Breaking Down Bargaining
Our union enables us to come together to address issues and win improvements that benefit every worker at Bates. The process by which we identify and advocate for the changes we want is called bargaining! Here’s a quick explanation of how it works:
What do negotiations look like?
When our union is recognized by the NLRB, we (all bargaining-unit eligible employees at Bates) will have the legal right to negotiate in good faith with the college administration over wages, hours and working conditions.
After we decide what we most want to see preserved and improved in a first contract, and have selected our elected bargaining team, we will set initial dates with management to present contract proposals. After we or management makes a proposal, the other side will have a chance to present counter proposals, or agree to a tentative agreement on a specific section of the contract.
How will we decide what we want to have in our first contract?
By gathering feedback from everyone! Using examples from other unionized colleges and universities, we will create a bargaining survey—a tool for developing and prioritizing the issues that we want to address in our first contract. Once a majority of us have completed the survey, we will discuss the results so we can all understand our priorities as a larger work-group and use them to shape our proposals.
Other tools that can help us understand our priorities going into negotiations include, but are not limited to: Small group/department-specific meetings, one-on-one conversations, larger preparation sessions to draft contract language, etc.
Once the negotiations process begins and while we are preparing to negotiate, we will also have the right to request information from management about our pay, benefits, policies and working conditions—this information can help inform what exactly needs to change or be preserved.
How will we decide our bargaining team?
The negotiations survey will leave space for any of us to nominate ourselves, or a coworker that we believe would excel at the role, to the bargaining team.
Once we have checked in with all the nominees, we can hold elections to decide who will formally be on the bargaining team!
The bargaining team’s makeup is also important: It should be representative of the many kinds of work we do and the many identities in our workplace. Having a team with representation from each of our many departments, is representative of Bates’ ethnic and racial diversity, has parents and non-parents, long-time employees and new hires, etc. is all important to making sure the full scope of Bates experiences and viewpoints are represented.
Can all of us be involved in bargaining, even if we’re not on the bargaining team?
Yes! An important part of winning an exceptional first contract is staying connected and unified. This means that there will be many ways for all of us to stay involved throughout the process of negotiating a contract, including: Attending negotiations to observe, making a presentation at negotiations about an issue you care deeply about, helping your bargaining team members draft/review contract language, showing visible support for especially important contract proposals, reading bargaining updates to stay informed, keeping coworkers you work with informed, and plenty more! The more of us that are involved in this process, the better!
How does the negotiations process end?
When we reach a full set of tentative agreements with management on each of the sections we want to bargain over, we will have the chance to vote to ratify our entire contract.
Once we ratify a contract, it will take effect!
Can management make improvements before we’ve ratified a first contract?
Yes. Management can propose immediate changes and improvements at any time, but not without our agreement. They can’t make unilateral changes—this labor law protects us from takeaways. If management wants to, for example, raise wages or improve benefit offerings while we are in negotiations, we can vote as a workgroup to approve a “Memorandum of Understanding” (MOU) to allow those changes to go into effect.
Any previously-planned changes (for example, already-announced cost of living adjustments or changes to benefits packages) can proceed without a formal agreement/MOU.
Glossary of Key Terms
Article Checklist (also Bargaining Proposal Tracker): An informational handout listing each existing or proposed article in the collective bargaining agreement and providing updated information about the status of any proposals related to that article, including any tentative agreements reached and the names of union workers working on particular articles.
Bargaining Team (also Bargaining Committee, Negotiations Team/Committee): A group of workers, elected by their coworkers, who take leadership in negotiations, including developing bargaining proposals, sitting at the bargaining table across from management, responding to company proposals, and reaching tentative agreements.
Bargaining Survey: A tool for developing and prioritizing issues through solicitation of input from all the workers who are covered by the agreement, with the goal of gathering responses from a supermajority of the bargaining unit. Bargaining survey results are shared back to members through meetings and/or a written report.
Bargaining Unit: This term defines which types of workers and what job classifications are included, or excluded, by an existing or future union contract.
Caucus: A period in a negotiation session during which the union and the employer go into separate rooms in order to privately discuss proposals and formulate responses. Caucuses may range anywhere from a few minutes to several hours in length. Either party can call for a caucus, and the other must agree.
Contract Action Team (also Member Action/Member Engagement Team, Mobilization/Campaign/Organizing Committee): A committee of workers who volunteer to communicate bargaining updates, educate coworkers about progress in negotiations, and help organize coordinated actions around negotiations.
Information Request: A formal request from the union to the employer for data on pay, hours of work, schedules, staffing, financial data, or other information that may inform the union’s proposals and bargaining rationales. A benefit of the legal right to collective bargaining, the employer must comply. If they fail to do so, it is an unfair labor practice.
Just Cause: As contrasted with the default of ‘at-will’ employment, just cause requires basic due process before a worker can be fired and prevents an employer from firing a worker for no reason or a bad reason. Just cause is a fundamental protection in a collective bargaining agreement and is typically established in the first contract.
Memorandum of Understanding (MOU): A formal agreement between management and the union, setting the terms for a change that both parties agree to. MOUs are a common avenue to implement immediate changes in wages, hours and working conditions before a final contract agreement is reached.
Ratification Vote: A process to formally approve or reject a new collective bargaining agreement through a vote by workers covered by the contract.
Seniority: The amount of time that a worker has worked for a given employer and/or in a given job classification. Seniority can be an important mechanism to create fairness and constrain employer discretion.
Tentative Agreement (TA): An agreement reached between the union and the employer for language in a particular contract article or articles that is provisionally signed off on by both sides before there is agreement over the contract as a whole. Tentative agreements allow the parties to narrow the scope of bargaining over time.
Unfair Labor Practice (ULP): An act which violates a prohibition under applicable labor law.