Bargaining Blog 1.17.23

 We’re back! It’s been a while since our last post, but we have a good reason for our radio silence. Since our last meeting with the University in November we have been hard at work on preparing for the economic phase of bargaining. The good news is that this work has paid off (we hope literally) and on January 17, we delivered our package of economic proposals to the University bargaining team!


First, we counterproposed on two outstanding non-economic proposals:


  • Union Membership and Dues: we continue to negotiate over whether the University will process deductions when employees have opted to contribute to COPE, which is SEIU’s political action committee. COPE funds support legislative efforts to improve workers’ rights in Illinois and nationally. Again, we consider an elective deduction of this sort to be no more difficult to process than those the University already processes for payroll deductions for transit cards, parking passes, or the NU Cares fund.

  • Furloughs and Layoffs: while we have settled on the amount of notice given for furloughs and layoffs, we continue to bargain over language regarding negotiation of alternatives to reduction in force.


Then we moved on to our economics package, which encompasses a number of proposals related to flexible work arrangements, vacation and sick time, professional development, promotion, wages, and benefits offered by the University such as health care. In February of 2022 we conducted a bargaining priorities survey. The survey results were used to determine our bargaining priorities, which have been our guide as we developed our economic proposals:


Raises Across the Board

  • Raise the salary floor so that no one is making less than what it costs to live in Cook County

  • Reward longevity

  • Yearly increases that are not merit-based

Protect Our Benefits

  • Prevent erosion of existing benefits

  • Making benefits for staff and librarians more similar

Path to Promotion

  • A clear promotion path for faculty librarians

  • Salary steps for library staff

  • A transparent process for requesting reclassification when responsibilities increase or change significantly

Invest in Our Development

  • Increase professional development funds for faculty librarians and library staff

  • Portable tuition fund for those seeking an MLIS

  • Protect release time for professional development

  • Diversify what funds can cover


Our fifth priority, “Transparency, Equity, and a Voice”, is woven into the above proposals, as it was throughout the negotiation of our non-economic proposals. If you are curious about tentative agreements on non-economics, please see our earlier blog posts.


After we presented our proposals, the University indicated that they would meet briefly to discuss whether we could expect a response from them during the session. It quickly became clear that they would need more time than our session allowed, and bargaining ended early.


Our next bargaining session with the University is on Tuesday, January 31 starting at 11am. We encourage you to come to bargaining on your break to support your bargaining team. If you plan to join, please RSVP using this form.


We’re also resuming our weekly office hours. Feel free to drop in and chat with a Bargaining Committee member about your questions, or pick up some stickers and buttons! We will email the date and time of each upcoming office hour.


As always, we ask that you continue to show your support for our union by wearing buttons and changing Zoom backgrounds to our union logo. The stronger the union, the better the contract! Make sure to follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter to keep up with the latest updates.

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