Loyola University Updates

Tuesday, April 22, –

Recap #6

Dear Colleagues, 

Here is your recap of our sixth union bargaining session for our third union contract (CBA). We reached our third Tentative Agreement (TA) on Personnel Files, and agreed to the dates and times of our next six bargaining sessions.April 28, 9-1, Cuneo 410

• May 12, 1-5, Location TBA
• May 20, 1-5 Location TBA
• May 27, 1-5 Location TBA
• June 10, 1-5 Location TBA
• June 16, 1-5 Location TBA

Management’s counter-proposal on Academic Freedom. refused to engage in even our most barebones, minimalist approach. Our proposal endeavored to protect our members by enshrining current LUC policy into our CBA. This approach would allow us the opportunity to negotiate for issues that are policy but not in the Faculty Handbook, changes in policy, and the fallout of changing laws. 

Management proposed an article, Relationship to Faculty Handbook, that enshrines the 2025 edition of the Faculty Handbook in this third CBA. With this article, future changes to the Faculty Handbook would need to be negotiated through Labor Management. The revised 2025 Faculty Handbook is going to the Board of Trustees on May 1.

Management’s counter-proposal to our Immigration proposal seeks to move it into the Appointments and Reappointments article. It states that sponsorship by the university is for full-time and renewable contracts only, and that temporary full-time, and part-time faculty, are not to receive visa sponsorship. 

Management continues to want to minimize and blend our two proposals on EEO & Non-Discrimination and Accessibility into one. We can see here that they continue to be unwilling to extend the current list of protected human beings or to include our language around retaliation, noting in retaliation that the last clause currently states “any other characteristic protected by applicable law”.

Management engaged with our proposal on part-time faculty evaluations with a proposed article entitled Part-Time Unionized Faculty. This article includes the current evaluation processes for part-time faculty which require evaluation after their first semester of service. It also adds language that would bar part-time faculty members from being rehired should they not agree to subsequent evaluation.

In our last negotiation meeting, management asked us for a definition on seniority in regard to our proposal on Office and Studio Space. We responded with the following proposed definition: Seniority. Management appreciated our language but said the Office of General Council will craft the official definition.

Management objected to our proposal on Inclusive Excellence (formerly DEI) saying they see no necessity for our CBA to protect our members in this way. We disagree. Please share your experiences and opinions with us on Inclusive Excellence at facultyforwardluc@gmail.com. Management also stated that they want to be the ones to draft this definition. We look forward to seeing what they propose.

Lastly, management presented us with a proposed Term of Agreement of five (5) years. A three (3) year contract is standard. Thus, if LUC management expects us to honor their request to lengthen the term of our next CBA to 5 years, we will require LUC management to address our requests for substantial increases in pay, workload reductions, etc.

We are in the process of crafting and presenting our economic proposals. Please add your voice to the chorus by engaging with bargaining and the bargaining committee in any way you can. Plan to attend a bargaining session, even if you can only make it for a bit. You do not need to be present the entire time. We understand that our members are busy, and expect everyone to come in and out as their schedule permits. You are welcome to be active in the bargaining process, but you can also simply observe. 

Decisions are made by those who show up. We worked hard to earn ourselves a seat at the negotiations table; now we must make our presence felt there. We hope you will decide to show management that unionized faculty will be part of the decision making process when it comes to the issues that affect our careers and our lives. 

Our next union contract negotiation meeting will be held on Monday, 4/28, from 9 a.m to 1 p.m. CST in Cuneo Hall, room 410. We hope you’ll join us there. 

In solidarity,

The Loyola Chicago Faculty Forward Bargaining Committee

Wednesday, April 16 –
Dear Colleagues, 

Here is your recap of our fifth union bargaining session for our third union contract. 

Thank you to everyone who presented at this session and to all those who attended. Thanks also to all those who have been coming together to write, read, and/or edit one or more of our proposals! Your input has been and continues to be crucial. 

We had a productive session on April 8. LUC Faculty Forward made counter-proposals on Academic Freedom, EEO & Non-Discrimination and Union Orientations, /Union Rights. We also presented four new proposals to management: Accessibility, Health and Safety, Immigration, and  Office and Studio Space.

We achieved a Tentative Agreement (TA) with Section 4 of “Union Rights” and the LUC administration said they will have counters to all union proposals presented thus far at the 4/22 bargaining session. 

Our next bargaining session is Tuesday, April 22, 9am-1pm in the Simpson Hall Multi-Purpose Room, 6333 N Winthrop Ave, Chicago, IL 60660. We will begin presenting our economic proposals starting with: Faculty Evaluations and Course Cancellation Fees for part-time faculty. We will also introduce our remaining non-economic article, Inclusive Excellence (formerly known as Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion). Future bargaining sessions will address issues such as the professional development fund, compensation, workload, appointments and reappointments, and part-time faculty benefits.

We invite you to join the bargaining team at any time. If you would like to help craft any of our upcoming economic proposals, please reach out to us at facultyforwardluc@gmail.com for information on how to get involved and join our standing Friday meetings. You may utilize our Faculty Forward LUC Courageous Space Agreement for guidance on how to contribute to our proposals, etc. In order to negotiate the best possible contract, we need to hear from as many members as possible!

As we head into our economic proposals, we have a question for our part-time faculty members: Have you been receiving course cancellation fees when/if one of your courses gets cancelled within 21 calendar days before the first scheduled meeting of that course?

As ever, please plan to attend a bargaining session, even if you can only make it for a bit. You do not need to be present the entire time. We understand that our members are busy, and expect everyone to come in and out as their schedule permits. You are welcome to be active in the bargaining process but can also simply observe. Feel free to work and grade while in the session. The more we show up during this process, the more productive the process will be!

In solidarity,

The Loyola Chicago Faculty Forward Bargaining Committee

Thursday, March 27 –

Hello Colleagues,

Thank you to everyone who has agreed to write, read, and/or edit one or more of our current and/or upcoming proposals for our union contract! Your input has been and continues to be crucial. Our plan now is to present the rest of our non-economic proposals at the next bargaining session on Tuesday, April 8. The list of articles we plan to propose for our contract on April 8 includes Office & Studio Space, Faculty Evaluations, DEI and MFAW Recognition. We also plan to re- or counter-propose revised versions of our Accessibility, Immigration, and Non-Discrimination articles as well. You may stay abreast of where all of our proposed articles are in the negotiation process via our LUC-FF Bargaining Tracker.

Our last bargaining session on March 18 was a mixed bag. We got our first tentative agreement (TA) on Grievance and Arbitration, and the administration finally understood the reasoning behind our Orientations proposal and has agreed to add language to Union Rights 4.3. Union Rights- Orientation. This language states that LUC administration will alert the union to the date, time and location of new faculty orientations in the future. We will then be able to set up our own adjacent orientation for newly hired CAS NTT faculty to attend to learn about their rights as new union members on that day as well. They also agreed to alert new faculty to our orientation during the university’s orientation event. Once we clarify some language around notice for new part-time faculty, we should reach a tentative agreement (TA) on this proposal soon.

The administration’s bargaining team once again delivered a hard no to our proposal on Academic Freedom Due to the LUC administration’s intractability on this matter, our union needs to decide whether to keep the current language unchanged, or ask to memorialize the current Faculty Handbook statement on Academic Freedom instead. If you would like to weigh in on this decision, please reach out to us at facultyforwardluc@gmail.com and/or share your comment(s) directly in our Academic Freedom Google doc. Please utilize our Faculty Forward LUC Courageous Space Agreement for guidance on how to contribute to our proposals, etc.

Our remaining non-economic articles are Immigration, Office and Studio Space, Inclusive Excellence (DEI), Faculty Evaluations and MFAW Recognition. The LUC administration team claims that our union members do not care about issues such as academic freedom, immigration, D.E.I. nor accessibility. They have accused the union’s bargaining team of political posturing/virtue signaling by putting forth these proposals. They believe our union contract can and should solely impact unionized faculty, and neither can nor should be used to serve the common good of the whole of our community at LUC and beyond. LUC administration bargaining team members have told us that they just want to get to our economic proposals. They claim our union members only care about monetary issues in our contract as well.

Based on what our union members have shared with us prior, and all that our members actively show by LUC’s social justice mission in general, we believe our members do care about these matters. However, we want to be sure that we are best representing you at the bargaining table. Thus, rather than assuming your perspective, we are asking for your input on these issues.

Do you believe accessibility, immigration and DEI issues should be addressed in our union contract? Please reach out to tell us why. Have you had a challenging experience around immigration, DEI and/or accessibility at LUC? If you have, and/or know of any instances in which others have been impacted by these matters, please contact us at facultyforwardluc@gmail.com and let us know. Communications will remain confidential at your request.

We can only create a contract that best serves all of our union members if every member contributes to it. Whether it is through commenting your suggestions in our proposals, sharing your experiences via email and/or attending a bargaining session meeting, we welcome you to get involved in our union in whatever way(s) best suits you.

In solidarity,
The Loyola Chicago Faculty Forward Bargaining Team

Monday, March 10 –

Dear Colleagues, 

Here is your recap of our third union bargaining session for our third union contract. We are making progress in our negotiations thanks in large part to every member who has attended a bargaining meeting!

Around 35 of our members were able to attend some or all of this fully online session, and their input was crucial. When members attend a bargaining session, they are able to see and hear firsthand what is being said from both sides of the negotiating table. Unionized faculty can then weigh in on issues in which they have knowledge and experience in real time. Our union contract can better serve the diverse needs of all of our faculty when members from various departments, disciplines and positions all share their perspectives in the process of researching, writing and negotiating it. Thank you to everyone who has attended a session and contributed to our contract thus far!

We were especially thrilled to see a good number of our part-time faculty members in attendance at our last session. Many of them informed us that the online format made their attendance possible. We are committed to making our union accessible to and for everyone. Thus, if holding future bargaining sessions on Zoom and/or having audio, visual and/or other accommodations at our in-person meetings would support you in attending and participating in our contract negotiations, please reply to this email and let us know. The bargaining team can then amplify our members’ needs to LUC administration and better advocate for equitable access for us all. 

The bargaining session was frustrating because management, instead of constructively engaging with and responding to many of our proposals, either rejected them outright or responded in a way that completely defanged them.

It was management’s opinion that many of our proposals are solely in response to politics and the current governmental administration in the U.S.  in Washington. We think differently. But we do see our union contract as a way to fight back against unjust societal change inside and outside of our university. We understand the pressure the university administration is under and the care it is taking to secure Loyola’s social justice mission heritage through teaching. The union and unionized faculty want to support our university in this. Our proposals seek to strengthen existing laws that serve our social justice mission by memorializing and enforcing them. Though city, state, and national laws may change, the vested rights we establish in our contract rules stay in place until someone takes the time and energy to change them. We can all work together to protect and support faculty, staff, students and our community as a whole.

In other cases, management acknowledged that our proposals spoke to serious problems–but then insisted that our union contract was not the place to address them. Instead, they essentially asked us to trust them to address these issues on their own, without the accountability a union contract creates.

Session #3 began with management offering three counter proposals to speak to the five proposals we presented in our last session. They accepted our language on initiating grievance at Step 3 in cases involving dismissal. We are close to a tentative agreement (TA) on Grievance and Procedure.

Management rejected our proposal on Academic Freedom. Their rationale was the desire to keep a single university standard on Academic Freedom. We expressed our concern that the current CBA language refers to the Faculty Handbook (Article 5) which states that Academic Freedom is protected by tenure. That’s just not good enough when more than half the faculty in the College of Arts and Sciences are non-tenure track faculty. Management agreed that the Faculty handbook language is skewed to tenured faculty and worth revision. 

Management rejected our Accessibility proposal. Here again, they do not want separate rules for unionized and non-unionized faculty and also feel the university already has appropriate policies in place. Instead, they proposed adding something to Non-Discrimination on following the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), rejecting our advocacy of incorporating best practices in accessibility that have developed since the passage of the ADA in 1990. 

Management rejected our Immigration proposal outright and presented us with a new proposal, Proposal 25.11, Termination of Employment for Failure to Comply with Immigration Laws. For international faculty on H1B visas in CAS, the university currently sponsors full-time faculty only. Temporary and part-time faculty H1B visas are not sponsored. Members can email HR or CAS to find university policy around immigration.

Our next bargaining session will be Tuesday, March 18, 9am-1pm in the Simpson Hall Multi-Purpose Room, at 6333 N Winthrop Ave, Chicago, IL 60660. 

Please plan to attend a bargaining session, even if you can only make it for a bit. You do not need to be present the entire time. We understand that our members are busy, and expect everyone to come in and out as their schedule permits. You are welcome to be active in the bargaining process but can also simply observe. The more we show up during this process, the more productive the process will be!

Please see Loyola Faculty Forward Updates for union resources, member testimonials in support of bargaining goals (which we encourage you to contribute to), and more. 

In solidarity,

The Loyola Chicago Faculty Forward Bargaining Committee

Monday, March 4 –
Dear Colleagues,

We met for our second bargaining session this past Friday. About 20 members attended part or all of the session. It was wonderful to see so many different departments represented! Below you will find the recap. Please feel free to reach out to your department’s steward if you have questions or comments.

Our next bargaining session will be held on Zoom this Friday, March 7, from 9am-1pm. To attend, please register at this link. 

We have proposed having hybrid in-person-Zoom bargaining meetings to better accommodate members, such as part-time faculty working at multiple schools, allowing more members to participate. Management has rejected this idea. They have agreed to do this session by Zoom since it falls over Spring Break. If you can’t make the in-person meetings, we encourage you to attend at least part of this session.

Friday’s session began with management responding to the proposals we presented at the first bargaining session: Orientation, Management Rights, and new position Titles. 

The administration rejected our proposed language changes to allow a union representative to attend orientation events for new faculty. They feel they already meet their obligation to inform new faculty about union membership by providing updated member lists and the use of University facilities to the union. 

The administration also rejected proposed changes to Management Rights. It is management’s view that adding the new language, ”..provided these rights are not exercised in an arbitrary and capricious manner….” fundamentally changes management rights, even though this language is commonplace in union contracts. The Faculty Forward team proposed this language to give faculty more agency and support. Management would like to hear specific examples of how this language would better serve union members. If you have an example of arbitrary and capricious management to share, please share them by responding to this email.

Management welcomed our proposal for new titles. There is a current Titles and Promotion Committee working on titles and our management wants to see what that committee decides before agreeing to the language we proposed. The committee is composed of various stake holders including chairs, deans, and a representative from Faculty Council. 

We then proposed updates to the Grievance and Arbitration and Non-Discrimination clauses, and we introduced three new articles: Immigration, Accessibility, and Academic Freedom.

Our proposed language on the grievance procedure would modify the process for certain kinds of grievances. A grievance is a claim by members that the employer has violated, misinterpreted, or misapplied the collective bargaining agreement, a past practice, or law.

Under our proposed changes, cases involving termination of employment or two or more members (a group or all-affected grievance)  would expedite the process of holding management accountable by beginning the case at Step 3.

We then introduced an article on immigration seeking to clarify communication and timelines for faculty with visa sponsorship. Management listened and said they will take it into consideration and will see if they feel it is actually in the university’s best interest. They claim that they have never sponsored visas for part-time faculty and feel it is incumbent upon members to understand their own status and issues around their visa. If you are a part-time or full-time member who has had their visa sponsored by the University, let us know by responding to this email. 

Our proposal on accessibility builds on the  ADA (American with Disabilities Act) to help make Loyola a workplace where faculty with disabilities have access to resources and accommodations that make it possible to do their job. There have been evolving best practices around the ADA since it was first implemented in 1990 and we want those best practices used by Loyola, ensuring that all members of our community have access to participate in the life of the institution and community.

Our goal for the changes proposed to the Non-Discrimination clause is to make sure union members are insulated from political pendulum swings. It is our feeling that having this language in our contract would give union members, and the administration, extra legal protection.

The last proposal that we introduced was a new Academic Freedom clause. This new clause addresses the need for extra protection for both our members and the University to continue honoring our shared mission. The administration has concerns about tension between Academic Freedom and the university’s rights to determine curriculum. 

Our next session will be held on Zoom Friday, March 7, from 9am-1pm. We hope to hear counter proposals from the administration on what we proposed on Friday. 

Thank you so much for reading! Please plan to attend a bargaining session, even if you can only make it for a bit. You do not need to be present the entire time–we expect members to come in and out as their teaching schedule permits. You are welcome to be active in the bargaining process but can also simply observe. The more we show up during this process the more the administration will see how strong we are!

Please see Loyola Faculty Forward Updates for union resources, member testimonials in support of bargaining goals, a list of union stewards, and more.

In solidarity,

The Loyola Chicago Faculty Forward Bargaining Committee

---

---

Friday, February 21-

Dear Colleagues,

The negotiations for Faculty Forward LUC’s third contractual bargaining agreement have begun! Our first bargaining session began with union leadership presenting our vision statement for these negotiations, along with the results of our member survey (which we will share soon). LUC administration shared that it was helpful for them to see our perspective from these presentations. Many thanks to everyone who contributed to them!

Please note: all proposals presented at this first session were presented by our union, Faculty Forward LUC. Contract negotiations generally begin with non-economic issues. We chose to begin our negotiations with proposals we hoped LUC administrators would be amiable to so as to efficiently move forward in our bargaining process. We will build up to our economic proposals, but that in no way means that our non-economic proposals aren’t just as important to get right along the way! We must work together to best craft every aspect of our next CBA to serve everyone in our union, but we can’t do that without the involvement of all of our members. We encourage you to come join us whenever you can at any and all of our bargaining meetings, and/or to contribute your voice to our online organizing efforts however you see fit. All contributions are welcome and appreciated! 

The first proposal we presented in our negotiation session on Tuesday, February 18th was an orientation clause about how to introduce new faculty to our union for section 4.3 of our CBA, Union Rights. In an effort to make sure that new members are aware of their responsibility to stay within good standing, our proposal asked to have a union steward present at new faculty orientation events. Management agreed that this was an important issue that has “fallen through the cracks,” but they disagreed with new faculty orientation being the place for the union to meet and inform its newest members about our union and their rights within it. 

Next, we took up Article XXVII, Management Rights and Responsibilities. We sought to add “provided these rights are not exercised in an arbitrary and capricious manner” to this clause. Management stated they preferred these issues be handled more informally in Labor Management meetings, rather than formally addressed in writing.

The third and last proposal of the day involved faculty classifications being changed and clarified in our contract under article XVIII, Faculty Classifications. With this proposal, we are seeking to establish a professional system of titles for both FT NTT and PT NTT faculty. We feel these new titles clearly value all of our members and their contributions as faculty. Said titles would set a common standard of reference across similar academic institutions as they are in keeping with those used at University of Chicago and Northwestern. Administration welcomed this proposal. 

We went on to ask that our negotiations be held in hybrid form for maximum member accessibility and participation. Management is against this idea, and is asking for all sessions to remain in-person only except for the March 7, fully-online session.

Our next bargaining session is Friday, February 28, 9am-1pm in the Simpson Hall Multi-Purpose Room, 6333 N Winthrop Ave, Chicago, IL 60660. We will present more proposals at that meeting and are looking forward to seeing what management will propose then as well.

All members are encouraged to come to any and all of our union contract bargaining meetings, even if they cannot attend the full session. We appreciate our members’ time, and welcome everyone to come in and out as their teaching schedule and other responsibilities permit. All full-paying Faculty Forward LUC union members may actively participate in the bargaining process, but can also simply observe. The more we show up during this process, the more the administration will see how united we are as a union. Member unity and representation build our power to win the pay we have earned and the work/life balance we deserve. We have heard from you via our survey and our member meetings just what you want to see changed in our third union contract. Now is the time for us all to show up so make those changes together.

Please see Loyola Faculty Forward Updates for union resources, member testimonials in support of bargaining goals, a list of union stewards, and more.

If you are not yet a full member of our union, now is the time to join. You can sign a member card here. Since the union is faculty using power in numbers to win improvements, more members means more leverage with Loyola at the bargaining table. We look forward to seeing you at bargaining.

In solidarity,

The Loyola Chicago Faculty Forward Bargaining Committee