By now, you are most likely aware that our bargaining unit overwhelmingly ratified the tentative agreement reached with the College on January 26, 2016.

We are awaiting the College Board of Trustees meeting on February 23, 2016, when we believe the College will vote on the settlement.

We shall post the results of the College’s ratification vote on this site as soon as it is available.

Thanks for your patience and support during the negotiating process.

The Governor's address to the General Assembly opened the 2016 Legislative Session.  The Governor made his budget proposal which targeted State Employees in several ways, including layoffs. 

“Wouldn’t it be great to have classroom teachers across the state talking collaboratively about how to improve the culture and learning climate in their schools?” asks Perth Amboy High School language arts teacher Stacy Lemongelli. Now the National Board Certified Teacher (NBCT) is a step closer to that aspirational goal with her selection to a teacher leadership advisory board, newly created by state legislation.

The University of Connecticut Professional Employees Association came to a contract agreement with the University in late December.  The members voted in favor of the contract 3:1 in mid January and the University's Board of Trustee's approved the contract last week.  While it is good to see a contract move forward, this agreement has limited cross-over for A&R for many reasons.  Foremost, UCPEA negotiates with the University, they do not negotiate with the State in the same manner that we engage the State.  Our negotiations are tied directly to the Governor's/Legislature's personnel co

After state-led mediation, the Part-time Faculty Association of Maine (PATFA) and the University of Maine System (UMS) have reached tentative agreement on a new two-year contract for part-time faculty members at all seven System universities.

The proposed contract (Sept. 1, 2015-Aug. 31, 2017) includes a 2 percent raise as of Sept. 1, 2016, in the per-credit-hour pay scale for part-time faculty and an additional 1 percent raise for those with 13 or more service units.

The 2016 General Assembly session opens Wednesday Feb 3 and the Governor will present his budget to the legislature.  The "leaked" budget (there are no accidental leaks) calls for layoffs and collective bargaining gains (page 27 of the pdf numbered as page 30...my apologies for the awful copy attached here).

A&R held its 3rd Contract Negotiations meeting with the State on January 27th.  This meeting was very similar to the other meetings where proposals from both sides were introduced by the respective parties.  This session completed the process for new proposals and the negotiations will commence utilizing the proposals submitted at this point.  The discussions that followed were brief and limited to clarification rather than searching for common ground.  As examples:  A&R questioned why the State proposes a switch to utilizing the State Mediation/Arbitration Board rather than OLR, wh

Our strength as a union is in our numbers. What would 100% membership mean at your worksite?

The Higher Education Transition Team Committee released its report last week on the strategies for saving higher education from the years of devastating cuts. Read the article here: http://gov.louisiana.gov/news/transition-committee-on-higher-education-releases-final-report

The Advocate

January 2016

NDU President Visits

Nick Archuleta, president of North Dakota United, visited our rep assembly last week.  He spent about 20 minutes discussing concerns and initiatives from the state perspective.  Highlights included:

·        NDU has gained 125 K-12 members in the state and continues to work on membership growth and increasing the number of active members.