September 25, 2024
Dear Members:
See below for the latest FAMCO bargaining update and FAMCO Call to Action:
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“DID YOU GET OUR LETTER?”
In this week’s negotiations, the administration came back to the bargaining table as if we were never in Great Hall. After over 100 faculty joined together last week to deliver our open letter to President Leahy to settle a fair contract, the administration put down a counter that moved the needle only on the surface.
RED ALERT MEETING SEQUEL! WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2:35pm
You can read more about the details of that proposal below, as well as reminder of your union rights to express your concerns about the conditions of your work, but in the meantime, here is what’s up next:
FAMCO strongly urges our supermajority to huddle at the Student Center steps in your red shirts and red pins on Wednesday, October 2 at 2:35pm in advance of the full faculty meeting. We will gather the supermajority there to hear a quick bargaining update, to pick up a special item to take into the faculty meeting, and to process together over to the Pollak Theater to participate in regularly-scheduled faculty business.
Please use the RSVP below so we are sure to have enough special items for you and your colleagues on hand!
ADMINISTRATION PROPOSES PENNY WISE AND POUND FOOLISH
In their response to our special letter delivery, the administration proposed salary increases of 3.5% for Y1 only with an $1,000 increase to the base for people earning under $100k, and $500 to the base for all people in Y2.
To get that deal, though, our members would need to agree to an extension of our three-year agreement to a five-year agreement with subsequent increases set at only 3% in years 2, 3 and 4 and only 2.5% in year 5.
In this diminishing returns model, the administration also proposes to apply salary increases before any increases to the salary floors, claiming that to do otherwise amounts to “double dipping,” limiting the number of faculty that would benefit from the protections intended to be provided by the minimum base structure.
The administration’s lawyer admitted that, on balance, their out-of-the-blue five-year salary structure proposal levels out to a 3% increase over the five-year period, meaning the university’s latest proposal may do more for members in the first year, but would essentially amount to a payback over the course of a longer contract.
This, on top of the administration’s proposed extractive monthly healthcare costs that, instead of being a fixed dollar amount as has been our model, would now fluctuate based on questionable projected total cost increases capped as high as 10% each year!
When Marina Vujnovic, FAMCO’s current chief negotiator, questioned the administration on how this counter proposal meets the real economic needs of our members, namely the need for real and sustained earnings increases that accounts for inflation and healthcare costs, the university’s external lawyer questioned Marina’s ability to do math, advising her to ask for help from her math professor colleagues in the room if she was confused about the purported benefits of the administration’s offer.
As we know you all can do math, too, we have attached the bargaining team’s updated analysis of the possible increases in healthcare costs for your review.
GASLIGHTING TACTICS
Overall, this week, the university’s lawyer extended the tactic of deflecting from the real issues of members’ concerns for an offer we can live on. Their lawyer also avoided the answer to our members’ question of how President Leahy and his cabinet can continue to be “incredibly comfortable” with a bargaining position that allows President Leahy and his cabinet to be paid generously while putting down less than COLA for most members for most years of their proposed five-year contract.
It is worth noting that this tactic of insulting the intelligence of our FAMCO negotiators, and attempting to gaslight members around the reality of our economic conditions comes after the equally troubling communication from President Leahy last week where he misrepresented the facts of Wednesday’s special delivery of the open letter urging him to settle a fair deal. In that message, President Leahy, who stated he was not present on campus for the delivery, wrongly accused FAMCO members of intimidating students and support staff during the action, adding to the administration’s expanding false narrative to discredit the union in our efforts to meet our members’ economic and healthcare needs.
YOUR RIGHTS TO STAY INVOLVED!
Vice President James Pillar’s recent email distribution of the MU Expressive Activity Policy indicates that our supermajority action had a big impact on administration. Lest any member misinterpret that policy, a reminder here of your legally protected rights to engage in union activity, including the special letter delivery action.
Indeed, as our own FAMCO attorney notes, while it is legal for an employer to express their opinion about concerted union activity, or even lie about those actions to the community, the employer cannot impose repercussions on anyone engaged in such concerted union activity.
The MU administration, itself, acknowledges that fundamental right in the MU Expressive Activity Policy when it states, “Nothing in this policy shall be interpreted, applied or enforced to interfere with, restrain or coerce employees in the exercise of their rights under Section 7 of the National Labor Relations Act.”
For further reference, Section 7 of the National Labor Relations Act guarantees employees “the right to self-organization, to form, join, or assist labor organizations, to bargain collectively through representatives of their own choosing, and to engage in other concerted activities for the purpose of collective bargaining or other mutual aid or protection,” as well as the right “to refrain from any or all such activities.”
In brief, despite the tone set by the administration last week in their policy reminders, FAMCO members have a legal right to collectively take action to improve our conditions of work under the NLRA.
Let’s continue to use it!
RSVP below for the Wednesday, October 2 Red Alert Sequel at 2:35pm in front of the Student Center for a prompt procession to Pollak Theater for our regularly-scheduled full faculty meeting!
Go Union!
Sincerely,
Your FAMCO E-Team
The Faculty Association of Monmouth University 
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