Updated 7:55 p.m.

As of 7:55 p.m. tonight, UA has reached a tentative agreement with UO, pausing the possibility of a strike. UA members will now move to a ratification vote.

Stay with the Daily Emerald for further updates.

Following over a year of negotiations and mediation sessions, the United Academics of the University of Oregon, which includes roughly 1,900 UO faculty members, is preparing to strike if an agreement with UO is not reached before the morning of March 31. 

UA consists of career instructors, librarians, postdoctoral researchers, tenure-track faculty, career researchers and pro-tem faculty.

Mike Urbancic, UA president, said the timeline for a deal to finalize the contract and end the possibility of a strike could stretch “late into the night” and is ultimately up to the bargaining team. 

Once a decision is made, emails or text messages will be sent out to faculty members, according to Urbancic.

UA is looking to secure a new contract with UO that includes “across-the-board raises” of 6.75% the first year, 4% the second year, and 2.5% the final year the contract is in effect to address inflation and cost of living, and is pushing for salary raises and sabbaticals. 

UO has responded by offering across-the-board salary increases of 4% the first year and 2.5% and 3% the following two years. 

“The UO is committed to negotiating a contract that fairly compensates faculty while ensuring long-term financial sustainability for the institution and its students,” UO spokesperson Eric Howald said in an emailed statement to the Daily Emerald. 

How the strike might affect classes

The university is encouraging students to attend classes to see if faculty show up and to not add/drop classes during the first three days of week one, in which time the university will release additional guidelines, Howald said. 

If a strike lasts longer than a week, UO plans to provide flexibility for students to add and drop classes beyond the usual April 7 deadline. If students are below 12 credits on April 7, they will likely become ineligible for financial aid, according to UO’s website. 

UO has asked students to report instructors’ absences by scanning a “classroom condition QR code” near the classroom door and emailing [email protected] the course subject and number, CRN, Day/Time and location of course and the name of the instructor. They are encouraged to take similar action for asynchronous classes.

Urbancic said UO’s plan to have students report their instructor is “outsourcing work to students” because it makes it easier for administrators to prove that a faculty member is on strike. 

Urbancic added that UO’s actions are “not surprising, but disappointing.”

During the strike, the bargaining teams of UA and UO will continue to negotiate. The strike will pause when a tentative agreement is reached so union members can vote to ratify the agreement. The strike will end when a majority of the union votes to ratify the contract.

Who’s involved

All faculty members in UA’s bargaining unit have the ability to strike, but union members aren’t required to strike.

UO Graduate Employees have a current contract with UO, barring them from striking.

UO expects Graduate Employee’s to continue their work as normal if they are graders, discussion leaders, research assistants or sole instructors. If a GE teaches with a faculty member, UO advises the GE to consult their departmental head.

According to the Graduate Teaching Fellows Federation’s current contract, “no GE will be required to perform work that was previously performed by a striking employee.” 

According to UO’s website, if GEs were to strike, those individuals would be “subject to discipline.” 

According to GTFF’s contract, this could include “loss of pay or discharge.”

UA says it will have “allies like undergrads, alumni, community members and labor siblings” picketing with them.

“Anyone is welcome to join our picket lines, they are welcome to support but not withhold their labor. We have been asking for their support and …  many are frustrated that they can’t strike alongside us,” Urbancic said.

GTFF did not immediately respond to a request for comment sent by email. 

UO Student Workers Union is in a cooling off period following its own stalled negotiations and contract impasse and would not be able to strike until late April at the earliest, per Oregon Employment Relations Board regulations.

UA is encouraging union members not to perform regular duties during the strike and has asked union members not to cover other faculty members’ classes or duties as, according to the bargaining FAQs, it “weakens (their) position, prolongs the strike and worsens the harm to both students and faculty who are sacrificing pay to take this action for all of us.”

Urbancic said it would be “very difficult” for UO to hire replacement workers.

“We have heard very, very little for contingency plans from the administration throughout the winter term,” Urbancic said.

What’s next

Should the strike happen, faculty pay will not be affected until April 30 at the latest, according to the UA newsletter. UO cannot withhold pay unless they prove a professor is withholding labor.

Beginning March 31, UA plans to hold picket lines in front of Lillis Business Complex Hall and on the intersection of Franklin Boulevard and Agate Street from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. with a “rally (or larger picket line)” from 12 p.m. to 1 p.m. A map of where UA plans to picket can be found here. 

Picket lines, according to UA’s strike preparation documents, are “visible manifestations” of a strike. Striking members will “redirect” labor to the lines and union members and supporters will hold signs, chant and march in the designated areas.

A drop-in Zoom option has been set up for remote workers to support the strike and to “feel present” in the union community. 

Additional remote picket activities and events at UO’s Portland campus are also being organized, according to the UA newsletter.    

“It made sense to have some options for those faculty that don’t have a routine here daily, and some are on sabbatical and we certainly want to provide all the options for those faculty to be in solidarity,” Urbancic said.

Howald said the university is committed to continuing negotiating for a contract that benefits the union and the university and that they “appreciate the time and dedication that United Academics leaders and members bring to the bargaining process.”

Howald also said the two parties had “exchang(ed) offers” as recently as March 29, and that progress had been made.