Update posted 7/15/18
LEO agrees to new contract
LEO members have ratified a new three-year contract with the university. The contract takes effect Friday, July 13.
Read more about the new contract in the University Record
Update posted 7/11/18
Tentative agreement reached
The university and LEO have reached a tentative agreement on a new three-year contract. The union will hold a ratification vote the week of July 9.
Increases to salary
The tentative agreement will raise the minimum salaries on the Ann Arbor, Dearborn and Flint campuses.
The minimum annual salary in the first year will increase to $48,000 in Ann Arbor and $38,000 in both Dearborn and Flint.
The agreement also includes an equity adjustment in the first year based on years of service and annual increases to ensure that lecturers receive at least a 3.25%-4% increase in the first year. In Ann Arbor, lecturers will receive a 2.5% increase in the second year of the contract and a 3% in the third. In Dearborn and Flint, lecturers will receive an increase tied to tenure-track faculty or 2%, whichever is higher.
Expansion of benefits coverage
The agreement includes an expansion of benefits to provide eligibility to the small number of lecturers whose fall and winter appointment averages to 50% effort but are appointed in winter semester below 50% effort. Spring/summer benefits coverage will also be expanded and will be offered to lecturers who are in a benefits-eligible position in the winter and the following fall semester. Additionally, benefits coverage will be offered to long-serving lecturers who are approved to take an unpaid educational or scholarly activity leave for one semester.
Professional development and other issues
The tentative agreement includes a number of other issues, including an expansion of professional development funding opportunities, as well as the following non-economic issues:
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If a current lecturer applies for a Lecturer III position and meets all of the minimum qualifications for a position, the lecturer will receive an interview for the position.
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Academic units will notify lecturers in that unit of a position four business days before posting the position.
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Continuing Renewal Reviews will now be called continuing reviews and will be held every seven years. While a lecturer will now have an open-ended appointment, the continuation of that appointment is contingent upon the passage of the continuing review.
Update posted 6/5/18
During a bargaining session June 1, the university proposed additional increases to the minimum salaries of lecturers on all three campuses, as well as adding a fourth year of the collective bargaining agreement.
The university continued to offer significant increases to the base salaries of existing lecturers.
The university also offered one-time equity base increases for lecturers in the first year of the contract as well as annual increases for all lecturers over the life of the four -year contract.
Those increases would raise average annual salaries over four years to an estimated $82,000 in Ann Arbor, an increase of 21 percent; $47,000 in Dearborn, an increase of 21 percent; and $51,000 in Flint, an increase of 19 percent.
Currently the average annual salary of a lecturer, for eight months of teaching, is $68,000 in Ann Arbor, $39,000 in Dearborn and $43,000 in Flint.
Increases to minimum salaries
The university has proposed increasing the minimum salaries with an increase of $15,500 in Ann Arbor and $9,700 in Flint and Dearborn. This is a 45 percent increase in Ann Arbor, a 34 percent increase in Dearborn and a 36 percent increase in Flint.
By year four of the contract, the minimums would increase to $50,000 in Ann Arbor, $38,000 in Dearborn and $37,000 in Flint.
Annual increases
The university has proposed annual increases as follows: In the first year, on all three campuses, a guaranteed increase of at least 3 percent, although many lecturers would receive more than 3 percent as a result of the increases to the minimum salary as well as the equity adjustment increases.
For Ann Arbor, the annual increase will be 2.5 percent in year two, 3 percent in year three, and 2.5 percent in year four. For Flint and Dearborn, the annual increases in years two, three and four will be tied to the salary program for tenure-track faculty on their respective campuses, or 2 percent, whichever is higher.
Additional equity adjustment based on years of service
In addition to the minimum salary increases and the annual increases, the university’s proposal also provides, in the first year of the contract, a one-time equity adjustment for lecturers, added to the base salary, based on years of service. The range of those adjustments would be $2,000-$12,000 for Ann Arbor and $1,000-$9,000 for Flint and Dearborn.
Lecturers with full-time rates below $80,000 would receive the full equity adjustment as a base salary increase. Lecturers with full-time rates of more than $80,000 would receive a sliding portion of the increase as a base increase and the remaining portion as a lump-sum payment.
The university's most recent salary proposal would represent a $15.3 million increase across all three campuses to the salary base for lecturers, representing a 20 percent increase over a four-year contract, including a nine percent increase occurring in the first year.
Update posted 5/7/18
Contract talks between the University of Michigan and the Lecturers’ Employee Organization are expected to resume in mid-May.
The contract with LEO, the union representing 1,700 nontenure-track instructors on all three campuses, expires May 29. Negotiations began Oct. 27, 2017.
During a bargaining session April 29, the university notified LEO that absent a new agreement, the university intends to cancel the current contract in 30 days (May 29), which is allowed under terms of the existing contract.
The university has offered significant increases to both the minimum salaries and the base salaries of existing lecturers.
The university also offered one-time equity base increases for lecturers in the first year of the contract as well as annual increases for all lecturers over the life of the three-year contract.
Those increases would raise average annual salaries over three years to an estimated $79,000 in Ann Arbor, an increase of 16 percent; $46,000 in Dearborn, an increase of 18 percent; and $49,000 in Flint, an increase of 14 percent.
Currently the average annual salary of a lecturer, for eight months of teaching, is $68,000 in Ann Arbor, $39,000 in Dearborn and $43,000 in Flint.
The university has proposed increasing the minimum salaries by 30 percent over three years with an increase of $10,500 in Ann Arbor and $8,700 in Flint and Dearborn.
That would raise the minimum annual salary in the first year to $43,000 in Ann Arbor, $35,000 in Dearborn and $34,000 in Flint. In year three of the contract, the minimums would increase to $45,000 in Ann Arbor, $37,000 in Dearborn and $36,000 in Flint.
The university has proposed annual increases as follows: In the first year, on all three campuses, a guaranteed increase of at least 3 percent when taking into account equity and minimum salary increases.
For Ann Arbor, in year two, the annual increase will be 2.5 percent and in year three, 3 percent. For Flint and Dearborn, annual increases in years two and three will be tied to the salary program for tenure-track faculty on their respective campuses, or 2 percent, whichever is higher.
In addition to the minimum salary increases and the annual increases, the university’s proposal also provides for a one-time equity adjustment for lecturers based on years of service, with a range of $1,000-$12,250 for Ann Arbor and $500-$12,000 for Flint and Dearborn.
Lecturers with full-time rates below $80,000 would receive the full equity adjustment as a base salary increase. Lecturers with full-time rates of more than $80,000 would receive a sliding portion of the increase as a base increase and the remaining portion as a lump-sum payment.
The university's most recent salary proposal would represent an $11.8 million increase across all three campuses to the salary base for lecturers, representing a 16 percent increase over a three-year contract with more than half of the total increase occurring in the first year.
Update posted 4/16/18
Negotiations continue with LEO to reach a new contract to replace the current one that expires April 20. The university and LEO met on Friday, April 13 to discuss union security and economic issues.
The two sides recently reached agreements on benefits and job postings. The key issues that remain are union security, union rights and salary.
The university is scheduled to meet with LEO on Wednesday, April 18 and Friday, April 20 to continue negotiating the contract.
Update posted 4/8/18
Sunday night, the Lecturers’ Employee Organization informed the university that LEO, the union representing lecturers on all three University of Michigan campuses, will not call for a strike Monday and Tuesday.
The university and LEO bargaining teams met through the weekend and reported making significant progress in contract negotiations. Talks will continue this week.
Update posted 4/3/18
The university and LEO continue to negotiate a new contract and have added two additional bargaining sessions this week.
Last week, the university and LEO met on Wednesday and Friday, and continued to move closer to agreement on non-economic issues in layoff, performance evaluation and appointments. The parties are closer to agreement on benefits, bereavement time and certain leave provisions, although the parties still are not in agreement on both child care subsidy and parental leave. Salary is a significant topic that continues to be negotiated.
Child Care Subsidy
The university and LEO continue to disagree over creating a new child care subsidy for lecturers. Currently, undergraduate students, graduate students and graduate student assistants are the only groups to receive a subsidy for child care. Under the LEO proposal, utilization of the subsidy could cost the university in excess of $1 million.
Salary
The university has proposed further increases in the minimum salaries in Ann Arbor over its previous offer. The university has proposed increasing the minimum salaries over the course of the three-year agreement by $7,500 in Ann Arbor.
LEO’s latest proposal would cost approximately $46 million and represents a 67% increase to the salary base over three years. It also amounts to a 90% increase to the salary base in Flint and a 95% increase in Dearborn.
Despite the significant differences between the parties, the university remains committed to reaching resolution through the bargaining process before the contract expires on April 20, 2018.
Update posted 3/29/18
The university and LEO continue to meet weekly to negotiate a new contract and plan to meet in additional sessions in the coming weeks. Agreement has been reached on a number of key issues. One significant topic that continues to be negotiated is salary.
Salary and Benefits
The university has agreed to LEO’s proposal expanding benefits eligibility for lecturers. Under the current contract, lecturers must have a 50% appointment in both the fall and winter semesters in order to receive benefits coverage (health, dental, vision and life insurance, as well as long term disability coverage and legal plan coverage) in those semesters.
The new language would provide eight months of additional benefits coverage for lecturers whose fall and winter appointments averaged to 50% effort over the course of a year but whose winter appointment was below 50%. The university also has agreed to expand those eligible to receive benefits over the spring/summer semesters.
On salary, the university has proposed increasing the minimum salaries over the course of the three year agreement by $5,500 in Ann Arbor and $5,700 in Dearborn in Flint. This amounts to a 16% increase in Ann Arbor, a 20% increase in Dearborn and a 21% increase in Flint. This proposal is significantly higher than the minimum salary increases agreed to in the last three LEO contracts.
The university also proposed a 2.25% increase across the board in each of the three years of the contract in Ann Arbor. The university also proposed maintaining current contract language that salary increases in Dearborn and in Flint would remain tied to the tenure-track faculty salary program.
Performance Evaluation, Layoff and Job Security
LEO proposed over 100 substantive changes to the collective bargaining agreement, with over 50 changes in performance evaluation, layoff and job security. The parties have reached agreement on a number of changes including the following:
- The university agreed to move to ongoing appointments for long-serving lecturers, subject to periodic continuing reviews.
- The university agreed to move the layoff notice date of Lecturers I in Ann Arbor from August 25 to August 15.
- The university has agreed to provide expanded job security for most Lecturers I allowing for one-year appointments of lecturers when a unit anticipates work will be available during both fall and winter semesters.
Disability Accommodations, Collegiate Lecturer and Professional Development
The university has also agreed to the following:
- creating a disability accommodations procedure for lecturers
- expanding the Collegiate Lecturer program on all three campuses
- expanding the Professional Development Fund to include an inclusive teaching professional development fund on all three campuses
Update posted 2/26/18
The university and LEO continue to meet to negotiate a new contract. Since the beginning of bargaining in October, the university and LEO have met fourteen times for formal negotiating sessions. They continue to discuss a variety of issues, both economic and non-economic, including:
- benefits
- salary
- appointments
- performance evaluations
- professional development
- accommodations for employees with disabilities
There is no bargaining session the week of February 26 due to the university's spring break. Negotiations will resume on March 9.