Tag: tuition benefits

From the Table: April 18th, 2019 Negotiation Session

On Thursday, TAUP sat down with the University’s administration for the first day of open negotiations for a new contract. In addition to the table team, over 20 people from TAUP’s Collective Bargaining Unit showed up to observe the discussion, a great success for our first time using Open Bargaining, in which all members of the CBU are invited to attend.  Our next confirmed sessions are  May 3rd, 9:00 a.m.-noon and May 6, 1-5 p.m. at Temple University Center City. Let TAUP know if you’d like to attend.

Early Settlement

We are pleased by the cooperative spirit that the administration has shown in our complex discussions setting forth the process for these negotiations.  As we described in previous bulletins, we have agreed to pursue an early settlement on wages, benefits, and job stability/security, with parallel processes on other important issues, including rules defining who in the library is in the Union; grievances; resources for adjuncts to meet 1:1 with students and for other needs; workload concerns; and diversity.

We put a wide range of proposals on the table yesterday, all informed by our union’s central value–that our members should be treated as the professionals as they are and fully and equitably rewarded for their accomplishments. These are the proposals we put out this week; more are forthcoming.

Proposal: Compensation

  • Significant Across-the-Board raises

  • Increases in merit

  • New salary minima, that should increase every year of the contract

  • Increases in overload pay

  • Increases in summer pay

  • A research fund for FT faculty who conduct independent studies

  • Pay for adjuncts conducting independent studies

  • Pay for required adjunct service

Temple Can Afford these Increases  

Since signing the full-time contract in 2014 and an adjunct agreement in 2017, the University has been doing very well financially, with large increases in unrestricted net assets, a very large net positive in revenues over expenses, and a decrease in debt load.  Even with challenges on the horizon, we believe that Temple will continue to do well, thanks in significant part to the excellent work done by our faculty, librarians, and academic professionals. However, the percentage of Temple’s budget devoted to instruction has remained flat.  Many of our members struggle to pay their bills, to afford health care, and to balance their work lives with their lives outside of work. This must change.

Proposal: Increased Tenure-Track Hiring; Adjunct and Full-Time Non-Tenure Track Job Stability

  • A mandated increase in tenure-track hiring.

  • Priority in hiring and long-term contracts for adjuncts with significant length of service and who receive satisfactory evaluations

We believe that the lack of job stability for all of our faculty must be addressed. There is a side-letter in the contract that already commits Temple to tenure-track hiring, and although Temple has continued to hire some tenure-track professors, the statistics for at least two decades are clear–in total numbers and as a percentage of the faculty as a whole, tenure-track faculty numbers have declined at an alarming rate.  The percentage of tenure-track faculty within the bargaining unit as a whole be increased by a total of 1% for every year of the contract.

Those who are not eligible for the protections of tenure–approximately 75% of our bargaining unit–deserve more job stability.  Building on the good work done by the labor-management committees emerging out of the adjunct contract, we have proposed an avenue for adjunct faculty to gain priority in hiring and longer-term appointments.  This increased stability is tied to an evaluation processes that goes beyond SFFs, and ensures that our members have been given the guidance they need to excel in their department.

At our next session on May 3rd, we will be putting forth a job security proposal for full-time non-tenure track faculty.

Proposal: Maternity and Parental Leave; Sick Leave

  • 12 weeks of paid maternity leave, replacing the inadequate benefit for librarians and increasing the 8 weeks full-time members get, eliminating the classification of pregnancy as a sickness.

  • A modification that clarifies the benefit that gives full-time faculty who are new parents a semester free from teaching, to be used within 12 months of the child’s arrival.

  • Librarians’ sick leave no longer subject to a University rule not appropriate to professionals.

Proposal: Parity in NTT Pensions

The idea of parity extends beyond minimum pay.  One of our biggest gains in the 2014 contract was that the pension match for NTTs was brought close to parity with tenure-track faculty.  It is time to close that gap for these colleagues, and we have made a proposal to do just that.

Proposal: Merit Pay:  More Transparency and Equity for Research NTTs

TAUP often gets complaints from members who believe that the merit system is opaque and unfair, and there are never enough merit units to adequately reward the amazing work our members do.  In addition to proposing a bump in merit, we have proposed that departments specify the range of units members can expect for specific accomplishments. Some departments already do this, many do not, which leads to an unsettling unpredictability for our members.

We have also been informed that NTTs whose salaries come entirely from grants are not guaranteed the merit they are due; at best, they can build this into the salary requested in their grant applications. We have proposed a solution to this.

Proposal: Childcare and Tuition Benefits at Other Schools

We reminded the administration that the joint Faculty Senate-TAUP Committees conveyed proposals on these two important issues last May and that the contract requires a formal administrative response that is long overdue.

How You Can Help: Rally on May and Upcoming Negotiation Sessions

Support TAUP in its fight to realize a vision of Temple where our members are properly rewarded and our teaching, research, and service are better-supported.

Join us for a rally at the Bell Tower on May 1st from 12-1

If you would like to support the Table Team by attending the May 3rd, 9-noon and/or May 6th, 1-5.p.m. bargaining sessions, RSVP to let TAUP know.

TAUP’s Table Team

Member

Constituency

School

TAUP role

Steve Newman

Tenured/Tenure Track

CLA

President

Jennie Shanker

Adjunct

Tyler

Vice President

Norma Corrales-Martin

Non-Tenure Track

CLA

Treasurer

Fred Rowland

Librarian

Exec. Committee

Chair Library Constituency Council

Don Wargo

Non-Tenure Track

CLA

Exec. Committee

Member-at-Large NTT Constituency Council

Paul LaFollette

Tenured/Tenure Track

CST

TAUP Member

Zoe Cohen

Adjunct

Tyler

Exec. Committee

Chair Adjunct Constituency Council

ALTERNATES

Jeff Solow

Tenured/Tenure Track

Boyer

Exec. Committee

Member-at-Large TT Constituency Council

Sam Allingham

Adjunct

CLA

Member-at-Large, Adjunct Constituency Council

Debbi Casey

Non-Tenure Track

Fox

TAUP Member

Nia Jackson

Academic Professional

CLA

TAUP Member

 

Keep up to date with TAUP by following our social media:

Twitter: @TAUP

Facebook: @TAUPAFT

Instagram: @taup4531

 

Welcome Back Day 2: Update on Projects and Committee Work

eBulletin 20180827

Here’s an update on some of the work that union members and elected representatives have been working on throughout the summer.

Labor/Management Committees: As a result of the negotiations for adjuncts, representatives from Temple’s administration, faculty and TAUP representatives have been meeting.

  • One committee has been looking at adjunct office space and other resources (secure storages space, office supplies, software licenses, etc.). A survey has been developed that should be sent to all adjunct faculty this semester. The results should help in gaining an understanding of where there are needs to be addressed.  
  • The Job Security Committee has met multiple times and has engaged in productive and sometimes difficult discussions on possible ways to increase job security at Temple and universities where this has been done. We have not come to any agreements, but we have discussed the key role assessment would likely play in any job security proposal, whether  longer-term contracts for adjuncts, preference in course assignments, or paths to full-time employment. Fair assessment, we believe, would require more than Student Feedback Forms, which have been proven repeatedly to be of limited value; but we also acknowledge that peer mentorship and evaluation require significant investments if they are to be done well.  Wherever these discussions may lead, we believe greater job security is essential for adjuncts (and NTTs!), about half of whom have been teaching at Temple for over five years. They need and deserve a more substantial commitment than one semester at a time. Temple’s current policies do, in fact, allow for adjuncts to receive one-year appointments, though to the best of our knowledge it is rarely done. This committee work has given the administration and TAUP a better understanding of what is possible and what we need to work towards together.

Grievances and Faculty Safety: To protect the rights of our members and to defend the contract, TAUP has filed grievances on behalf of tenured, full-time non-tenure track and adjunct faculty over the course of the year and has filed for arbitration in a couple of cases.  We have also been working with the administration to try and solve disputes informally. Having been informed of many cases where faculty have been assaulted or mistreated by students and have not felt sufficiently supported by the administration, we have asked you to tell us of your experiences.   One important element in the contract that members need to keep in mind:  If you believe your rights under the contract have been violated, you need to file a grievance 20 working days after the action you are grieving if you are full-time, 10 days if you are part-time.

Child Care and Tuition Benefits at Other Schools: We have contacted the administration about the proposals we submitted jointly with the Faculty Senate on these two issues and hope to be hearing back this Fall.  We are also planning a Child Care Symposium on October 24th; details to be announced soon!

Data Committee:  We have been looking into the shift over the past few decades from tenure-track to full-time non-tenure track and adjunct work as well as the role of race and gender in hiring, retention, and promotion.   Once we feel confident in our data and analysis, we will be communicating with you about it.

Organizing Committee: Much of the work of this committee was reported on in yesterday’s eBulletin

Bargaining Committee and Negotiating Team Planning:  In Spring 2019 we’ll be back at the table negotiating with the University. The Executive Council has agreed to a process for selecting members of the Negotiating Team (the faculty, librarian and academic professional representatives who are at the negotiation table). Constituency Councils will take the lead in finding and selecting constituent representatives for this role. The Bargaining Committee engages in research and support work related to what is occurring at the table. If you are interested in supporting this work, please let us know.

Academic Freedom and Faculty Governance:  Concerned by many reports of the erosion of faculty governance–exemplified by the scandal at Fox– and academic freedom, we have convened a working group to address these issues and hope to work closely with the Faculty Senate.  We will be sending out a survey shortly as a first step toward gathering faculty, librarians, and academic professionals for discussions and to writing a report on the state of these issues, with recommendations and demands.

Look for our eBulletin tomorrow on the Fast Fund and Art Hochner Travel Fund.