Dear FAMCO Members,

We write with a Monday morning update on the status of last week’s contract negotiations. 

As of today, FAMCO has been negotiating for six months with the MU administration to settle on a fair contract for faculty, not only during this critical time in higher education more broadly, but at a time when we know many of our members are struggling to find the resources to do a good job for our students, and also their families. 

While the parties have been able to reach tentative agreements on important non-economic items that our members care about, as of last week, the administration’s proposals on salary and healthcare increases still fall far short of what our members need and deserve.  In fact, the administration has not, in effect, moved much at all on their non-starter positions since they first put down their economic proposals.

Nonetheless, last week, in a good faith effort to narrow the large gaps between the administration’s troubling position on compensation and healthcare costs and FAMCO’s proposals to provide meaningful salary increases that are not washed out by inflation and healthcare expenses, the union took a major step towards the administration in our counter proposals. 

In doing so, the administration’s team recognized FAMCO’s commitment to move toward settlement, and signaled that they were ready to return proposals to us that reflected their own willingness to advance toward a fair deal.  

We are back at the bargaining table on Tuesday, August 27th, and it is FAMCO’s expectation that the administration will also take significant steps away from their initial economic proposals that our membership has found to be out of touch with the reality of what we do as faculty who are core to the academic mission, and also where we do it as faculty laboring in a high cost region.

This week, our FAMCO field team will be reaching out to members to let you know how you can continue to let President Leahy and the MU Board of Trustees know that you expect they will work hard to SEAL a deal with FAMCO before Labor Day so we can all focus on a smooth start to the fall semester. 

Once again, we want to recognize the members of the full-time faculty who have signed on to the open letter of support for the bargaining team as we continue to press forward toward a settlement we deserve!  Currently, over half of the full-time faculty have now signed on to the open letter calling for a fair deal! If you haven’t signed on to the letter yet, you can find it here: https://forms.gle/cKQCbpCK2ChpYrbX8.

Also, a shout out to all of our members who shared public testimony last week on why a strong contract matters to you.  Below is a link to a short (6 min) video clip of some of your statements that were recently released on social media.  We encourage you to take a look and share widely as well.

We are at a critical crossroads in our negotiations, and look forward to returning to our members next week with news that the administration is willing to make meaningful concessions that allow us to reach a fair agreement.

Stay tuned-

The FAMCO Bargaining Team
John Comiskey
Megan Delaney
Johanna Foster
Gabrielle Hackenberg
Rose Knapp
Sue Starke
Marina Vujnovic