Regents ratify deal with UNI faculty union

The Board of Regents on Wednesday ratified a new, pared-down collective bargaining agreement with the University of Northern Iowa's faculty union after restarting negotiations last month in light of changes to state law.

Under the new two-year agreement that begins July 1, United Faculty's 550 members will receive a 1.1 percent pay raise in both the 2018 and 2019 budget years. The deal drops 53 pages of the union's previous 54-page contract after legislators in February stripped Iowa's old collective bargaining law of most mandatory bargaining topics - including health care, vacation, and overtime pay.

UNI Faculty began negotiating a new contract with the board in the fall - requesting a 1.5 to 2 percent pay raise. But the board declined to move forward with those negotiations while lawmakers debated the amended law. That prompted United Faculty and other unions across Iowa and its university campuses to file 'prohibited practice” complaints.

Those complaints are moving through the Public Employment Relations Board even as regents ratified the new United Faculty contract. Although the Board of Regents - or a city council or a board of supervisors, for that matter - could agree to a 5 percent or even 10 percent pay raise, a wage increase cap is imposed when negotiations go to arbitration.

When that happens, an arbitrator cannot award a wage increase of more than 3 percent or the Consumer Price Index, which was 1.1 percent in September when negotiations began - whichever is lower.

The Board of Regents' negotiations with United Faculty did not involve an arbitrator, according to board spokesman Josh Lehman. The 1.1 percent pay raise is part of a 'voluntary agreement that was offered and accepted,” he said.

United Faculty officials said they accepted the deal without going to arbitration because the result would have been essentially the same.

The Board of Regents also is in the midst of negotiations with the University of Iowa graduate student union - known as the Campaign to Organize Graduate Students, which represents 2,183 research and teaching assistants - and the Service Employees International Union Local 199, which represents thousands of UI Health Care employees.

The board has been unable to reach a voluntary agreement with COGS, which like United Faculty filed a 'prohibited practice” complaint against the board.

'We are in arbitration and awaiting a decision,” Lehman said.

The board has not yet scheduled a date to restart negotiations with Service Employees International Union, which voted to ratify the board's initial offer before the law change but never heard back. Now, in a sort of role reversal, the board is waiting on the union.

'We have reached out to SEIU about negotiations and are awaiting a response,” Lehman said.

In addition to a complaint with the Public Employment Relations Board, American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, or AFSCME, Iowa Council 61 - which represents 40,000-some public employees across the state, including some Iowa State University staffers - has filed a lawsuit against the government, accusing it of passing an 'unconstitutional, null and void” law.

No initial court dates have yet been set in that case, although AFSCME has requested an 'expedited schedule.”

'If the issues raised in the petition are not resolved in an expedited manner, there will remain uncertainly as to the validity of any new collective bargaining agreements,” according to court documents. 'This uncertainly will cause harm and irreparable damage to labor relations between the parties.”

l Comments: (319) 339-3158; vanessa.miller@thegazette.com