Negotiations between the union representing part-time faculty at the University of Vermont and the administration have hit an impasse, according to a statement issued Tuesday by United Academics.
The union is advocating for long-term contracts, faculty governance and access to professional resources and support for members of its part-time bargaining unit, proposals the administration has rejected, according to the union’s statement.
“The Administration’s rejections clearly demonstrate their lack of respect for part-time faculty,” the union statement asserted. “Combined with inadequate salary offers and reduced eligibility for health care benefits, they have brought us to impasse,” the statement went on.
“We have been assured on many occasions, including by UVM’s President Sullivan, that part-time faculty are valuable members of the academic community,” said Dan Wells, a lecturer in environmental studies and a bargaining team member. “Yet the present administration proposals show exactly the opposite.”
Another part-time lecturer, Katlyn Morris, said, “The administration has stated that UVM values excellence in teaching, and that part-time faculty offer the same educational experience to students as full-time faculty. We should be treated with full dignity, yet even our most basic requests for resources and more full integration into the university community have been rejected.”
UVM spokesman Enrique Corredera on Wednesday said the impasse is a normal part of the process.
“It is not at all unusual for labor contract negotiations to reach the impasse stage. In fact, at UVM, most of our union contract agreements have been reached in mediation following formal impasse,” he said.
“We remain confident and positive that a mutually satisfactory agreement will be reached with our part-time faculty, as has happened this year with each of the other unions on campus,” Corredera said. “The existing collective bargaining agreement between the university and the part-time faculty already provides for access to resources well beyond the basics needed for the faculty effectively to perform their duties. As all parties know, there has been no proposal made or discussed for changing or diminishing any access to resources.”
