NULWU blog

The NULWU bargaining team, along with a representative from SEIU Local 73, had another bargaining session with management on 8/30/2022. We presented four counterproposals to the university team: Union Membership Equal Employment, Opportunity, and Non-Discrimination No Strike No Lockout Layoffs and Furloughs The University bargaining team countered these proposals and added a proposal on Severability that had been overlooked in past sessions. No tentative agreements were reached during this session. We continued to have a lively dialogue over No Strike No Lockout. While we agree that during the terms of the contract Represented Workers will not strike or engage in activities that amount to a stoppage of work, the issue of whether Represented Workers can demonstrate support for other labor groups on campus during non-work hours, such as a lunch break or after work, is still up in the air. We have been advocating for our right to engage in this activity, because we feel very strongly abou...

The NULWU bargaining team, along with representatives from SEIU Local 73, had another bargaining session with management yesterday. We are excited to report that we made progress on several non-economic proposals, coming to tentative agreements (TAs) on the following: Hours of Work/Overtime - in this article, we were able to convince the University to allow time and a half pay for staff who due to an emergency, may be required to work beyond the 40 hour work week at service points. Previously these staff were directed to flex their time instead of being paid for the additional hours of work. This is important for staff at our service points, who may have no choice but to work beyond their scheduled shift in order to maintain library operations and services.  Open Positions - we negotiated that they will be required to give an initial interview to qualified members of the bargaining unit. If the unit member is not hired for the position, they will now have an opportunity to meet wit...

The NULWU Bargaining Team, along with representatives from SEIU 73, held the fifth bargaining meeting yesterday with the University over non-economic proposals. We are happy to announce that we made considerable progress including reaching tentative agreements on the following articles:    Discipline - we ensured that the University will follow progressive discipline, which means that in nearly all cases, discipline will start at a verbal warning. The University also must follow the principles of just cause, which requires adequate notice for new rules and a thorough investigation, amongst other things.  Health and Safety - we negotiated language that ensures the University will promptly notify union members of any changes to safety rules and also a guarantee that they will provide personal protective equipment (PPE).  Grievance Procedure - we now have a process to address any violations of our future union contract and also any violations of University policies!...

The union bargaining team along with representatives from SEIU 73 met with the University representatives yesterday from 1-5pm. This was our fourth bargaining session. We are still making our way through the non-economic proposals! Yesterday the bargaining team went first, presenting seven proposals to the University. A member of our bargaining team spoke about the experience of working past their scheduled time without notice. When we were finished presenting, we went into caucus so the University representatives could discuss the proposals. When we returned, the University presented 10 counter-proposals. Even though we were not able to reach any TAs (tentative agreements), we did make significant progress. For example, we believe we can reach agreements on the grievance procedure, disciplinary process, and an agreement that ensures we will have an active Labor Management Committee in the next session. The University agreed to withdraw two of their proposals for being redundant. In sp...

  Members of the bargaining committee and SEIU 73 representatives met yesterday with University representatives on Zoom from 9am-noon. This was our second bargaining session with the University, and it was a doozy! This session gave us our first taste of what it is like to submit a package of proposals, and see it returned to us with edits, amendments, and in some cases, outright rejection. This was disappointing to us, because we know that the issues addressed in the rejected proposals are very important to our members. However, based on the discussions at our virtual table, we are hopeful and will reintroduce these proposals so that we can engage in a robust conversation about why they are crucial to our members. And importantly, thanks to language that we introduced into our ground rules, we can invite members who are not part of the bargaining committee to come to bargaining sessions and speak about why these issues matter to them! Since the proposal package we submitted was fa...

Our first bargaining session is complete! We came, we saw, we caucused! Yesterday members of the bargaining committee and SEIU representatives met with University representatives on Zoom from 1-5pm.  After introductions, representatives from the University proposed a set of ground rules, or ways the bargaining process will be governed. Our bargaining committee then went into a breakout room to discuss what was presented and decide on any proposed changes to those ground rules. When proposals are presented to one side, the other side goes into a caucus, where they discuss together what was presented and decide on any changes they want to counterpropose. These caucuses continue until all parties agree on the language in the proposal. We were able to agree on several straightforward ground rules, like telling the other side when we are done for the day to ensure one side does not stay in a never-ending caucus. However, one ground rule where we could not agree immediately was about who...

The NULWU bargaining team is ready for our first session with Northwestern next week! It is incredibly exciting to reach this moment, especially because the unionization effort at the Library began two years ago this month. The end goal of this effort is to have a contract in place, and we are finally at the point where we are ready to bargain our first one! A lot has happened since we won our election in December. We’ve asked members about their priorities for our first contract, had several all-union meetings, formed a bargaining team, and met many times to develop our proposals. Who is the bargaining team? We are NULWU members representing non-exempt staff, exempt staff, and librarians across NUL. We represent different workgroups including Access Services, Instruction & Curriculum Support, Preservation, and many more. Every member of the team either volunteered or was nominated by another colleague in the bargaining unit. Our reasons for joining are unique, but what we share i...