2025-2028 Bargaining Blog: Session 8

Session 8  was very productive with lots to cover, so let’s go ahead and get right into it. 

The GAU bargaining committee arrived at the session with one proposal and one counter. We countered the article on Matriculation and Tuition Program (Article 12). We opened up stipends with our proposal, adjusting calculations to reflect a living wage currently in Tallahassee, FL, along with adjusting calculations for fee relief (Article 22). FSU-BOT rejected our changes to article twelve due to FERPA guidelines. We decided that our best course of action is to accept the proposed counter by FSU-BOT, and moved article twelve into tentative agreement. FSU-BOT did not issue a counter to our stipends proposal in this session as they need to do their own research, so we anticipate a response within the next few sessions. 

FSU-BOT came to the table with their proposal on Health Insurance (Article 16). They updated the dates to reflect the new contact period, but otherwise made no proposed changes, meaning they want to leave the article as status quo. They also issued their counters for Leaves of Absence and Other Leave (Article 10) and Amendment and Duration (Article 20). We reached tentative agreement with these articles as well. After these articles were signed, they proposed a slew of other articles to leave as status quo. The articles proposed are: 

1. Copyrights and Patents (Article 9) 

2. Board Rights (Article 13) 

3. Union Deductions (Article 15) 

4. Severability (Article 19) 

5. Definitions (Article 21) 

6. Consultations (Article 23) 

The GAU bargaining committee reviewed these articles, and opted to move them into tentative agreement. That being said, we ended up signing off on nine articles! 

If you’re interested in being involved in bargaining, whether as a spectator or if you want to be more hands on, please do not hesitate to reach out! You can reach us via our email, bargaining@fsugau.org, through our Instagram, @fsugau, or stay up to date on all bargaining sessions on our website, fsugau.org. Thanks for reading, and we will see you in session 9! 

With Love & In Solidarity, 

Xanthippe Pack-Brown 

UFF-FSU-GAU Bargaining Chair