Bargaining Update 8/17/22

Dear Colleagues:

We have unfortunate news to report from the bargaining table.

Over the last few weeks, we have been meeting regularly with the administration’s negotiating team and have been trading proposals regarding language in the contract. Last week, the parties exchanged initial proposals regarding the economic terms of our agreement. We presented a proposal that included raises which reflect the current inflationary economic environment and included no change to our health insurance benefits. As we informed you last week, the administration countered with a proposal that included a minimal raise, which would be entirely consumed by deep cuts in our health insurance benefits and increased healthcare premiums. 

Despite this meager offer and their inflexibility in responding to our fair proposals, our team continued to negotiate and bargain in good faith. On Monday, we presented a comprehensive proposal which included a counter with new economic terms. Today, we presented evidence showing that our salaries are significantly lower than nearly all of our peer institutions and that EMU employs substantially more administrators than peer institutions. 

In response, the administration’s lead negotiator directly refused to present a counter-offer to our proposal or to continue discussing this contract with us. Instead, he indicated that the parties should attend mediation, but he indicated no willingness to present a counter-offer in mediation.  In effect, the administration has indicated it is finished negotiating with our union after presenting only one offer.

It goes without saying that we are extremely disappointed in the administration’s actions at the table, and we believe that their behavior significantly jeopardizes our ability to negotiate a fair and equitable contract.

At this time, we believe it is highly unlikely that a contract will be in place prior to the expiration of our current agreement at midnight on August 31.

In Solidarity,

The EMU-AAUP Negotiating Team