Bargaining Blog 8/27/26

We met for another bargaining session on Thursday, August 27, this time starting with the University’s counters. We asked bargaining unit members to attend again, and 24 people, in addition to the bargaining committee members present, came to show support. A showing like this tells management that we care and we’re serious about our proposals. Thanks to all who came on PTO!

The University began by presenting their counters to all outstanding proposals. We’re reaching the end of bargaining, but there was still a lot to discuss. Below is a review by topic.

Contract Length:
They accepted language around a three year contract rather than the five years they initially proposed.

Cost of Living, Insurance Caps, and Management Rights:
They requested we withdraw our changes to the management rights clause and our proposals for Cost of Living Adjustment (CoLA) and insurance caps. We know these issues are important to staff, but after some back and forth, we agreed to this and decided to focus on compensation as our best option for dealing with rising cost of living and health insurance premiums.

Staff Promotion: 
The University rejected our non-librarian staff promotion language again. During our first caucus, we discussed the University’s baffling reluctance to address staff promotions and how they seem to conceptualize library staff roles, especially considering the numerous testimonials that outlined the responsibilities and expertise involved in the work we do. After caucusing and discussing our options, we reluctantly agreed to withdraw staff promotion with the understanding that we would continue conversations about non-librarian staff jobs in Labor Management Committee (LMC) meetings and utilize the classification proposal we had tentatively agreed on at a previous bargaining session to work toward more accurate job classifications, especially for non-exempt staff. 

Faculty Promotion:
The University suggested going back to much of the original language for faculty promotion. Their counter-proposal kept invited peer review but moved it under professional service, and they clarified that letters of support could be from Northwestern employees outside of the Libraries. We accepted these compromises.

They’ve been adding in language that the promotion decision isn’t grievable, but this time, they changed their language to specify two instances when the decision would be grievable, namely: if there were procedural errors, including misapplication of standards, or when the Promotion Review Committee was in disagreement with the Dean. They revealed late in the day that they want this language as a guardrail to deter grievances from being filed if the procedures and standards have been properly applied and the candidate’s promotion is not approved by the review committee or the Dean.

We added presentations at regional conferences to contributions and challenged their anti-grievance language again. After a longer caucus, the University came back and accepted the regional conferences, but wanted to keep their language for grievances. We ultimately accepted this after a conversation with the University, understanding that their new language does not prevent a grievance from being filed, it just gives an arbitrator some guidance should the grievance proceed to arbitration.

Professional Development:
They countered on our professional development proposal, removing language about requesting additional funds. We agreed to the removal and made some slight changes to clarify language, which they then accepted. 

Birth/Adoption Parental Leave:
They accepted our language on BAPL, which essentially codifies current University policy and existing return to work norms.

Compensation:
We went back and forth a lot on compensation. They started the day by showing slight movement toward us on compensation, most notably away from the 0% raise they suggested for 2026. We truly think the number of people who wore “no zero” buttons, submitted or read testimonials, and showed up to bargaining this week got them to move on this.

They significantly moved toward us on raising salary floors for new hires, to an increase of 2% each year of the contract, which we agreed on. They agreed to adding two longevity bands (25 and 30 years) as well as language clarifying how longevity raises are applied.

We continue to go back and forth on yearly raises, and this is the only outstanding proposal. We have told them that our current contract has a total of 9.75% in raises over the three years and that is our bottom line for our new contract.

What’s Next:
After over twelve hours of bargaining this past week, it’s not over yet. We made great progress on reclassification for non-librarian staff, librarian promotion, longevity, and professional development, among other topics. Once we reach a tentative agreement (TA) on our compensation proposal, we will hold a vote for NULWU members to ratify our new contract. More information on how the vote will work to come, so stay tuned!

Although we’ve gotten the University to move on 0% raises, keep wearing your buttons! You can show support for your union by changing your Zoom background to the NULWU logo! Follow us on Facebook or Instagram to keep up with the latest updates. Reach out to us with questions or ideas through social media, email, or by contacting a bargaining committee member!