By Leanne Serbulo, VP for Collective Bargaining
On August 14th, we continued to process Non-Tenure Track Faculty issues using the Interest-Based Bargaining steps. After sharing the data that was gathered since the last session, we began generating proposals. Our bargaining team suggested that we start with the proposal that the Article 18 Task Force produced last January. This joint labor/management group came out of our previous contract and was charged with designing an alternative to the current contract system of employment for Non-Tenure Track Faculty. The task force proposal calls for continuing appointments for Non-Tenure Track teaching and research faculty members. Continuing appointments mean that once a Non-Tenure Track Faculty member achieves seniority status (4 years) and undergoes a successful review, s/he would become a permanent PSU employee who could only be let go if s/he failed to perform his/her job duties or if his/her program was cut. The Article 18 Task Force report recognizes that there may be times when a fixed-term (time-limited) appointment is necessary, but it puts strict limitations on the use of these appointments.
Read more about bargaining at imagineportlandstate.com