It's been nearly a year since the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board [IELRB] recognized the United Faculty of Illinois State University. And it's been just about that long that the union representing about 650 tenured and tenure-track faculty has been bargaining their first contract — December will mark 10 months.
While there was some expectation that hashing out the specifics of the union's first-ever contract wouldn't be a quick process, ISU associate professor Keith Pluymers said it's been longer than members had hoped.
"One of the sources of frustration for a number of our members is feeling like we've started with something they feel is reasonable and fair and then seeing a counter proposal that feels miles away — there's just an understanding of how long it's going to take to even find a meeting point on that," Pluymers said on WGLT's Sound Ideas.
"I think we were hopeful going in that the work we put into designing fair and reasonable proposals would be met with something similar from the other side and that, hopefully, the gap between us wouldn't be that great. What we've found in practice is that in may cases, the gap between us is bigger than we initially anticipated."
It's in that vein that United Faculty of Illinois State University [UFISU] is requesting a federal mediator intervene in negotiations between itself and the university — a request first made to ISU's administration last week. ISU denied the request; UFISU then petitioned the state to issue a directive to require the two parties to obtain the requested mediator.
"Illinois State University does not believe the parties are at [an] impasse — a condition that normally prompts the engagement of the mediator. To date, we have reached tentative agreements on more than 20 items and are actively engaged in negotiations on other important issues, including Grievance Procedures and Disability Accommodations," ISU spokesperson Chris Coplan said in a statement. "The University believes that there is much that could be accomplished and resolved through additional direct dialogue and negotiations between the parties. "
The statement added that ISU would comply if the state decides to issue the union-requested directive.
Pluymers said part of the reason the union requested the intervention of a mediator is because there hasn't been movement on economic proposals — largely because they haven't been addressed at the bargaining table.
"One of the reasons that we're here right now is that we're not even having a conversation about certain issues," he said. "We want there to be a conversation and we want to have that conversation right now about all of the outstanding issues that we have yet to hear a response on."
ISU, via its website that provides updates on its negotiations with UFISU, said its plan is to "resolve the major non-economic issues before moving to issues of salary and benefits," a "customary" practice in negotiating first contracts.
"Our position is that we've worked really hard to bargain in good faith to address most of the 'non-economic articles' that have been out there, and that it's time to start talking about money," Pluymers said. "This is particularly important because President [Aondover] Tarhule and Provost [Ani] Yazedjian have been talking about the university's finances and about money in a lot of different forums. We have heard a presentation about the university's finances that, frankly, left us with more questions than answers. What we have not heard is any kind of concrete proposal on economics from them."
Some of the other contract points are more technical in nature — like the contract's grievance procedures — requiring more time to work out. Other sticking points besides economic benefits include disability accommodations and parental leave. Pluymers noted as the contract has been negotiated over the past nine months, children have been born to faculty who may have benefited from the contract's proposals involving parental leave.
"These are issues that really matter to people and every day they are not resolved, there are real and tangible harm to our members," he said. "We're ready to bargain in good faith, but we want a fair contract and we want it now and our members have started to run out of patience. We're ready to do whatever it takes to get that fair contract. We don't want there to be a disruption — that's really concerning to us because we love our students and want to be in the classroom working with them and learning with them. But we're not going to be pushed around and we're ready to do what it takes to win the contract we deserve."
Contract negotiations are set to resume between the two groups on Dec. 4.
If a federal mediator does join the negotiations, it will mark the second such instance this year. A mediator joined negotiations between the university and its non-tenure track union in August.
