Progress has been steady during negotiations between bargaining teams for the University and the Lecturers’ Employees Organization (LEO), a union representing approximately 1,500 non-tenure-track instructional staff on the Ann Arbor, Flint and Dearborn campuses.

The parties began with a series of eight proposals presented by the union. At their session on Oct. 3 the union and the University agreed on the full list of topics to be covered (http://www.umich.edu/~hraa/leo/issues.htm).

Agreements have been reached on the ground rules for negotiations and on four contract articles: union rights, the scope of the agreement, the preamble to the contract and provisions for distribution of the contract, says Jeffery Frumkin, assistant provost for academic human resources. Compensation issues have not been discussed yet.

The union was ratified by a vote that concluded on April 29 and was certified by the Michigan Employment Relations Commission.

LEO represents a group of non-tenure-track instructional staff including lecturers, adjunct faculty at all ranks and some visiting faculty. Academic units with the greatest number of faculty in these categories include LSA in Ann Arbor; the College of Arts, Sciences and Letters in Dearborn; and the College of Arts and Sciences in Flint.

Bargaining will result in the first labor contract for these non-tenure-track instructors. Provisions to be negotiated include salaries, benefits, job titles, workloads and appointment periods.

The bargaining teams have met for daylong sessions each Friday since Aug. 19. Most meetings have been in Ann Arbor, but some have been scheduled at the Flint and Dearborn campuses.

The University has created a Web site, http://www.umich.edu/~hraa/leo , that will include periodic updates about the negotiations.