Dear PSU Members

Dear PSU Members,

We had our seventh bargaining session on Thursday, June 26th, and bargaining is just now beginning in earnest.

You saw in our last update that management’s proposals to date reflect a “race to the bottom.” That hasn’t changed; management has not withdrawn any of their concessionary proposals. We made four more proposals seeking back-off time (reduced workload) for Union officers and bargaining team members who take on significant long-term commitments on behalf of the membership, updates to the agreed list of arbitrators, a new side letter on wellness, and language to protect the 2 new ‘holidays’ that fall just prior to New Year’s Day for 43-week employees who are on non-responsibility at that time. We are doing research and considering a small number of other proposals.

We have agreed that our next session with management, August 7th, will be the last day for new proposals from either side. That’s when the bargaining part of contract negotiations will really begin. In preparation, we are analyzing the data we’ve received from management in response to our “RFI” (request for information).

In the meantime, several of us from the bargaining teams on both campuses have attended meetings with representatives of the bargaining teams for the other unions – faculty, classified staff, and graduate students. We are doing our best to keep each other apprised of where things stand in our respective bargaining in order to collaborate where possible and to work strategically in support of each other so we all might achieve the best contract possible.

We will need your help, too! This is your contract, and if you read “The Soul of University” you know that the proposals we are seeing from management take us backwards and the climate is not good, so you know that we will need to fight for whatever we get. We need all of you to be up to speed on the issues and ready to show your support, voice your concerns and rise to the challenge to get the best possible contract we can. Stay tuned . . . and ready!

We thank you for your support.

Anneta Argyres (Boston)

Sarah Bartlett (Boston)
Carl Ericson (Amherst)
Tom Goodkind (Boston)
Claudia Heske (Boston)
David Lafond (Amherst)
Jane Lynch-Gilbert (Amherst)
JoAnne Martone (Amherst)
Tom McClennan (Boston)
Bert Szala (Amherst)
Ilona Trousdale (Amherst)
Richard Yam (Amherst)
Maura Sweeney (MTA staff)