UAW Workers, BU Reach Contract Accord
Five-year deal covers clerical, technical, and service employees
Annual raises of up to 2.5 percent are part of the University’s five-year contract agreement with almost 600 employees represented by the United Auto Workers. Photo courtesy of UAW.
Almost 600 clerical, technical, and service employees on the Charles River Campus will get annual raises of between 2.0 and 2.5 percent over the next five years under the terms of a new contract agreement with United Auto Workers Local 2324.
The agreement, which took effect July 1, the start of the University’s fiscal year, incorporates previously announced University-wide changes to BU’s health insurance and long-term disability plan.
“We believe the new contract is a fair and balanced one—one that reflects a One BU approach that will better serve BU and our employees,” says Diane Tucker, the University’s chief human resources officer.
“Overall, I think we came to a pretty good agreement,” says Chris Snook, Local 2324 president. Snook says that while BU’s increasingly corporate mind-set made negotiations difficult, he received mostly positive feedback from the membership regarding the new contract.
In addition to the raises, Snook says, contract highlights include expanded parental leave rights. Any parent—not just a mother, as under the previous contract—may take up to six months’ leave, a benefit granted domestic partners as well as spouses.
The agreement maintains the current merit pay pool for union members, but modifies its distribution. “All those who meet performance expectations will receive a 0.5 percent annual performance-based increase,” says Judi Burgess, BU’s director of labor relations. For those who exceed expectations, managers will have an additional 0.5 percent of the bargaining unit’s annual payroll to distribute at their discretion.
Burgess says the changes in health and other insurance and possible changes in retirement provisions give the University greater management flexibility than had previously existed. She says the retirement plan will remain unchanged at least until January 1, 2017, while possible modifications are studied. The new agreement also updates sexual harassment provisions and includes language in accordance with the new Massachusetts sick leave law and sexual misconduct and discrimination laws.
In addition to “expanded, gender-neutral parental leave language,” the agreement establishes a Joint Labor Management Committee to deal with “working conditions, diversity, transportation, and other workplace issues,” Burgess says.
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