It was an interesting time at the table. To date, our meetings with the administration have been about exchanging proposals and setting ground rules. This was our first meeting with actual negotiations. It was both frustrating and hopeful. We came out of the meeting with a tentative agreement and made headway for a couple more agreements (the hopeful part), but came up against unexpected roadblocks.
The administration’s bargaining team had some points that they would not budge on … NO BULLETIN BOARDS. I’m not sure what this was about. Their argument was that there are much better means of communication such as Twitter or Blogging. During a break we talked with the members who sitting in on the meeting. One member said that they were surprised about the administration’s vehemence against bulletin boards especially because faculty in her program found them invaluable. Our testimonial didn’t seem to faze them. Luckily we were able to move forward on other topics, but it was odd.
We had five or six members of the union (besides the bargaining committee) who sat in. I have to say, it was great getting to meet them and to hear their take on what went on in the bargaining process. If you are interested, you should sit in on a meeting. It’s a very interesting time…if you can get over the intense dislike of bulletin boards.
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I was there too, and I agree with most of what 'A Bargain' says. Indeed, I left the negotiation session feeling almost morose. It wasn't like they said "fewer bulletin boards" or "smaller bulletin boards", but "No Bulletin boards." a real bummer. I'll be talking to colleagues next week about this, and I hope you all will to!
ReplyDeleteWhen GEU bargained, MSU's bargaining team argued that bulletin boards constituted an economic issues because of the cost of all the screws it would take to hang them! Good luck, UNTF!
ReplyDeleteIn solidarity,
Sarah