Bargaining Session Notes 10/21/2024

GAU presented a counter offer on Article 7 (workload). UF presented counter-offers on Articles 8, 16, and 9. 
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Article 7: Workload (GAU counter-offer): 

• GAU proposed adding clear definitions of work for cases where there is overlap between a GA’s academic work and paid workload. 
• GAU seeks to remove the word “average” from article 7: “No employee shall be assigned employment responsibilities during a semester that exceed an average of [X] hours..." The word “average” obfuscates potential grievances and potentially conflicts with federal law restricting the amount of hours that international students can work. 
• UF wants to argue that because GA’s with different skillsets may complete tasks slower or faster, it is not in the interest of the university to provide a clear definition on work hours.
• ​GAU argues that despite differences in workers’ efficiency, at the end of the day, their work is work regardless. GAU seeks to add mechanisms to ensure GA’s are just working the amount of time they are being paid for.

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Article 8: Paid Leave, and 16: Use of Facilities (UF counter)
UF re-asserted their previous offers from 9/30/24 regarding:

• paid leave (they propose 2 days paid leave for bereavement in which the family member is domestic and 5 days for cases when the family member is international), and
• use of facilities (they want to get rid of release time employees [RT]).

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Article 9: Academic Freedom (UF counter): 
On Article 9 UF agreed to some of GAU’s changes in language, but UF doesn’t want to create a sentence that protects a GA’s research from University-level regulations on what can be taught.