LEO Communications Committee 8/31/21 LEO Communications Committee 8/31/21

Lecturer Bargaining Update: LEO Summer Bargaining Roundup

LEO’s contract negotiations with U-M administration have been going on since January. In this post, we round up the status of bargaining this summer and share resources to understand the status of negotiations.

LEO Communications Committee 8/27/21 LEO Communications Committee 8/27/21

Admin response to LEO FOIA Request: Sorry, What?

In January, LEO made a FOIA request to obtain records of the salaries of the top administrators on each campus, including the President, Chancellors, Provosts and other key administrators. As of mid-August, they still have not provided that information, despite legal obligations to do so.

LEO Communications Committee 8/27/21 LEO Communications Committee 8/27/21

Lecturer Bargaining Update: Update from 8/26/21 & Day 2 of Move-In Actions

Today we received admin’s counter proposal. They did not move on any of the non-salary issues, and the salary counter was terrible.

Around 100 lecturers and community allies, including members of the Graduate Employees Organization, undergraduate students, tenure-track, and other campus community members, joined the informational picket lines held today during the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor’s campus move-in from 10am-2pm. We hope to see you tomorrow 10am-2pm, at the dorms on Observatory Street in Ann Arbor.

LEO Communications Committee 8/7/21 LEO Communications Committee 8/7/21

Lecturer Bargaining Update: Rally for a Fair Contract!

AFTER NEARLY EIGHT MONTHS OF BARGAINING, the U-M administration continues to bring forward inadequate salary offers and refuses to make reasonable movement on issues such as governance, felony disclosure, and teaching professor. As a result, LEO AFT-MI Local 6244 will be giving the administration 30 days’ notice effective August 9 that we are quitting the existing contract.

ALL LECTURER FACULTY AND LEO ALLIES ARE INVITED to tell U-M Admin to RESPECT THE LECS! at the Quit the Contract Rally THIS MONDAY, 8/9, from 11am-1pm. Meet in front of the LSA Building at 500 S. State St. in Ann Arbor to listen to speakers, rally, and picket for a fair and equitable LEO contract.

LEO Communications Committee 7/21/21 LEO Communications Committee 7/21/21

Lecturer Bargaining Update: Bargaining Recap for 7/9/21

The final July Session was a short one. We presented on Professional Development, Governance, and Retiree Email Access. We will return to the table on Wednesday, August 4. It is possible some small group discussion on various issues will happen in the interim.

LEO Communications Committee 7/18/21 LEO Communications Committee 7/18/21

LEO-GLAM: Achievement Unlocked! Card Check Edition

IT’S OFFICIAL! LIBRARIANS, ARCHIVISTS AND CURATORS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN HAVE A UNION!

LACs will join LEO as a separate bargaining unit known as LEO-GLAM.

But before we talk about what comes next for librarians, archivists, and curators, let’s take a moment to review how we got here, and then talk about what comes next.

LEO Communications Committee 7/1/21 LEO Communications Committee 7/1/21

Op/Ed: We Are Getting Tired of Asking Nicely

Multiple lecturer members share their opinion about the current state of contract bargaining with administration, and why they are getting tired and frustrated.

LEO Communications Committee 6/29/21 LEO Communications Committee 6/29/21

Lecturer Bargaining Update: Bargaining Recap for 6/23/21

This past Wednesday’s bargaining was disappointing but also clarifying. We received 5 counter-proposals from Management. The next bargaining session will be Wednesday, June 30th.

LEO Communications Committee 6/23/21 LEO Communications Committee 6/23/21

Lecturer Bargaining Update: Bargaining Recap for 6/18/21

We had hoped for clarity on salary after Thursday's budget vote, but we did not receive a salary counter. We are hoping for a much improved salary offer during Wednesday's bargaining session.

LEO Communications Committee 6/14/21 LEO Communications Committee 6/14/21

LEO Position on Fall 2021 Reopening

LEO’s Union Council recently approved this letter stating the Union’s position on a safe Fall 2021 semester, which we will present to President Schlissel and the Board of Regents.

LEO Communications Committee 6/14/21 LEO Communications Committee 6/14/21

Lecturer Bargaining Update: Bargaining Recap for 6/11/21

More than half of the proposals have Tentative Agreements (TA’s) but many of the proposals still on the table have been some of the most contentious in this 6-month process.

The high point of the day was the tentative agreement on our workload package of MOU 2 (Full-Time Opportunities) and MOU 7 (Title Bridge between I/II to III/IV).

After much deliberation by the Bargaining Committee, we presented a Salary counter that reduced our proposal by $2 million. This movement on our part was to demonstrate our dedication to bargaining in good faith. We stressed our commitment to “moral minimums” and parity across the campuses.

LEO Communications Committee 6/10/21 LEO Communications Committee 6/10/21

Member Perspectives: LEO-GLAM, “There is strength in the union”

On June 3, 2021, librarians, archivists, and curators (LACs) held their first membership meeting as “LEO-GLAM.”

GLAM stands for “galleries, libraries, archives, and museums,” and it’s a commonly used shorthand for the kinds of environments our information professional and cultural heritage colleagues work in here at the University of Michigan.

At this meeting, Colleen Marquis [they/them]—an archivist on the Flint campus—delivered powerful opening remarks summarizing how LEO-GLAM came to be. We are excited to share their words with you, and we hope you find this vision inspiring.