TO: Board of Regents

FROM: Sue I. Hill, Director, Labor Relations and Personnel

RE: Approval of Tentative Agreement with The University of Montana-Western Faculty Association

DATE: January 15-16, 2004

Attached is a summary of the tentative agreement with The University of Montana-Western Faculty Association. The summary only shows the changes from the prior agreement. The entire agreement may be accessed electronically at https://www.mus.edu/hr/cba/collbarg.html 

In Section 3.600, a statement regarding evaluating students and awarding grades based on academic credit was added to the list of faculty responsibilities. The change in Section 4.300 acknowledges the fact that Regent agenda items are now available electronically. The right of the Association to address the Regents was clarified to exclude bargaining topics. The dates for promotions and tenure applications were modified. Faculty were given the right to participate on search committees for the Chancellor. A new provision was added to allow interim changes and additions to be made to the collective bargaining agreement. The Regent policy on tuition waivers for dependents was referenced. The tentative agreement allows for exceptions to the limitation on the number of independent courses that a faculty member may teach in one year. The only salary increase provided for, besides promotions, is a $500.00 increase effective January 1, 2005.

The faculty are expected to ratify the tentative agreement before the January Regent meeting. If that doesn't happen, this item will be withdrawn. Assuming the faculty vote to ratify the tentative agreement, I recommend approval of the tentative agreement.