This Just In: Partial Tentative Strike Settlement - Update

Wednesday, November 30, 2022

Our last post - yesterday - had only a portion of the tentative labor agreement covering some of the strikers participating in the student worker strike.* The union local, UAW 5810, has now posted a more complete summary:

Postdocs

The University proposed a comprehensive proposal to Postdocs that the bargaining team has tentatively agreed to... Highlights include:

• Compensation that addresses cost of living • Most Postdocs will receive a 20-23% salary increase (up to $12,000) by October 2023; over the course of 5 years as a Postdoc at UC, the current lowest paid

Postdoc would see a 57% salary increase; • For 2024-2027: 7.2% annual increase for Postdocs on the scale (3.5% scale increase and 3.7% experience step), 3% annual increase for above-scale Postdocs • Faster timeline to first experience-based step • Increase from 4 weeks to 8 weeks of Parental and Family Leave paid at 100% for all

Postdocs • Childcare subsidies that will start at $2,500 annually and increase to $2,800 annually – the first time Postdocs have won a childcare subsidy after 12 years of fighting • Lengthened initial appointments from 1 year to 2 years to ensure job security and longer visas • New Respectful Work Environment Article including industry-setting protections against abusive conduct and bullying that are fully grievable and arbitable • New Immigration Article with guaranteed leave time for immigration appointments and protections if immigration laws change • Protections for workers with disabilities that go beyond the ADA, guaranteeing interim accommodations while the interactive process is ongoing • Commitment to implement free transit passes within 3 years, and a commitment to bargain if free passes have not been implemented in that timeframe

• E-bike discount of at least 15% Academic Researchers

Tonight the University also made a comprehensive proposal to Academic Researchers that the bargaining team has tentatively agreed to. Highlights include:

• Compensation that addresses cost of living • A typical Academic Researcher will receive 29% in salary increases (between scale and merit increases) over the life of the contract • An Assistant Project Scientist hired in July 2022 would see their compensation increase by $3,078 by July 2023, by an additional $6,395 by July 2024, and by $19,423 by the end of the contract. • A Junior Specialist hired in July 2022 would see their compensation increase by $5,459 by July 2023; if they continued as an Assistant Specialist their salary would increase by an additional $6,668 by July 2024, and by a total of $20,620 over the life of the contract. • 8 Weeks of Parental and Family Leave paid at 100%, up from 70% pay • Better job security: Longer appointments before merit review, and fewer exceptions to 1-year minimum appointments • All ARs are now eligible to apply for PI status and UC commits to meet with the Union to discuss the expansion of Bridge Funding Programs at each campus • New Respectful Work Environment Article including industry-setting protections against abusive conduct and bullying that are fully grievable and arbitable • Protections for workers with disabilities that go beyond the ADA, guaranteeing interim accommodations while the interactive process is ongoing • Commitment to implement free transit passes within 3 years, and a commitment to bargain if free passes have not been implemented in that timeframe • E-bike discounts of at least 15% • An improved Union Security article to keep our union strong, and a better Grievance and Arbitration process to enforce the contract Full description at https://uaw5810.org/2022/11/29/major-victory-tentative-agreementsfor-ars-postdocs/. (A more complete version is available at this link.)

As previously noted, workers covered by the tentative agreement remain on strike since other locals have not reached a tentative contract. However, there could well be a tendency for others to follow the model that has been established. If not, our comments in past posts about the use of some form of arbitration and possible intervention by the governor remain. The fact that the tentative deal is for five years - a long duration compared to most labor agreements - suggests that UC is anxious not to have frequent repeats of such disputes.

* http://uclafacultyassociation.blogspot.com/2022/11/this-just-in-partial-tentativestrike.html.

To hear the text above, click on the link below:

https://ia601402.us.archive.org/25/items/big-ten/tentative%202.mp3

Sometimes No (US) News is Good News - Part 7 (Not Everyone Joins th...

Wednesday, November 30, 2022

We have been tracking law schools that have withdrawn participation from the US News and World Report rankings. At UC, these include Berkeley, UCLA, and Irvine. As blog readers will know, it all started with Harvard and Yale and then began to spread. But not all top schools are going along. From Inside Higher Ed:

The law schools of the University of Chicago and Cornell University may not love the U.S. News & World Report rankings, but they aren’t walking away from them. University of Chicago dean Thomas J. Miles wrote to students that “my past practice has been to avoid direct, public comment on the U.S. News ranking. The ranking is not our guide, and I prefer to shine a light on the substantive attributes that make our Law School the home of the most intellectually ambitious faculty and the most powerful legal education. Most of the data we supply to U.S. News are already public, and the rest is information we have no reason to withhold...

Cornell’s law school also announced that it will still participate in the rankings of U.S. News & World Report. “My own view is that the rankings distort academic decisionmaking, fail to adequately capture institutional quality, and create perverse incentives that are not in the best interests of students or the legal profession,” said Jens David Ohlin, dean of the law school. He added, “However, withdrawal from the rankings process will not have the desired impact that many assume that it will have. For one, U.S. News has said that it will continue to rank all law schools regardless of their level of participation...

Full story at https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2022/11/29/u-chicago-cornelllaw-schools-will-stay-%E2%80%98us-news%E2%80%99-rankings.

To hear the text above, click on the link below:

https://ia601402.us.archive.org/25/items/big-ten/not%20joining.mp3