Daily Egyptian Managing Editor

Faculty and administrative negotiators disagree on the events surrounding Friday’s faculty contract negotiating session that culminated when administrators walked out of negotiations and threatened to file an unfair labor practice charge.

However, after negotiating for about 10 hours Monday and Tuesday, both sides agree that Friday’s session is in the past, and that it is time to move on to further negotiations.

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Administrators claimed in a press release, distributed widely Friday through University News Service, and in a Monday Daily Egyptian advertisement that the administration recessed the bargaining session at 10:15 a.m. Friday upon the determination that no progress was being made.

The press release accused the faculty negotiating team of regressive bargaining, and presenting an unlawful proposal concerning arbitration for the second-straight bargaining session.

The board team was ready to respond to a proposal presented by the association near the close of last session. However, the association immediately presented another proposal on the same subject which retreated from its last proposal, the press release states.

The administration’s statement also accuses a faculty negotiator of making a personal attack against the administrators. The administration intends to file an unfair labor practice charging the faculty with regressive bargaining.

Margaret Winters, associate vice chancellor for Academic Affairs and spokeswoman for the administration, said the unfair labor practice charge is not being filed just yet.

For the moment we are leaving it pending, but we are not waiving our right to file an unfair labor practice, just as the faculty association has that right, she said.

Both sides are not commenting on the details of Friday’s session, but Jim Sullivan, faculty union president, said the administration’s accusations are groundless.

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We were disappointed they walked out of the talks and we deny all allegations, he said. They simply have no grounds for an unfair labor practice on regressive bargaining.

The association released statement Sunday that said Our negotiating team is convinced that the board team was looking for an excuse to cancel the meeting and they found one.

The release also states the faculty did not practice regressive bargaining because the association had presented language intended to clarify a complex set of issues relating to faculty appointment and dismissal. This clarification is necessary to ensure the statutory rights of our members.

Despite Friday’s disruption, both Sullivan and Winters agreed that negotiations are back on track.

As far as we’re concerned that (the unfair labor practice charge) is water under the bridge and is in the hands of the attorneys if that’s where it ends up, Sullivan said.

Winters said the source of the disagreement between the faculty and administration was never completely resolved.

We dealt with the matter briefly, moved on and got to work, Winters said.

At this point negotiations are back on track. We had slow, careful sessions [Monday and Tuesday].

Although Sullivan agreed negotiations are back on track, he said progress is too slow and association negotiators are willing to do whatever is necessary to reach a tentative agreement by March.

Winters said the March goal is not feasible.

I don’t think we can meet that now, she said. The more we talk the clearer it is that we still have a lot of issues to talk through.

Sullivan said negotiators should meet more often for longer blocks of time to reach the target date.

Right now we are going too slow, he said. We are not meeting enough.

We know a contract could be arrived at in a few weeks if the Board is willing to.

Bary Malik, vice president of the faculty association, announced Tuesday at the Faculty Senate meeting that faculty negotiators are willing to negotiate 24 hours a day if necessary to meet the March target.

Winters, however, said such long blocks are not feasible.

At such a time that we decide that would get a contract faster then we will entertain those proposals, she said. But at this point we do not believe that sessions like that would be productive.

The next bargaining session is scheduled for the March 19. Sessions will follow March 24 and 25.

Although both sides are meeting more often, Sullivan said it is still not enough.

We are meeting more now, but this is still too important to let huge blocks of time disappear, he said. Progress is agonizingly slow.

Winters said progress is expected to be slow.

It’s slow not because we are trying to cause trouble, she said. It’s slow because the development of a first contract is slow.

We just want a contract that works for both sides.