unemployment insurance when they are between contracts. This article ensures that the university responds promptly to EDD notices so that qualified members may use this program.
- Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program Certification- For the purposes of Public Service Loan Forgiveness certification, the university will consider all unit members as full time. This would allow members to qualify for loan forgiveness much sooner than they would as part-time employees.
- Outside Employment and Other Activities- This proposal guarantees that our members may pursue outside work while employed at LMU.
Our administration’s bargaining team did not provide feedback on any of the proposals that we presented in the first session. They also rejected our request to bargain alongside the visiting faculty union.
The next bargaining session will take place on Friday, February 14th.
And. if you have not already done so, we strongly urge you to vote “in support” on all measures on the NTTF Language, Titles, Ranks, and Categories Ballot that was sent to your LMU email address by the Faculty Senate on Monday last week (1/27). The ballot closes at 5pm tonight, so please be sure to vote ASAP if you have not done so already.
Best
Your Bargaining Action Team