There was a packed room for the April 15th session of negotiations. 28 members joined the UCPEA negotiation team, with nearly every seat in the room filled. The positive energy from the group was palpable and helped set the tone for the day as we waited for the university team to arrive. The university negotiation team arrived 12 minutes late, and they certainly noticed the number of observers in the room. Several members of their team scanned the room more than once.
UCPEA kicked off the session with two proposals. Changes to article 18 (Compensatory Time), as well as introducing several expert witnesses from both Storrs and Avery Point. The proposals sought to clarify and better reflect in practice how compensatory time is used by members
In addition to substantive proposals about the processes for comp time approvals and payouts, the UCPEA team presented new language aimed at the underlying issue, ever expanding workloads. Big comp time balances are a symptom of workloads that are too much for one employee. The new language creates a process for an automatic workload review once a comp time threshold has been met.
The first expert witness discussed low staffing at a regional campus, where multiple roles are filled in such a way that taking compensatory time off would seriously disrupt the business of their office. Since taking compensatory time would cause a burden for the unit, a buyout option would at least give members monetary recognition for the extra hours that they have to work in order to keep the unit functioning during special events.
There is existing carve out language for specific units in Residential Life and Athletics. UCPEA proposed adding an Admissions carve out.
During this discussion an UCPEA Hall Director provided expert testimony. They spoke about the duties and expectations of their position, especially during “on call,” which limits where they can physically be and impacts their sleep schedules, especially if having to deal with a late night/early morning issue and then have to also report for a standard workday. It is very difficult to use comp time during unofficial blackout dates.
Another expert witness spoke about Athletics and their schedules. Flex time is not always an option, especially if on the road with sports teams and comp time is difficult to use due to many last-minute demands (student athlete press interviews/events, athletic building access). In Athletics, there is an unwritten expectation that employees are expected to always be on call, which leads to burn out.
Two Expert Witnesses spoke about working in admissions. One witness works as a recruiter and an undergraduate application reader. They travel for student recruitment events in assigned territories. These employees are expected to attend different high school recruiting events during the day, and college fairs in the evening. They are away from home for 8-9 weeks in the fall, and it significantly disrupts their personal lives, so having contract language in place helps to recognize their sacrifices and hard work to help bring in 62,000 undergraduate applications. As an application reader they have quotas to meet, 50 applications a day, which comes out to 7 minutes each application or else you fall behind.
The last comp time section deals with the comp time that is awarded to UCPEA members who are required to come to campus during winter weather events. The comp time promised in this section has been difficult to obtain because the University no longer closes campus, they simply cancel classes. UCPEA’s proposal aims to define this type of comp time as something that is earned for work during a weather event instead of comp time that is earned during a University closure. This shift gets to the heart of why this benefit was introduced in the first place.
UCPEA’s expert witness from Dining Services spoke about the requirement that they show up to work during dangerous weather because they need to feed students and how providing this essential service, requires them to risk their own lives getting to work.
Second Proposal: Telecommuting
UCPEA proposed to put a stop to changes in telecommuting arrangements for UCPEA members who were hired as out of state workers.
The union also proposed that UConn participate in a statewide system that allows for more expansive telecommuting arrangements and places the burden on management to show that there is a legitimate business need to require more in-person work.
The two groups broke for a caucus at 11:09 and returned at 11:17am. The university introduced a proposal on Evaluations that would create a deadline for rebuttals.
- Harrison Goodale