Welcome Back! TAUP hopes you all had a wonderful summer and that your fall term will be exciting and rewarding.
As we begin the new semester, we want to remind you of the importance of knowing your contract–it sets the terms for all of our working conditions, including wages, benefits, and the right to grieve. You can find them here.
Negotiations and Open Bargaining
Protecting and expanding on the hard-won rights we’ve achieved over more than four decades are our key aims in the current contract negotiation–issues like healthcare costs, raises, the ability to grieve discrimination and health and safety issues, access to child care, and job security for full-time and part-time faculty are at stake.
We were hard at work this Summer, developing proposals, analyzing Temple’s finances, and meeting with the administration. Updates on negotiations can be found here. Although we have made progress on some issues, the administration has unfortunately put proposals on the table seeking to limit TAUP’s power to represent you and has not yet responded productively to many of our key proposals. We need to raise our collective voice to move the administration toward a more productive approach so that we can sign a contract that properly rewards our members–who teach and advise our students, do research, and serve the university and the public. Temple CAN do this; it has the resources. Our power to sway the administration comes from our solidarity in response. Contact our organizer, Jenna Siegel, at jsiegelaft@gmaill.com or 856-264-4130 to get plugged into our organizing efforts.
One of the best ways to get involved is to attend a bargaining session. Open bargaining offers a chance for all members of the bargaining unit to attend and witness negotiations between TAUP and the administration and offer their feedback during breaks.
This week, we have sessions Tuesday, the 27th from 12:30-5:00 and Friday, the 30th from 8:30-1:00. If you are interested in attending all or part of these sessions, RSVP here.
Constituency Happy Hours
Meet colleagues from across the university and enjoy a drink at one of the happy hours planned this week! It’s also a chance to meet colleagues who represent your constituency in TAUP, Share your experiences, have conversations about the state of negotiations, make new friends! All Happy Hours will be at the Draught Horse, 1431 Cecil B Moore Ave.
- Tenure/Tenure Track: Tuesday, August 27th from 5:00-7:00 RSVP here.
- NTT: Wednesday, August 28th from 4:30-6:30pm RSVP here.
- Adjunct: Thursday, August 29th from 5:00-7:00pm RSVP here.
Labor Day Parade
Every year, the Philadelphia AFL-CIO sponsors a Tri-State Labor Day Parade that TAUP participates in. It’s been a great year for labor, as we have continued to fight back against the Janus decision and worked to expand labor rights, and teachers’ unions have won important victories from West Virginia to LA to, closer to home, Arcadia, where a new faculty union has been established. Let’s gather to celebrate those victories and build solidarity for the fights to come! Details on the parade can be found here: Flyer. RSVP here.