Letter from the President: We Have a Deal! Late last night, we reached a tentative agreement with UO administration for our next contract. After 14 hours of intensive mediation (and an awesome accompanying sit-in in the EMU!), and despite a shady 11th-hour move by the UO bargaining team, we were…
UO Matters
The west coast urban CPI increased 3.1% last year. Mike Gottfredson & his well paid anti-union consultants tried a similar tactic during their effort to fight UO’s faculty union. The accent grave on vis-à-vis is a nice touch though – I wonder how much Ed Ray’s consultant charged for it.…
Traditionally this has been in the fall in front of the UO Senate, followed by some gentle Q&A. I’m assuming that this year’s speech – which I’ll guess will mention “student success” and “innovation” at least 20 times, and include no more than 5 of the devalued “excellence” buzz-word, has…
They want me to pay $180 for the rest of the docs, but were kind enough to offer this free teaser. It appears UO’s lobbyists Hans Bernard and Libby Batlan are helping Chuck Lillis and Angela Wilhems stack the UO Board with compliant trustees. They’ve replaced former NBC journalist Ann…
No evidence of Senate involvement at https://provost.uoregon.edu/ay2020-21-institutional-hiring-plan Applying Metrics and Data The IHP process is intended to be data-informed. Reference data for the IHP process is hosted on the Institutional Research website and will be updated in early November. The provost expects each proposal to be developed based on institutional metrics…
University Health Center is now scheduling time slots for UO faculty members and staff to receive their seasonal flu shots. To make an appointment, faculty and staff members should call 541-346-2559 on Mondays, Wednesdays or Fridays from 9 a.m. to noon. Flu shots will be administered at the health center…
Update 10/26: A bit more from reporter . Gina Scalpone in the ODE here: The bargaining teams for University of Oregon and the Graduate Teaching Fellows Federation issued a joint statement Friday, according to the UO Human Resources website: “We had the most productive meeting that we have ever had bargaining…
These are the 2018-2019 forecasts for the Athletic Department $120,584,750 in operating expenses, $120,584,750 in revenue. This is ignoring the ~$5M in subsidies from the academic side for the Jock Box, President Schill’s skybox, Lorraine Davis, etc. The ~$1.5M subsidy for the Hayward Field utility tunnel is buried somewhere else.…
Posted with the permission of Professor Ryan: U of O Matters has detailed the deceptive practices of the Barran Liebman law firm in its defense of the administration against Jennifer Freyd’s discrimination suit. This is all the more reason to be alarmed about the administration’s use of Barran Liebman…
The meeting, 3PM in 253 Straub, is open to the public under the ACP policy passed last year. Meanwhile the UO administration is developing its plans to hire faculty scabs, and faculty union Pres Chris Sinclair has issued guidance on how to avoid this fate. Remember, the best outcome for…
This may be the most interesting complaint since the “Bowl of Dicks“. From Recap here. So far our GCO doesn’t seem very worried about this $250M lawsuit – they haven’t even hired an attorney.
Dear Colleagues, The rains have begun, and midterm grading is lurking around the corner… but let the Faculty Club be your refuge from all storms! Here are some ways that the Faculty Club can help you: · Build camaraderie for your department, program or group by organizing an evening at…
10/18/2019 update from the GTFF:
Over the last three days, over 85% of the membership has cast ballots in our strike authorization vote, and 1,044 grad employees—over 95% of voters—said Yes! We’re standing firm: no cuts to health care and a fair contract NOW!
I still think President Schill will come to his senses on this, but if not the strike will presumably start Nov. 4th.
Update: Deans asking undergrads and faculty to scab on grad students
The former would be CAS divisional Dean Hal Sadofsky, asking faculty to help find undergrads to do the work of GEs. The link for sign-ups has now been taken down or moved. The latter would be SOMD Dean Sabrina Madison-Cannon:
I am asking Area Heads for the following information:
- Please identify faculty in your area (including yourself) who do not have a full workload for fall term.
- Please identify faculty in your area (including yourself) who are willing to volunteer their services during a strike even if they have a full workload.
UAUO Pres Chris Sinclair has the following advice for faculty on how to avoid becoming a scab:
Full pdf here.
10/17/2019: What should faculty do if our GE’s strike?
The GTFF and the Administration proposals are very close, and the administration can avoid a strike simply by agreeing to cover most of any increases in health care costs for years 2 and 3 of the contract. That’s pretty much it. This is the same deal SEIU just got – for PEBB, which is a much more expensive insurance plan.
On the off chance they don’t, UAUO Pres Chris Sinclair gives this advice to faculty on their obligations during the ensuing strike:
“We’re coming for you,” he said. “We’re coming to help these young athletes in the future, and the athletes of today, make sure that they don’t have to sacrifice their time and sacrifice, in many cases, their bodies without being fairly compensated.”
Our GE’s are voting this week on authorizing a strike, probably starting week 6. Presumably other deans are also planning on how to maintain undergraduate educative production – or at least pretend they are maintaining it – should the UO administration continue its quixotic effort to cut graduate students’ health…