PSUFA is excited to resume bargaining this Friday, August 14. That day will kick off the first of five days of our bargaining intensive. We want you to get involved! Read on about what the bargaining intensive is and how you can get involved.
What is the bargaining intensive?
Usually, bargaining is a weekslong process where union representatives and university representatives sit across from one another and rhetorically hash out the nature of our collective bargaining agreement. In April, we started bargaining like this over Zoom every Friday. Unfortunately, because of university furloughs, this kind of bargaining was put on hold in June.
We didn't stop our work entirely, though. Instead, we split into subcommittees and used the time to hash out issues remotely. You can read about what we worked on here.
Now, we are coming together for what we're calling a bargaining intensive, where we will spend five full days bargaining, from Friday August 14 to Friday August 21st (skipping Thursday, August 20). Most days will go from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
What will you be talking about?
The issues we plan on discussing are some of the issues we haven't yet been able to address yet, particularly salaries, assignment rights, benefits (including retirement and sick leave), researcher rights, and the processes around grievances.
How can I get involved?
We're thrilled you asked! Like previous bargaining sessions, you will be able to sit in (remotely) as a bargaining observer. In fact, we'd love for all of our members to spend at least one hour as a bargaining observer. Not only do you get to see bargaining in action, you'll also be able to give our bargaining committee feedback on how they're doing.
You can sign up for specific times—starting this Friday!—using this Google form:
SIGN UP HERE TO BE A BARGAINING OBSERVER
Plus! We’ll have a Slack channel (an app for connecting and chatting) where you’ll be able to talk with other bargaining observers during the session. You can ask questions, discuss what’s happening, and more. We can’t overstate how crucial bargaining observers are—it shows PSU that our union goes way beyond the people at the bargaining table, and that we’re fighting for the 1,400 adjuncts and researchers who help make PSU what it is today. By joining as an observer, you’re joining the fight for better working and learning conditions! Sign up today!
To sum everything up: the bargaining team is about to go into an intense week, and would love for you to join!