UChicago Faculty Forward Secures New Contract!

Following our ratification meeting today on Wednesday, Nov. 11, we counted the ballots from the three in-person sessions and the Monday evening Zoom meeting. Faculty Forward membership approved the new collective bargaining agreement by a margin of 200 to 27, or 88 percent to 12 percent. We will notify University management this afternoon, and the contract goes into effect immediately. Management has told us it will take some time to calculate back pay and how that will be distributed, but we will continue to press to make sure that happens expeditiously and will share further details as available.

Here are some highlights of our new contract:
ACROSS-THE-BOARD RAISES

Across-the-board raises over 5 years of 8.5/4.5/3.5/3/3.5 percent. Members overwhelmingly ranked fair pay as their top priority in negotiations, and this contract is a giant step toward that. These raises actually compound to 25.1 percent over five years, and 17.35 percent over the first three years, which is higher than the 10/3/3 bottom line that members demanded (16.7 percent total). Our across-the-board win covers ground lost due to high inflation over the last few years with a raise that more than makes up for it. This is a huge victory, especially given the uphill battle we had fighting the austerity narrative that management has been pushing for two years.
Raises will be retroactive to July 1, 2024 or September 1, 2024, depending on individual appointment cycle start dates.

BENEFITS

A brand-new childcare allowance of $1,000 per quarter available to *all* “Track B” members (instructional professors and professors of practice in the arts of all ranks), Lecturer 2s, and Teaching Fellows with dependent children under the age of 11.
The Dependent Children Tuition Benefit for IPs and PPAs of all ranks. This covers tuition at any college or university up to 75 percent of the University of Chicago tuition. This is a massive victory that we’ve fought for over THREE different CBAs now. It goes a huge way toward benefit-parity with tenure-line faculty and will be life-changing for many of our members.
The Diverse Learners’ Portability Benefit, which covers an amount equal to Lab School tuition remission for IPs, PPAs, and Lecturer 2s – another big win and a big step toward benefit-parity with TT workers.
L2s and TFs are eligible for Lab School tuition remission.
SOSC Writing Advisors with triple and double appointments are benefits-eligible under the new CBA.

INCREASED MINIMUM SALARIES BEYOND ATB

Teaching Fellows will see their salaries increase to $58,000 in the first year of the contract (from $49,536 currently)—a 17.1 percent raise. ATB raises for subsequent years will push that number to $60,610 the following year, and $62,731.35 in the third year, reaching $66,874 at the end of the contract.
Writing Specialist salaries will grow to $67,000 in the first year. The newest Writing Specialists make $51,667, and the vast majority of members are in the low $50,000s. Writing Advisors in the SOSC core who work triple appointments will have their salaries increased to $60,000 in the first year from $45,000 currently—a 33 percent raise.
Salaries for Writing and Research Advisors in the English Department and the Creative Writing Program will move up to $60,000 in the first year. These positions are currently in the mid $40,000s and high $30,000s respectively.
Members promoted from L3 to L4 (Assistant to Associate) will see an eight-percent raise. The promotion from L4 to L5 (Associate to Full Instructional Professor) comes with an additional 8.23 percent raise.
Lecturer 2 pay will be set at approximately $37,000 for a four-course load and approximately $45,000 for a five-course load. L2s with more than seven years of service will get an additional eight-percent longevity raise.
For L1s, there is a new per-course minimum of $8,500, up from $7,538 currently.

JOB PROTECTIONS FOR WRITING PROGRAM INSTRUCTORS

Management’s plans to restructure the Writing Program have been a major concern for our writing instructor members and Faculty Forward as a whole. We won the following major concessions toward job security for these members:

A guarantee of a final-round interview for newly created instructional professor positions for current Writing Program employees who meet the minimum qualifications.
A guarantee that current writing instructors not hired into new instructional professor positions will be rehired into any writing staff positions for which they are qualified if such jobs are available, with such hiring taking place according to seniority.
Two seats on an advisory board that will guide transition to the new Writing Program model. This is a giant win for non-TT faculty governance and an important precedent for our membership’s right to a seat at the table in significant administrative decisions.
Severance of six-months salary and benefits for any current workers laid off in future restructuring.

FAIR WORKLOAD AND FAIR PAY IN MA PROGRAMS

Previously uncompensated summer teaching labor in MAPH, MAPSS, and CIR will be paid with an additional 1/13 of base assistant instructional professor salary for workers in these programs.
A commitment not to change target ranges for advising loads in Humanities and Social Sciences MA programs without six months’ notice.
A commitment to keep precept sizes (inclusive of second-year Two-Year Language Option students in MAPH) from exceeding 20 students.
A mechanism for addressing overloads with either increased pay, a reduction of non-teaching duties, student reassignment, or a reduction of teaching duties with a commitment to minimize any changes in duties laid out in appointment letters.
A much improved work structure for Johnson Lecturers (previously Johnson Instructors) in MAPSS, including a four-year appointment (up from three years), a one course reduction in workload, priority consideration for any newly created MAPSS IP jobs for which they are qualified, and pay increased to the AIP base.

We would like to thank membership for standing together throughout this long fight. The large majority we had who were willing to strike if management did not agree to a good deal was vital to making sure the bargaining team had the strength we needed to secure a fair contract. This CBA makes enormous advances toward equity in pay and benefits, toward recognizing that non-tenure track faculty are faculty who deserve a voice in important decisions at the University of Chicago, and toward better working conditions for us all.

There is plenty of work to do between contract negotiations. Faculty Forward will hold executive committee elections and steward elections early next year. If you are interested in serving on the executive committee or as a unit steward, please contact our SEIU representative, Andrew Yale, at ayale@seiu73.org, or the executive committee at uchi.facultyforward@gmail.com for more details.

In the meantime, let’s celebrate a great contract that represents a big advance for academic labor at the University of Chicago!

In solidarity,
The Faculty Forward Bargaining Team