From the November 2012 chapter newsletter:
In anticipation of an early Spring semester start for contract negotiations, twelve of your colleagues from the AAUP Executive Committee, Grievance Committee, AAUP Communications Committee and the AAUP Negotiation Team met for an all day retreat, on Saturday, November 2nd. The goals of the retreat were two-fold: 1) to prepare new chapter officers for what to expect as we approach the negotiation table, and, 2) to identify sections of the current contract that are working as planned, need improvement, need to be deleted, or are missing altogether. This was the first of several all day planning sessions.
Sandy McNair, Akron AAUP legal counsel, with Chief Negotiator, Mike Cheung, began the retreat by reviewing the negotiation, mediation, and fact-finding processes for new officers and the members of our leadership teams. Included in the discussion was a walk-through of probable time lines from day 1 of negotiations (for both the compensation “reopener” and the new contract) through to the Akron AAUP membership approval vote.
After legal issues were addressed, the group reviewed the current contract…article by article…in some cases word by word. Faculty grievances from the past 2 years were considered as we evaluated each article. The team noted what has been working and what is not working as planned.
Additionally, the members of the Negotiating Team began meeting in October to discuss the upcoming negotiations on compensation for AY 2013-14, and to make plans for negotiations for the complete contract afterwards. The contract provides for and requires negotiation on the subject of compensation alone for the 2013-14 academic year.
Our current contract expires December 15, 2013 at 12:01 a.m.
If you have experienced any difficulties with the current contract that have not been addressed by the grievance procedure, please let us know via an email to russ.davis@akronaaup.org .