Facilitated by Monica Owens,
AAUP Department of Organizing and Services
Fundamentals of Bargaining
Topics
The contract action team and campaign strategy are not covered here but are extremely important.
Legal Framework of Bargaining
Legal Framework of Bargaining
Private Sector
Public Sector
Section 8(D) of the NLRA
“For the purposes of this section, to bargain collectively is the performance of the mutual obligation of the employer and the representative of the employees to meet at reasonable times and confer in good faith with respect to wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment, or the negotiation of an agreement or any question arising thereunder, and the execution of a written contract incorporating any agreement reached if requested by either party, but such obligation does not compel either party to agree to a proposal or require the making of a concession…
Examples of Bad Faith Bargaining
Refusal to meet (at all)
Refusal to furnish relevant information
Intimidating or threatening a member of the union for union activity
Direct dealing with unit employees (bypassing the exclusive representative)
Insisting to point of impasse on a permissive subject of bargaining
Refusal to execute a written agreement
What Can Be Bargained?
Mandatory Subjects
Wages and working conditions. These include compensation, insurance options, holidays/sick days; hours of work, job duties, promotions; leaves of absence, discipline and discharge language, and more.
Permissive Subjects
Subjects that are not mandatory, but that can be bargained if both parties agree. One example is ground rules, which are not required to be set for bargaining, though some employers may pressure you. Another example is a seat on the BOT or student mental health services.
Illegal Subjects
Anything illegal or that falls outside the parameters of the union’s rights to represent. For example, the university president’s salary, or wages or working conditions for employees not in the bargaining unit.
Bargaining Teamwork, Tasks, and Organization
Bargaining teamwork and organization
Example proposal tracker (OSU)
Proposal Writing and Presentation
Basics of Proposal Writing
If your article goes to arbitration in a grievance dispute, an arbitrator will consider the following:
What Do You Know About the Problem?
Healthcare
If you can’t fill in the circle, it may be a sign to go back and get more specific information from members.
No out of network option
Dysfunctional reimbursement process through third-party administrator
Tiny and inaccessible mental healthcare provider network
Prohibitively high deductible
No access to dental care
Premium too high
Issue
Language
Examples
Takeaways
What is the problem you are trying to solve?
This helps establish the intent of your language
Explain the problem and how this proposal ties in to your bargaining platform
Reference your values and goals
What does the language say?
Highlight the key changes from current contract language or your previous proposal
Call their attention to any significant changes and move quickly over minor changes
What does the language do? How does it work?
Explain how you envision the language working in practice - use examples
Describe the impact of this language on faculty
Reiterate the problem you’re trying to solve.
Why should the employer care about the issue?
Wrap up by restating the purpose/intent of the proposal and any key takeaways
Proposal Presenting
At the Table
At the table
DON’T: Follow the
red herring
The employer may try to draw you into a discussion unrelated to the core issue of your proposal. Pivot back to the issue at hand.
DO: Center yourselves
Review Dos and Don’ts as a team before the session/ Taking 60 seconds to breathe silently is also an excellent way to focus and slow down before heading to the table.
DO: Reference the members often
Frame your responses with what the members need or expect. This brings them into the room with you and is a reminder that you are a representative of many.
DON’T: Lose your temper (unless it’s strategic)
The employer may try to upset you to take control of the conversation. Take a caucus instead of reacting.
Staying in Control of the Conversation
Responding to the Employer
DON’T: Counter yourself or overcommit
The employer may try to get you to tweak your proposal verbally or share changes you’d be willing to make - watch out for this trap!
DO: Take a caucus if needed
If you aren’t sure how to answer a question or feel they might be trying to trap you, take a caucus and regroup with your team before responding
DON’T: Give them the answer
Ask questions to try to draw out the employer’s objection and resist the urge to share what you think their concerns might be
DO: Repeat your message
Though you may feel like you’re repeating yourself too much, restating your key talking points ensures your message is clear
On behalf of the entire FAMCO team, I want to share a few framing words. We know there will be some peaks and valleys as we negotiate over the next few months, but we also begin this work knowing that we are colleagues with a common purpose…
We know that all of us have a shared goal to invest in academic excellence as the first pillar of our strategic plan, and to create a campus culture that best facilitates excellence in teaching and learning for our students—all of which our Monmouth mission statement rightly emphasizes.
It is our position that the work of the faculty is central to carrying out that mission, and to ensuring the student retention and graduation rates that President Leahy reminded us on Friday are so key.
To do that, the faculty union’s proposals will focus on ensuring the university's commitments to the core values of equity, anti-racism, faculty retention, and excellent teaching. Specifically, we intend to discuss ways to build an academic environment that supports equity, anti-racism, and academic freedom; ways to retain the high-quality faculty we have in our ranks and ways to promote their development as teachers as well as ways to recruit new faculty; ways to ensure enough financial stability for faculty so that they can focus on the students and mission; and within that, ways to ensure good, accessible healthcare for all faculty.
We look forward to discussing these issues and others during these challenging times for our students and faculty.
Excerpted opening statement drawn from platform:
Quantitative + qualitative data
at the table
Useful Phrases
Creating a Narrative
Campaign Building Blocks
Campaign Narrative
Bargaining Platform
Surveys
What is Narrative?
What Does Narrative Need?
Venues:
Audiences:
Timing:
Quantitative and qualitative data:
Methods of info gathering
Best for gathering aggregate data, ranking priorities, identifying issues that are most important to the majority
Surveys
Best for getting a sense of the top issues for various constituency groups, talking through possible solutions to the issues
Best for drawing out individual stories and examples, understanding how issues are playing out in the day to day
One on Ones
Listening Sessions
Example Bargaining Narrative
Example Narrative Template
Bargaining priority/demand | Salary increase |
How the employer can afford it | Revenue and enrollment are up |
Where the money is going now | Capital projects like a new stadium |
What the faculty have contributed to the institution | Taught, mentored, and researched through the pandemic and kept the doors open |
What faculty have sacrificed for the institution | Faculty took pay cuts |