May 29, 2020 The UFE membership overwhelmingly voted on May 15 to endorse the following 2020-22 slate of candidates for the UFE leadership team. Congratulations to Chair, Shawn Hazboun; Vice-Chair, Laurie Meeker; Communications Coordinator, Julie Russo; Treasurer, Marla Elliott; Stewards Coordinator, Leslie Flemmer; At-Large Members, Judith Gabriele and Sandy Yannone. Members elected to the Stewards Council include: Steve Blakeslee, and Suzanne Simons. Thank you everyone for your service! UFE Election Committee: Brad Procter, Michael Vavrus & Grace Huerta _________________ May 18, 2020–COVID-19 Working Conditions & Research Greetings UFE members. We have received emails from UFE colleagues regarding requests fromRead More
In a press conference today, Friday March 13, Governor Jay Inslee announced restrictions to educational activities on college campuses related to the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic. The Governor indicated that higher ed institutions will be restrict in-person instruction from Tuesday March 17 through Friday April 24. The first possible day back will be Monday April 27, the beginning of week 5 in the Evergreen academic calendar. You can watch this section of the Governor’s press conference here, (2:52 through 3:57). The transcript follows: “Second, we are also going to restrict activity at all statewide public and private universities, colleges, communityRead More
Mar 5, 2020. Greetings UFE members! In case you haven’t heard, House Bill 1888 passed and is on to the governor for his signature. House Bill 1888 closes a loophole in the Public Records Act and helps protect the privacy and safety of school employees and other public workers. See this link for more info: https://app.leg.wa.gov/billsummary?BillNumber=1888&Year=2019&Initiative=false Grace Huerta–UFE Chair______________________________________ February, 2020 — Hi UFE Members! The UFE hosted a winter social on Friday evening, Feb. 28, 2020. Thanks to everyone in attendance. In other news, the UFE held a membership meeting on Monday, Oct. 14, 2019. The purpose of the meetingRead More
Before coming to Evergreen, I was most familiar with academic life at Brown University (where I did my graduate work and also adjuncted) and at Stanford University (where I taught for two years as a visitor). Needless to say, neither of these institutions have faculty unions. Both have a far higher degree of polarization amongst faculty and between faculty and administration, weaker faculty governance and more dictatorial administrations, and more inequitable working conditions than Evergreen. Moreover, these issues represent a devastating trend in US higher education toward neoliberal models of the university, where administrators are seen as managers whoseRead More
2019 CBA Reopener: On May 22, 2019, the UFE membership and the TESC management (in behalf of the BOT) ratified the 2018-21 CBA Re-opener Agreement (TA). The vote count was 86Y/3N (89 total; 3 votes were submitted after the voting deadline & not included in this total). In sum, 89 voters represented a UFE ratification turnout of 74% with 97% of voters voting to ratify the re-opener TA. See details of the new contract items in the re-opener in the post below…
DIGEST: LIMITED REOPENER SUMMARY AND HIGHLIGHTS 9 May 2019 The UFE Bargaining Team is pleased to announce that it has reached a tentative agreement in the form of a Memorandum of Understanding with The Evergreen State College on the limited reopener to the Collective Bargaining Agreement as specified in Article 30.1 (CBA, p. 68). This MOU will remain in effect for the final two years of the current Collective Bargaining Agreement (2018-21). All other articles addressed in the CBA remain the same, including summer workshops and sabbaticals. Negotiations with the college continued during spring quarter and concluded on WednesdayRead More
June 14, 2018. The 2018-21 CBA is Ratified by the UFE! The UFE membership and the Board of Trustees (BOT) ratified the 2018-2021 Collective Bargaining Agreement. Under the UFE bylaws, agreements are ratified by a majority of those members voting. To see the voting results, click here. _________________ June 8, 2018. Greetings UFE Members. We have a Tentative Agreement! The digest (summary) outlining the major changes to the CBA, as well as the full CBA can be found at: https://www.ufevergreen.org/2018-ta-docs/ We sent out an email Thursday as a written notice of the ratification meeting. In accordance with our UFERead More
As many of you know, the UFE is back at the bargaining table. Last spring, the administration and the UFE bargained a one-year successor agreement. We had hoped for a multiyear contract. However, the events of Spring 2017 led the administration to only agree to a one-year contract. The 2017-18 CBA maintained existing language while adding a modest compensation gain based on state budget funding. In addition, a separate MOU was ratified to require faculty development on institutional racism and cultural competency. The MOU implementation began this academic year, 2017-18. In the current bargain, the UFE is negotiating in theRead More
