Your UMPSA Negotiating Team has met with the UMaine System Negotiating Team five times, beginning May 23, 2024. Thank you to our Negotiating Team, which has worked tirelessly, spending countless evening hours, weekends, and vacation days to work on this contract.
Prior to our formal negotiating sessions, we held what is called a joint “housekeeping session,” where both sides present modifications to language, formatting, pagination, and other things to our current Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA). A huge thank you goes to the volunteer team at USM which conducted a careful review of the current CBA and made many recommendations – it was the most thorough review of our contract in many years. Your detailed work was important and we are in a better place. Thank you.
Here are the items both sides have proposed in writing to date (6-18-2024)
Please note that we have not included counter-offers to any proposals here. That process will begin in earnest when both sides have put all their written proposals on the bargaining table. These are listed by Article number.
From UMPSA
Article 10 – Soft Money Appointment
- Proposed updated language to improve the economic assistance amounts listed in 10.G.
Article 12 – Job Description
- Proposed updated the language to clarify and define who is designated an “essential” employee, an “on-call” employee, and identifies an employee’s single home/main campus location.
Article 14 – Work Year / Work Week / Work Schedule
- Proposed language reasserting that UMPSA employees work schedules are not tied to a fixed number of hours per day or work week and that UMPSA employees are allowed to manage their hours to average 40 hours per week, and also reasserted that unit members – while not entirely self-scheduled, are expected to exercise initiative and discretion in the selection of dates and times at which they will perform their work.
- Proposed new language that when seasonal demands that required in excess of 40 hours, UMPSA employees will receive comp time off so they can average 40 hours per week.
- Proposed new language that if a position in a unit member’s department has gone unfilled, the UMPSA employee shall not be required to take on the additional work of the vacant position for more than 90 days without commensurate compensation and/or comp time.
Article 17 – Salaries
- Proposed a salary increase of 7%, 7%, 7% for each of the years of the new contract.
- Proposed new language regarding Movement Through the Bands and proposed an increase in the amounts.
- Proposed language to make Movement Through the Bands to be an “evergreen” policy, meaning not subject to negotiation at each contract, but rather a continual agreement.
- Proposed language to tighten the factors that may be used to correct a salary inequity.
- Proposed compensating UMPSA members who have been designated as “essential” or who are required to perform “on-call” work shifts. (Tied to other Article proposals regarding employees designated as “essential” or “on-call.”
Article 18 – Insurance
- Proposed making UMPSA members full-time employees at 30 hours for benefits eligibility, striking the language regarding part-time regular members who are regularly scheduled to work at least 30 but less than 40 hours per week.
Article 19 – Leaves
- Proposed front-loading sick leave time for new employees upon their start date.
- Proposed language to improve employees’ access to Bereavement leave.
- Proposed a new section to address Administrative Leave inequities and to clarify who is designated an “essential” employee, an “on-call” employee, and identifies an employee’s single home/main campus location. (Tied to proposed language in Article 12 – Job Description)
- Proposed payout at 50% of accrued vacation time in excess of 40 days in January.
Article 20 – Tuition Waiver
- Proposed waiving all fees for employees taking classes at the UMaine System.
- Proposed increasing the dependent tuition waiver structure.
Article 21 – Use of Personal Vehicle and Work-Related Expense Procedures
- Reasserted that UMPSA employees have the right to use their personal vehicle for assigned University business.
- Proposed changing language to not reference travel between specific campuses, instead changing the text to reference mileage reimbursement from any System campus location.
- Proposed changing the travel reimbursement rate to the Federal rate.
Article 29 – Retirement
- Proposed changing the vesting period to 5 years at a period of 20% per year for UMPSA members employed on or after Jan,.1, 2010.
Article 30 – Parking Fees
- Proposed the elimination of employee parking fees at any University of Maine System location.
No Article
- Proprosed increasing the contribution to the employee retirement healthcare plan to match what the faculty union (AFUM) has proposed. It includes setting the Health Reimbursement Arrangement (HRA) automatically, fair RA for spouse and enhanced spousal benefit if a retiree passes away first.
From the UMaine System:
Article 6 – Appointment, Reappointment and non-Reappointment
- Proposed language changes to probationary period.
Article 11 – Professional Rights
- Proposed language changes to B. Harassment and intimidation.
Article 19 – Leaves
- Proposed addition of language regarding changes to Maine Paid Family & Medical Leave law when it becomes implemented.
Article 19 – Leaves
- Proposed adding language regarding Annual Leave and an employee’s last day of employment.
Misc. (may be considered a late housekeeping issue)
- Proposed changing language identifying “Campus President” in instances where an employee’s top administrator is not a campus president to “appropriate chief administrator.” This mostly affects UMPSA System employees (IT, Procurement, Human Resources, etc.).
Please note: We cannot accept ideas for new proposals at this time (that’s what the April 2 survey was for) but if there is something important to you that does not appear on the full list published on our website, please send it to your UMPSA Campus Rep.
Also, please know it’s not too late to join our union!
You may be an UMPSA unit member, but not an UMPSA union member. Union membership is our power and the more dues-paying members we have, the stronger our clout at the bargaining table and in workplace labor disputes.
To those who have already joined and provided input to this latest contract, thank you!
In Solidarity,
Neil Greenberg, Co-Chief Negotiator, UMPSA President
Tom Donaghue, Co-Chief Negotiator, UMPSA Vice President
Sara Abronze, Negotiation Secretary