Dear Colleagues,
I am writing you with some updates on the negotiating process to bargain our first contract.
The Research Teams (please see below for the list of teams and their chairs) have been meeting and working diligently over the past several weeks to develop contract language proposals, which the Negotiating Team (see below for team members) will use in the bargaining process over the next few months.
The Negotiating Team met with the Administration’s negotiating team in December to establish ground rules and a schedule for bargaining. The first bargaining meeting is happening today, Monday, January 23. The parties agree that future negotiation sessions will be scheduled from 2-5 P.M. on February 9, February 23, March 9, March 16, March 30, April 6, April 13, and April 27th, and mutually agreeable dates and mutually agreeable times thereafter.
We are all committed to negotiating a contract that best represents the collective needs and will of our bargaining unit. As such, an initial poll of bargaining unit members was administered last semester, and near the end of the semester, a more targeted poll was administered by the Promotion, Tenure, Evaluation, and Grievance group. Thank you to everybody who responded to these!
In the coming months, as negotiations proceed, we will continue to seek input from our union members. The next step in this process will be a series of focus group meetings hosted by the individual Research Teams. Please be on the look out for invitations to these meetings. All bargaining unit members will be informed about these meetings, but only members of the unit will be able to attend and provide input into the bargaining process. If you are not yet a member, you can join at https://www.aaup.org/membership/join, or you can join on the spot before the commencement of each meeting (a representative of the AAUP will be present at each meeting to answer questions and provide assistance in joining).
We are also fully committed to open communication throughout the negotiating process. Updates will be posted to the PSU-AAUP blog at https://plymouth-aaup.org/.
One final note: we are seeking volunteers to join the Communications Committee, particularly for assistance in updating the blog. If you have webmaster / blogging skills and are interesting in serving your union, please contact Cathie LeBlanc (cathieleblanc@gmail.com).
Please feel free to contact me or other members of the chapter leadership (listed at the bottom of the email) with any questions or concerns.
Best regards,
Jeremiah Duncan, President, Plymouth State University Chapter of the American Association of University Professors
Note: You are receiving this email because you are a member of the bargaining unit of the tenure-track professors at Plymouth State University and eligible to join the Plymouth State University Chapter of the AAUP. If you are not yet a member of union, please join by visiting https://www.aaup.org/membership/join. When you sign up, select the option “Non-Collective Bargaining Member,” although you will be joining our local collective bargaining unit in the process!
Chapter Leadership:
Executive Committee
President, Jeremiah Duncan
Vice President, Sam Miller
Treasurer, John Kulig
Secretary, Anne Jung-Mathews
Members at Large, Chris Chabot and Rebecca Noel
Two Immediate Past Presidents, Ann McClellan and Elliott Gruner
Chief Negotiator, Scott Coykendall
Chair of the Communication Committee, Cathie LeBlanc (ex officio)
Negotiating Team
Scott Coykendall (Chief Negotiator)
Liz Ahl
Ann McClellan
Alice Pearman
Justin Wright
Elliott Gruner (alternate)
Research Teams (Chairs)
Promotion, Tenure, Evaluation, and Grievance (Pat Cantor),
Workload (Anne Jung-Mathews),
Academic Freedom, Shared Governance, and Intellectual Property (Katie Herzig),
Compensation and Benefits (John Kulig)
Professional Development (David Mackey).
