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Bargaining VI – 9AM 7/16/2020

You can register to watch  here, and will then receive a Zoom link via email. Liveblog, usual disclaimer: my thoughts on what people are saying, trying to say, trying to be thinking, etc. Nothing is a quote unless in ” ” ‘s.

10:00: Sorry, I’m tuning in late, trying to catch up.

Matella: Suppose we have a $1M state cut and a $10M tuition shortfall (projected from fall enrollment) and a $10M trigger/threshold. Faculty would be responsible for 39% of the $1M.

A 15% drop is about a $50-60M loss. So it’s very possible we get to the proposed $25M threshold. Pay cuts are a temporary solution to this temporary loss.

A state budget cut, however, will be assumed to be permanent. Pay cuts are not appropriate for dealing with permanent losses – instead we’ll need to cut baseball, close law school and CoD, etc. But we’ll need pay cuts in the short term. Also, permanent enrollment cuts will mean we’ll need fewer faculty (and fewer AVPs?)

In response to a comment, from here: 

State lobbyist Libby Batlan predicts that this year there will be no cut to state funding, and explains that they are working to make sure UO gets its share of the CARES act etc.

State lobbyist Hans Bernhard explains that they’ve been working very hard to get state funding for more construction.

Bernhard: I know people won’t believe this, but “I cannot remember the last time I had a conversation about funding for Knight Campus or the Track and Field championships”. [Bit late for that, really, the legislature still feels burned, and we still look like a rich big-time sports party school.]

Cecil: So, the people lobbying for Oregon 22 are not paid out of UO or Foundation funds? Batlan: No.

Back to bargaining:

Cecil: Suppose we accept one-time pay cut in fall. Are you going to come back to us in spring and give us another ultimatum offer threatening the career faculty?

Matella: She’s talking, and may answer the question some day. …. Answer is yes, they might have to do that.

Matella: You’re just going to have to trust us if you want a deal. And no, we’re not going to agree to rules that will prevent us from pissing away the savings on sports events, or subsidizing the law school.

Sinclair: Trust you? He goes on to share a few thoughts:

Lunch break until 12:45

Meanwhile here’s UO Foundation CEO Paul Weinhold promising to use the full faith and credit of the Foundation’s $1 Billion endowment to support the university’s teaching and research mission during this crisis.

Just kidding, he’s promising IAAF Pres Lamine Diack he’ll use it to make good on any losses from the Track and Field championships:

Screen Shot 2015-12-19 at 11.33.15 PM

Last month French prosecutors asked for a 4 year sentence for Diack on corruption charges.

1:05PM, Admin team is still caucusing.

1:24, they’re back. Cecil has some revised bullet points but he’s scrolling through them too fast to capture. Seems to be going well with Matella.

Union pulls back on plans for a buyout program to replace expensive, troublesome, deadwood TTF with younger, smarter, cheaper assistant profs:

Matella: Hmm, would like to get this done.

Matella: Today has been productive, helpful.

Cecil: Kumbaya, but verify.

Break until 3PM

3:25 – they’re back. Working on procedures to get specific language. Union e-team will work with admin’s on details of pay cut plan.

3:50 – that’s it. Back Tu at 9AM, getting closer to agreement.

11 Comments

  1. Dog 07/16/2020

    UOmatters

    to help keep revenue loss in more understandable terms, could you please, if possible, translate dollar losses into percent – for instance
    what percent of normal tuition revenue does 10M represent?

    thank you

    • honest Uncle Bernie 07/16/2020

      Also need data on expenditures including within the key category of general operating reveneue. Where are they proposing to cut? Faculty? OA’s?

      • Fed up 07/16/2020

        Faculty? OA’s? Absolutely important. Meanwhile, what about the many classified? Many are already laid off. What about cutting OA’s but sliding them into classified positions? What about laying off classified and using temps? Or laying off classified while opening other classified positions? WTAF?

  2. Dog 07/16/2020

    thanks for the table., that’s a big help in interpreting these reductions

    so 10M is really 10 out of 385 or about a 3% cut – wow, surely
    it will be bigger than that …

  3. thedude 07/16/2020

    Let’s not forget now that people can work remotely anywhere for the next year or two, a lot of tax paying Californians are buying up local property to move here and enjoy some outdoors. It’s not clear the tax situation will end up nearly as bad as Q2 looks once Q3 rolls around.

    Let’s mask up and get back to work.

  4. Anonymous 07/16/2020

    Why won’t the admin talk about what is being done with, say, law school faculty? Nothing public on their salaries and potential pay cuts? Not part of union but they are part of UO so seems fair to mention

    • CSN 07/16/2020

      The gist of what I’m hearing is that the admin wants to try to apply the same plan to everyone — UA is sort of a first-mover in a sense.

  5. Dog 07/16/2020

    Since we are all about criterion these days, criterion for re-opening etc. Will JH convene a special let’s evaluate deadwood committee to apply uniformly to all potential deadwood faculty cases?

  6. Environmental necessity 07/16/2020

    What I find dispiriting is seeing the obviously very smart Ms. Matella play dumb and the overmatched Mr. Cecil play smart.

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