Negotiations between LEO-GLAM and the university began December 3, 2021.
Update Aug. 1, 2022 (posting date)
LEO-GLAM has confirmed ratification of the union’s first three-year agreement with the university by an overwhelming majority.
Update July 21, 2022 (posting date)
A tentative contract agreement between the university and LEO-GLAM was reached on July 15, 2022. A ratification vote will be held by the bargaining unit at a future date. This update will be revised once the date is finalized.
Update June 20, 2022 (posting date)
The university and LEO-GLAM returned to the bargaining table on Wednesday, June 15, and Friday, June 17, 2022, for the 26th and 27th formal sessions. The discussions centered on the final two remaining articles–salary and professional development. To date, the parties have reached 37 tentative agreements.
Professional Development
In an effort to bring the parties closer to an agreement, on June 15, the university proposed an appointing-unit-level professional development fund, in lieu of per employee funding per unit, for professional development, providing greater flexibility for librarians, archivists, and curators to request larger amounts of professional development funding, while still meeting the financial needs of the appointing units.
This new structure includes unit-level funds, for librarians, archivists, and curators to apply for discretionary professional development opportunities. The university remains committed to the coverage of any mandatory travel and/or professional development opportunities, which is separate from the discretionary fund. The university proposed each unit would create a fund equivalent to $750 times the number of employees in the unit as of September 1 of each year, and that employees would be eligible to apply for up to $1,200. By contrast, the union’s last proposal on June 10 required a set amount of $2,300 to be set aside for each librarian, archivist, and curator for discretionary professional development opportunities ($416,300 per year of the contract).
The union did not present a counter proposal for professional development on June 17.
Salary
On June 15, the university again moved considerably in each area of the salary proposal that has been identified by the union as a priority. The university proposed a 12.1% overall increase over the course of the three-year contract. The university moved significantly on the minimum salary, with minimums starting at $50,000 for Assistants, $54,000 for Associates, $62,000 for Senior Associates, and $70,000 for Full Librarians, Archivists, and Curators. The university’s proposal also moved in equity increases resulting in all librarians, archivists, and curators receiving a minimum increase of 4% in the first year of the contract, and providing annual increases of 2%, 2.5%, and 2.5% in each respective year of the contract. Lastly, the university’s proposal provides a 6% promotional increase for all ranks.
The union presented a counter-proposal on June 17, which provides a 64.4% increase for the Flint campus, a 30.5% increase for the Dearborn campus, and a 25.7% increase for the Ann Arbor campus over the three years of the contract. The total University increase of this proposal is 27.1%.
In the first year of the contract alone, the union's proposal is a 38.6% increase on the UM-Flint campus, an 18.4% increase on the UM-Dearborn campus, and an 11.1% Ann Arbor campus, with a total overall first-year cost of 12.2%.
By contrast, the university proposed on June 17 an additional movement in the minimum salary for Associates ($55,000), and Senior Associates ($63,000). The university also moved significantly in equity as this had been one of the union’s top priorities throughout bargaining. Overall, the university proposed a 12.4% overall increase over the course of the three-year contract.
The parties are scheduled to meet again Friday, June 24. The university remains hopeful of reaching an agreement soon.
Update June 13, 2022 (posting date)
The university and LEO-GLAM returned to the bargaining table Friday, June 10, 2022, for its 25th formal session to discuss the final remaining articles–salary and professional development. To date, the parties have reached 37 tentative agreements.
Salary
LEO-GLAM’s current salary proposal, presented on June 10, decreased the cost of their overall proposal from $3.8-million to $3.7-million. The cost of the first year of the contract is approximately a 13% increase the first year and a 28% increase over the course of the three years of the contract. While the parties did come to an agreement on the structure of promotional increases, the union proposed an 8.5 percent increase, which is still higher than the university’s last counter-proposal of five or six percent depending on classification.
Professional Development
The union proposed the same proposal as their previous proposal with one exception, where they lowered the amount for discretionary professional development funds to $2300 from $2400. This set amount does not include employer-mandated professional development (i.e. required travel and acquisition trips). By contrast, the university has proposed a guaranteed $700 per employee per year, for discretionary professional development opportunities. The university has also agreed to cover mandatory professional development costs in addition to the $700.
State Labor Board Mediator Requested
Despite the overall progress at the table on key non-economic proposals, the parties still remain very far apart on salary and professional development. As a result, the university requested that the state labor board provide a mediator to attend future bargaining sessions. The university has taken this step in prior negotiations to allow a neutral party to meet with both teams and assist with resolving issues.
The parties meet next on June 15 and June 17. The university remains hopeful of reaching an agreement soon.
Update June 8, 2022
The university and LEO-GLAM reconvened negotiations June 7, which marked 24 formal sessions, and discussed the final remaining articles–salary and professional development. To date, the parties have reached 37 tentative agreements (number edited on 6/13/22 for accuracy).
Salary
The university moved considerably in the latest salary proposal, including:
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Agreeing to adopt the equity adjustment structure proposed by the union.
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Offering members of the unit will receive a minimum of a 4% increase in the first year, with many of the members receiving more than that amount.
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Increases of 2.25% in year two of the contract and 2.5% in year three of the contract.
These changes result in the median full-time rate of a librarian, archivist, or curator increasing from the current rate of $71,900 to $81,600.
Professional Development
During bargaining June 3, the university proposed employees receive a minimum of $700 per year for discretionary professional development. Under this proposal:
The parties meet again June 10. The university remains hopeful of reaching an agreement soon.
Update May 24, 2022
The parties have been negotiating since December 3, 2021, and have met formally in 21 bargaining sessions. The last session convened on May 20, 2022. To date, the parties have reached 37 tentative agreements.
The parties have made much progress in non-economic areas of the contract including:
- standard promotion process for all librarians, archivists, and curators;
- added two (2) new titles, Senior Associate Archivist, Senior Associate Curator;
- convening a committee to address concerns of bathroom cleanliness in workspaces and provides a standard process for addressing reported health and safety concerns;
- grievance and arbitration procedures;
- just cause standards within their disciplinary procedures;
- additional support for international librarians, archivists, and curators;
- articles addressing the university’s commitment to prohibiting harassment and discrimination;
- providing increased transparency on individual Librarian, Archivist, and Curator workload standards;
- guaranteeing the same benefits to librarians, archivists and curators as to tenure-track faculty and access to other various paid/unpaid leave options;
- procedures which provide consistent practices within LAC units, increased transparency and communication to LAC employees in the case of a layoff, and provides LACs with additional resources and privileges for up to one (1) calendar year (i.e. benefit information, access facilities); and
- greater transparency on the ADA process for employees requesting accommodation.
Despite the progress made in these areas, the parties continue to remain far apart on economic issues, such as compensation.
University’s latest salary proposal
The university's most recent salary proposal, presented on May 20, includes proposed minimum salaries, not fixed starting salaries, for librarians, archivists, and curators, in order to allow flexibility in the unit for recruitment in more competitive environments. The university also proposed 2% annual raises in all three years of the agreement, and promotional increases of 5% at the assistant and associate level and 6% at promotion at the full level. The university also proposed equity increases in each of the three years of the contract, providing an additional percentage increase for those whose salaries are currently at or below the median salary at each rank. The equity increase provides increases to half of the members of the bargaining unit. The University is proposing a 11% increase over the course of the three year contract.
LEO-GLAM’s latest salary proposal
LEO-GLAM continues to propose a 41.5% increase in salary over the course of the three year contract with 60% of that increase occurring in the first year of the contract. By contrast, our last salary proposal offered an 11% increase over the three years of the contract, with approximately half of that increase in the first year of the contract.
The union has also proposed starting salaries for incoming librarians, archivist and curators that would prohibit appointing units from offering any other salary to an incoming librarian, archivist or curator than the one set forth in the contract.
Update: May 5, 2022
The parties have met 18 times since Dec. 3, 2021. The university and LEO-GLAM have made significant progress to date resulting in the university's movement on a majority of the LEO-GLAM proposals. The university continues to bargain in good faith and remains committed to bargaining with the union as often as is needed in order to reach agreement in the coming months.
The parties have reached agreement on a number of items important to the union and the university, including the following:
- Workspaces Health and Safety: Including convening a committee to address concerns of bathroom cleanliness in workspaces and provides a standard process for addressing reported health and safety concerns.
- Benefits: Guaranteeing the same benefits to librarians, archivists and curators as to tenure-track faculty.
- Workload and Work Schedules and Locations: Providing increased transparency on individual LAC workload standards, and maintaining flexibility with requesting alternative work arrangements when it aligns with the needs of the unit.
- Layoff and Recall: Procedures which provide consistent practices within LAC units, increased transparency and communication to LAC employees in the case of a layoff, and provides LACs with additional resources and privileges for up to one (1) calendar year (i.e. benefit information, access facilities)
- Accessibility and Accommodation: Providing greater transparency on the ADA process for employees requesting accommodation, and requiring unit designees to serve as a central contact point to assist employees with navigating the process.
The parties also have agreed to language on paid and unpaid leaves, vacation pay, holidays, providing employees the ability to take time off for a variety of reasons.
Some of the main unresolved items are:
- Promotion: While the parties are getting closer on language on what the promotion criteria and materials will be submitted during a promotion review, the question of where the review takes place remains unresolved. The union has stated that their members want a promotion review process that is transparent, consistent and equitable. In order to meet these concerns, the university has proposed the same criteria to be reviewed and the same materials to be submitted for all librarians, archivists and curators. The university has also proposed unit-level promotion review committees that consist of at least one librarian, archivist or curator and at least one member of the appointing unit or a member with subject matter expertise in the area of review. The university’s proposal provides the desired transparency, equity and consistency across the units and at the same time allows for unit specialization and expertise within the review process.
- Appointments: The parties are not in agreement as to the inclusion of the titles senior associate archivist and senior associate curator, but have reached tentative consensus on language concerning a probationary period and annual review process for LAC appointments.
- Salary: The union is proposing a 44% increase to the cost of salaries, with a 28% increase in the first year alone. The university has proposed a 9% increase to the cost of the LAC salaries, which would raise the median full-time rate from $72,055 to $79,260.
- Starting Salaries of New Hires: The union has also proposed starting salaries for incoming librarians, archivist and curators that would prohibit appointing units from offering any other salary to an incoming librarian, archivist or curator than the one set forth in the contract. This would be a significant departure from the process set forth for determining starting salaries of all other academic employees, including lecturers and tenure-track faculty. The university has proposed a minimum salary that would be the same across the three campuses, which was an important goal of the union, but allows units to provide a higher salary to a new librarian, archivist and curator, whose experience, academic background and qualifications warrant a higher salary than the minimum.
- Equity Reviews: The university has proposed allowing units to offer a higher annual increase than set forth in the contract based on merit, equity or retention considerations without having to bargain over that increase with the union. The union’s proposal prohibits an appointing unit from offering this type of increase without the union’s approval.
- Professional Development: The union has proposed a minimum of $4,000 per LAC per year, which has an estimated cost of $700,000 for the 181-member bargaining unit. The university has proposed a $500 professional development amount, depending upon the needs of the unit, with the option for units to provide additional funding.