CMU, FA reach tentative agreement after 14 hours of negotiations Thursday

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The Faculty Association and Central Michigan University reached a tentative agreement on a three-year contract after 14 hours of negotiations Thursday, according to a press release from Director of Public Relations Steve Smith.

The bargaining was facilitated by Isabella County Circuit Court Judge Paul H. Chamberlain, but details of the agreement are not being released until it is ratified by FA members and CMU.

“CMU and the FA were in court for a hearing on a request by CMU to make a preliminary injunction permanent, forbidding the faculty from staging a strike, and for a ruling on the appropriate legal venue for hearing a lawsuit filed by the FA against CMU regarding Public Act 54,” the release stated.

Smith declined further comment than what was stated in the release.

The FA has a meeting scheduled for 7 p.m. Sunday night at the Mount Pleasant High School Auditorium, 1155 S. Elizabeth St.

The FA is challenging PA 54, which prevents public employees from earning “wage step increases” after the expiration of a contract.

About 40 CMU faculty members have been affected by this law, and CMU is trying to change the venue of the PA 54 lawsuit from Isabella to Ingham County, Frey told CM Life in a previous report.

Bargaining between the FA and CMU first started in April, and both filed for fact-finding in July.

After the contract expired on June 30, bargaining continued with State Mediator Miles Cameron. Faculty voted overwhelmingly in August to give its seven-member bargaining team power to decide if a job action would be necessary.

On Aug. 21, the FA voted to strike on the first day of the fall semester, Aug. 22. The university filed an preliminary injunction that afternoon to send its members back to work  for four days until the court hearing with Chamberlain, which Circuit Court Judge Mark Duthie signed for him. The injunction prevented them from picketing.

At the hearing, Chamberlain extended the injunction until 20 days after the Goldman’s report was released, but lifted the ban on picketing, and allowed them 10/20 drug cards while bargaining continued.

Open fact-finding hearings took place for a week in September, and Goldman released his recommendations Oct. 31.

In his recommendation, Goldman favored the university on salary and benefits and the FA in retirement and promotion issues.

CMU adopted all of Goldman’s recommendations in the university’s final offer, including a pay freeze for one year and modest increases for the following two. It also allowed FA members to keep MESSA as a primary insurance provider until June 30, 2012, under certain conditions.

The FA rejected what the university called its “final offer” for a contract on Nov. 11.

The FA proposed a one-year contract Nov. 22, instead of a three-year contract, and agreed to a one-year pay freeze. The FA also withdrew its proposal for a $600 signing bonus for 12-month faculty.

“We thought that offering a one-year tentative agreement that included every concession from the faculty that the administration demanded would allow all of CMU to move forward,” Frey said in a press release. “In doing so, it also would provide a longer cooling-off period before the teams return to the table next year to begin work on a new three-year contract.”

Check back on cm-life.com for emerging details.