Labor Relations

AFT – UW Negotiations Recap for May 18, 2022

Background
This recap details the fourth virtual session for the renewal of the collective bargaining agreement (CBA) between the University of Washington and AFT. Recaps are published online on the UW Labor Relations website.

 

Tentative Agreements:
The parties tentatively agreed to maintain current contract language on the following provisions:

  • Preamble
  • Article 3 – Union Security
  • Article 8 – Management Rights
  • Article 12 – University Suspended Operations
  • Article 17 – Benefits
  • Article 19 – Performance Appraisal
  • Article 20 – Labor Management Committee
  • Article 22 – Complete Agreement and Conformity to Law
  • Article 23 – Successor Agreement
  • Article 25 – Academic Freedom

 

UW Initial Proposals

Article 2 – Definitions
The Employer proposed housekeeping changes that would update pronouns to gender-neutral language, update the term “preference sheet” to “preference sheet survey,” and remove the terms “Week 0” and “Designated Sub,” which are not currently in use.

Article 4 – Union Rights
The Employer proposed language that would discontinue the 33% FTE position that is allocated to union reassigned time.

Article 5 – Non-Discrimination
The Employer proposed added language that would refer to Executive Order 31 and include all categories protected under Executive Order 31, including the new categories of genetic information, citizenship, and pregnancy.

Article 15 – Leaves of Absence
The Employer proposed changes to clarify how time off can be applied during a PFML leave of absence and adding a reference to Article 2 for the definition of “family member.”

UPASS Side Letter
The Employer proposed language to extend the subsidized UPASS for Extension Lecturers with a 33% appointment or greater for the duration of the upcoming contract and adding clarifying language to state that the employee is responsible for stopping their payroll deductions if they were formerly paying for a UPASS.

 

AFT Proposals

The Union proposed changes to the language of Article 9 – Work Assignment Roster, Article 10 – Separation, and Article 16 – Job Descriptions and Workload as a package proposal as follows:

  • Article 9 – Work Assignment Roster
    The Union proposed language that would allow 9-month academic year appointments to be less than 100% FTE. The Union also proposed language that employees who leave UW employment, then return to Extension Lecturer positions after 5 years or less would not repeat a probationary period; this is an increase from the current contract language, which specifies 3 years. Finally, the Union proposed moving language from the MOU regarding Work Assignment Roster into Article 9.
  • Article 10 – Separation
    The Union proposed a change to language specifying that the Work Assignment Roster would be used for determining recalls, thereby eliminating the current first-in-first-out order of the recall pool.
  • Article 16 – Job Descriptions and Workload
    • Job responsibilities
      The Union agreed to the addition of completion of Title IX training as another example of training required as part of the core job responsibilities and proposed counting it as a non-curricular project for the purposes of determining pay rate for the training.
    • Calendar
      The Union accepted the Employer’s proposal that dates for the Academic English Program would adhere to the University’s academic calendar and proposed that the dates for non-AEP programs would also adhere to the University’s academic calendar.
    • Voluntary change in workload
      In response to the Employer’s proposal, the Union proposed to clarify that the only Extension Lecturers that need to request pre-approval from the Senior Director to work less than 100% FTE or to work for other UW departments are Extension Lecturers with a 100% annual contract. 

The Union also proposed language to individual articles as follows:

Article 13 – Personnel Files
In response to the Employer’s proposal, the Union accepted language stating that materials in employee Annual Files would be dispositioned after 3 years and that materials in prior to dispositioning, a copy of those materials would be provided to the employee if requested but added language specifying that the Employer will reach out employees to notify them when materials are scheduled to be dispositioned and inquire if they would like a copy rather than relying on the employee to proactively contact the employer.

Article 18 – Professional Development
The Union agreed to strike language stating that the Senior Director needs to obtain budget approval from the Vice Provost of Continuum College for Professional Development requests exceeding $1,000 per fiscal year but maintained that the University will cancel classes one day during each Autumn and Spring quarter for in-service training for Extension Lecturers.

Article 19 – Performance Appraisal
The Union accepted the Employer’s proposal that teaching observations would be conducted every four years for Extension Lecturers with more than 10 years of teaching experience in IELP. The Union proposed additional language that specifies that teaching observations would only occur in in-person classroom settings; Extension Lecturers teaching synchronous or asynchronous courses online would have their teaching observations postponed until their next in-person teaching assignment takes place.

Article 21 – Compensation
The Union proposed language increasing pay rates as follows:

  • Substitute Teaching: an increase from $70/hour to $85/hour
  • Test Proctoring: an increase from $35/hour to $42.50/hour
  • Test Rating: a general increase from $70/hour to $85/hour with specific increases to each type of test
  • Practice Interviews (renamed from BEIC Interviews to include additional interview types): an increase from $35/hour to $42.50/hour
  • IELP lectures or presentations:
    • A lecture prepared in advance: an increase from $140/hour to $170/hour for 1 hour and an increase from $70 to $85 for 30 minutes
    • A videotaped exam lecture: an increase from $140/hour to $170/hour
    • A non-prepared Q&A session: an increase from $70/hour to $85/hour
  • Presentations or lectures for the I-TEFL English Language Learning program: an in
  • Non-curricular projects (also to include required trainings): an increase from $35/hour to $42.50/hour
  • Lead Teacher pay: an increase from $1300/quarter to $1400/quarter
  • Minimum monthly salary: for 0-10 years of experience, an increase from $3960/month to $42573/month; for 10-15 years of experience, an increase from $4070/month to $4375/month; and 15 years of experience or more, an increase from $$4290/month to $4611/month.
  • Base salary: increases to base salary (across the board increases) as follows:7.25% on July 1, 2022; not less than 4% on July 1, 2023; and not less than 3% on July 1, 2024.

The Union proposed new language adding a $2000 one-time lump sum payment for each member of the bargaining unit for pandemic relief.

The Union proposed to add language stating that retired Extension Lecturers are eligible for merit increases. The Union proposed striking language stating that Extension Lecturers must work 50% FTE or more for 3 or 4 quarters during the annual review cycle in order to receive merit pay and striking language specifying that Fellowship and Fulbright programs do not count towards FTE counted for eligibility for merit pay.

 

Next Steps

The next AFT and UW bargaining session is scheduled for Wednesday, May 25, 2022 and will be held virtually.