The University of Oregon and United Academics (UA) resumed the collective bargaining process for a new contract on February 1, 2024. Bargaining sessions will occur every two weeks. Updates will be posted on this page throughout the bargaining cycle.

United Academics represents university faculty, which includes tenure-track and career faculty. The university greatly values the mission-critical work our faculty contribute in support of our academic and research pursuits. As a comprehensive public research university committed to exceptional teaching, discovery, and service, it is our goal to recruit and retain world-renowned faculty that make our institute successful and competitive now and in the future.

Please direct questions and requests for additional information to the bargaining team in Employee and Labor Relations at uoelr@uoregon.edu.

Bargaining Updates

December 2, 2024

The UO requested mediation through the state’s Employment Relations Board. Mediation is the next step in the structured bargaining process. A professional mediator will help identify common interests and opportunities for progress as the university and United Academics continue to work toward reaching a tentative agreement on a successor contract. Mediation will likely start during the winter term.

December 5, 2024

The parties held their twentieth bargaining session discussing tenure and promotion, leaves, sabbatical, and salary. The university provided a salary counterproposal with the following terms:

Tenure-related and career faculty members 

• Annual increases: 4% across-the-board increases on January 1, 2025, for faculty members in tenured, tenure-track, and career classifications; 3% merit-pool increases in January of 2026 and 2027.
• Promotion and review increases: 
  8% upon promotion in rank; 8% initial six-year post-tenure/continuous employment review increases followed by 4% increases on subsequent reviews.  
  These periodic increases are equivalent, on average, to an additional 1.1% annual salary increase for tenured and career faculty. 

Limited duration (pro tem, visiting, retired) appointments 

• Annual increases: 4% across-the-board increases to base salary on January 1, 2025; 2% across-the-board increases to base salary in January of 2026 and 2027.

The university's bargaining team emphasized the following:

• The combination of annual increases and review-related increases presents multiple opportunities for increases in pay over the term of the contract for tenure-related and career faculty members.
• Salary is only one component of a comprehensive investment that supports UO faculty members. Other benefits include generous retirement programs (both defined benefit [PERS] and defined contribution [ORP]); comprehensive health insurance (PEBB) with the lowest required employee premium contribution rates among AAU public universities; family tuition benefits; and progressive leave policies. These programs are of significant practical benefit to all employees including faculty and their families, with the university paying the majority of the costs.   
• The university is facing a challenging fiscal situation this year with E&G fund expenses projected to be $2 million more than expected revenue. This gap is projected to increase over the next five years.
• The university’s salary proposal would invest an additional $18 million annually in faculty compensation once the contract is fully phased in. that increases the across-the-board salary increase percentage for January 1, 2025 to 4% and increases  

The UO bargaining team The university intends to request mediation through the state’s Employment Relations Board. Mediation is the next step in the structured bargaining process. A professional mediator will help identify common interests and opportunities for progress as the parties continue negotiating the terms of a tentative agreement on a successor contract. Mediation will likely start during the winter term.

A bargaining update email was sent to UO faculty, staff, and GEs to share the university's latest faculty salary offer, address its financial challenges and plans for mediation. 

November 18, 2024

The parties held their eighteenth bargaining session on November 13. They discussed career faculty review and promotion, tenure review and promotion, grievances, professional responsibilities, and salary. The next bargaining session is scheduled for November 21. We’ve added the latest proposals to the List of Proposals page.  

November 5, 2024

The bargaining teams met on October 31 for their seventeenth session. They exchanged several proposals including a salary counter proposal from the UO bargaining team. 

A bargaining update email was sent to UO faculty and staff to share information about the bargaining process and key practicalities that UO contract proposals are based upon:

1. Bargaining is a process, and it sometimes takes time to reach agreement.
2. UO invests in salary and benefits that maintain competitive total compensation.
3. UO financial resources are finite and must support our entire teaching, research, and service mission. 

October 2, 2024

The bargaining teams met on September 26 for their fifteenth bargaining session. They reached tentative agreement on Article 4—Unit-Level Policies. United Academics presented information in support of their latest salary proposal, and the parties continued discussions on articles dealing with union rights, career faculty review and promotion, and tenure review and promotion. The proposals page has been updated with the latest versions of each proposed article.

The next bargaining session is scheduled for October 17.

August 27, 2024

Bargaining teams from the university and United Academics held their fourteenth bargaining session on August 26 and continued negotiations on a variety of proposals.

August 13, 2024

The University of Oregon’s bargaining team met with United Academics yesterday with many articles exchanged. The list of proposals is up to date with the latest versions of the articles that were exchanged.

The parties discussed the university’s salary proposal, including important principles that serve as a foundation for the proposal and comparator information that is helpful in contextualizing the university’s offer. The university salary offer was changed yesterday to move the first-year increase to an across-the-board increase rather than a merit increase, which was an expressed interest from United Academics.

The UO bargaining team presented several key considerations that lay a foundation for UO proposals, particularly its latest salary offer:

• The core principles to advance university strategic goals, ensure operational flexibility, offer competitive total compensation, and maintain responsible financial stewardship guide UO's negotiations during this bargaining cycle.  
• During this process, we must ensure the institution’s long-term financial sustainability. When comparing the university to the Association of American Universities (AAU) peer compensation data, it is important to recognize that we do not have the same financial resources as those institutions. Refer to the detailed AAU financial resources comparator data for more information. 
• While salary is the largest part of total compensation, the university's retirement contributions and health insurance are important components, and they must be considered in any compensation comparison between the UO and our peer institutions.  

July 16, 2024

The university and United Academics held bargaining sessions on July 2 and 15, now totaling twelve sessions. The parties reached tentative agreements on three more articles, and continued to negotiate on topics such as unit-level policy development, professional responsibilities, review of career and tenured/tenure-track faculty, and leaves. For a full list of the current proposals and tentative agreements, see our List of Proposals page.

June 13, 2024

The university and United Academics bargaining teams held a bargaining session on June 13. Various topics were discussed, including salary, professional development, assignments, and facilities and support.  

The UA bargaining team presented a counterproposal on Article 26: Salary that reasserted their previously proposed salary increase framework and percentages. 

The HR website is up to date with the latest proposals and counteroffers.  

Sessions have been scheduled in the months ahead to continue bargaining over the summer. 

May 23, 2024 

The university and United Academics held their ninth bargaining session on May 23. A variety of topics were discussed, including evaluation of tenure-track and tenured faculty, support for research faculty, sabbatical, and facilities. The current proposals and tentative agreements are available on the List of Proposals page.

May 16, 2024

The parties held their eighth bargaining session and exchanged several counterproposals, including an economic proposal presented by the university’s bargaining team. The salary offer the university presented is intended to support the mission-critical work of all of our faculty, and includes new provisions that recognize our limited duration faculty while acknowledging the financial realities that UO faces and our financial position relative to our AAU counterparts. For more information, see our Salary (Article 26) page.

The university and United Academics reached a tentative agreement on Article 11 - Release Time. The current proposals and tentative agreements are available on the List of Proposals page.

May 2, 2024

The parties met for their seventh bargaining session and exchanged several proposals. See the list of proposals for details.

April 18, 2024 

At the parties' sixth bargaining session, they exchanged several proposals, including UA's latest counteroffer on salary. 

April 4, 2024

The parties held their fifth bargaining session. They presented and discussed several counterproposals and reached tentative agreements on three articles:

• Article 8 - Personnel Files.
• Article 21 - Review Decision Appeals.
• Article 41 - No Strike, No Lockout.

A complete list of proposals is available to help track exchanges between the bargaining teams and will be updated following each session.

March 18, 2024

The University of Oregon and United Academics have been meeting regularly since February to negotiate the terms of a successor collective bargaining agreement (CBA). Although the bargaining process is in its early stages, the parties have exchanged proposals on twenty-five open articles and have begun negotiating salary, which is a topic of keen interest to all. Refer to the offer comparison for details as well as additional information that provides context for the university’s offer presented to United Academics at last Thursday’s bargaining session. 

A complete list of proposals is available to help track exchanges between the bargaining teams and will be updated following each session.

February 29, 2024

The parties held their third bargaining session and presented the following proposed changes to the UA collective bargaining agreement. Note: These are the proposals as of 2/29/24; for current proposals, see UA Bargaining: List of Proposals.

February 15, 2024

The parties held their second bargaining session and presented the following proposed changes to the UA collective bargaining agreement. Note: These are the proposals as of 2/15/24; for current proposals, see UA Bargaining: List of Proposals.

February 1, 2024

The parties opened bargaining today and presented the following proposed changes to the UA collective bargaining agreement. Note: These are the proposals as of 2/1/24; for current proposals, see UA Bargaining: List of Proposals.

The parties agreed to ground rules prior to the first session, and have opened 29 articles and discussion areas that will be covered in bargaining.