October 9th, 2024

• Context for the bargaining process: We are currently receiving and reviewing management’s proposals, as well as preparing and presenting our proposals. We focus on our initial position in bargaining until all our proposals are on the table. Once everything is on the table from both sides, we’ll shift focus to countering and negotiating all proposals. 
• Management brought four proposals to present:  
  • Proposal #1: Article 8, Workweek and Work Schedules  
    • Management stated that their goal is to implement time clocks in Administration & Finance for USA members 
    • The proposal brought forward completely removes the current language and gives management the ability to implement time clocks across campus, not just for Administration & Finance USA members  
  • Proposal #2: Article 10, Sick Leave Bank (SLB) 
    • Set October as the official month for SLB donations and enrollment 
    • Limit member donations to SLB to 10 days per year 
    • Increase initial family leave from the SLB from 2 weeks to 4 weeks  
    • Note: USA Bargaining team has a comprehensive SLB proposal that will be presented in the future.  
  • Skipping Proposal #3, management will present this proposal at a later date 
  • Proposal #4: Article 17, Vacancies and Promotions 
    • Decrease period to apply internally to positions from 7 business days to 7 calendar days  
    • OR limit notifications of the vacancy to USA members in the Major Budgetary Unit (MBU) of the vacant position and accept applications for no less than 10 business days 
    • Additional info: This MBU promotion language would make it easier for USA members to get the position, but limits who could be considered to only USA members in the MBU. It also does not guarantee that the MBU will use the internal job posting process for USA positions. 
    • Seeks to limit the number of people who can grieve when bypassed for a position when they met qualifications and had seniority  
    • Seeks to remove employees’ right to grieve if they are returned to a position involuntarily after promotion 
  • General Proposal (management did not number this proposal) 
    • Change all pronouns to gender neutral ‘they’, which is a process that started during the last round of bargaining 
    • Change all mentions of “Form 30” to “position description”  
    • The USA Bargaining team will bring questions to management at the next meeting for further clarification on their proposals 
  • USA brought forth a proposal for Article 16, Health and Welfare  
    • Increase the employer’s contribution to the Health & Welfare Fund from $16.50 per week per full-time employee to $22.50 per week per full-time employee (These are the funds that pay for dental insurance) 
    • Ensure University would agree to facilitate and expedite the process of combining MTA Health & Welfare Fund with another fund, if that were to happen 
    • Management had no immediate questions but will follow-up at the next meeting 
    • Additional info: This Health and Welfare proposal is being brought to the table by MSP (Mass. Society of Professors) and several other Massachusetts Teachers Association Higher Ed locals. Bringing proposals to the bargaining table in coalition with other unions presents a unified front to management and strengthens our position at the table.
  • Action Items 
    • The next bargaining meeting with management is 10/23/24. Join us as a Silent Bargaining Representative! Fill out the SBR form here.  
    • If you were an SBR at the 10/9/24 meeting, please fill out the SBR feedback form.  
    • Contact Sheila Gilmour (sgilmour@umass.edu) to join a team organizing around the Kronos time clock issue (see Proposal #1 from management)

September 25th, 2024

• Accepted Ground Rules
• Moving into bargaining and exchanging proposals 

Further Reading:

• Contract Corner 1: Ground Rules and Silent Bargaining Representatives
• Membership Bargaining Survey: Nearly One Third of USA Members Struggle with Food Insecurity, Survey Reveals

Hello USA!  

My name is Emelia Cooper and I am the Membership Chair for the Professional Staff Union (PSU), along with being an Academic Advisor in the Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Department. Thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to share with you who the Professional Staff Union is, what our shared struggles are and how we can fight and win together!  

The 2,000 Members of the PSU are working throughout all corners of both the UMass Amherst and UMass Boston campuses and are often working together with USA members. You can find us in roles in Residential Life, Information Technology, Academic Advising, University Health Services, Athletics, UMass Extension, Student Success and Auxiliary Enterprises, to name a few. In these roles, both PSU and USA are working to support students, professors and the community as a whole. When we work, UMass works. 

Our members are facing many of the same challenges that you are all facing in your roles. These challenges range from increased workloads due to understaffing in departments (e.g. members taking on the roles of 2 or 3 people), salaries that do not keep up with the cost of living and are not competitive with private-sector jobs, and the increasing threat of privatization, such as what happened to the Advancement Division on campus last year. We are proud to have rallied together with USA in the face of these changes to advocate for substantial improvements on campus and protections for our members so that we can continue doing the jobs that we love. We rallied together to stop the privatization of these 120 union jobs, we rallied together to get the Massachusetts State Legislature to return to Beacon Hill and vote to fund our 8% Cost of Living Adjustment and we will continue to rally together during this key bargaining cycle.  

Currently, PSU is going through two main contract negotiations with Management. Unit A of PSU (the largest of the two units and the one I am a part of) is attempting to put on the negotiating table several life-changing proposals, including the implementation of a brand new  salary schedule. As it stands now, members of Unit A do not get annual raises, and we do not have a step system – the only way to increase your own salary is to either take a different job or submit a reclassification request (which can take months, if not years, to process). Our members are essentially stuck in whatever starting salary they were hired into with no room for movement or growth. We are not respected or rewarded for our continued commitment to the university or our ever-increasing institutional knowledge. With a salary schedule, our members would be earning predictable, significant, yearly increases that would allow us to work and live with the dignity and respect we all deserve. 

The other half of PSU, Unit B, is submitting the same salary proposal as USA to change the current 14-step system to a 7-step system. This change would raise the ceiling of our top step and shorten the time it takes to reach that top step— we all know it doesn’t take 14 YEARS to master one’s job. By reducing the number of steps, members will reach their maximum earnings more quickly, and the university will be able to actually hire and retain the staff needed to address the understaffing crisis. 

Along with working to win better and fairer pay, PSU, along with USA and the other unions on campus, are submitting Multi-Union Proposals that cover a wide range issues affecting all of us, such as accessible childcare, improved air quality, anti-privatization and eliminating bias in discipline. We can win these proposals if we pool our collective power into a unified front, since management is not going to agree to these without a fight. 

Management does not want us to know how each other are struggling in similar ways, they don’t want us to be united and they don’t want us to see what is being said in the bargaining sessions. So, to win these proposals and improve our working conditions, we ask that you keep having conversations with your PSU coworkers about workplace challenges, come to PSU actions, and even attend a PSU bargaining session as a Silent Bargaining Representative. Both PSU and USA have invited Silent Bargaining Representatives to their bargaining tables—in fact the entire USA Bargaining Team attended a Unit A Bargaining Session as SBRs, which was an honor to see.  

UMass works because all of us, no matter what union we belong to, work, and we are proud to continue working with USA to address and overcome our shared struggles. 

In Solidarity,  
Emelia Cooper
Membership Chair for the Professional Staff Union