Glossary

Passing/Proposing

Passing or proposing is when one side of the bargaining presents the other with their version of an article as in “passing it across the table.” It does not imply that it is the final version of that article or that it will end up in the final contract.

TA/Tentative Agreement

A Tentative Agreement is a proposed final version of an article, or the entire Collective Bargaining Agreement. An entire collective bargaining agreement must be ratified by the membership before it is finalized.

ALRA

Alaska Labor Relations Agency is the state board responsible for overseeing public-sector collective bargaining and labor relations.

CBA

A Collective Bargaining Agreement is the legally binding contract between the employer and members of the union.

ULP

An Unfair Labor Practice is an action by the employer or the union that is a violation of labor laws around collective bargaining. This could be around retaliation for union activities, refusal to bargain in good faith, or violation of the Dynamic Status Quo.

Dynamic Status Quo

The time period between the formation of the union and its first contract and between contracts. During this time scheduled pay adjustments that would have normally happened under the previous rules can continue, but changes to working conditions can not be made.

MMM

A Mass Membership Meeting is where bargaining unit members come together to discuss what’s going on in their union.

RFI

A Request For Information is a formal request from one negotiating party to the other to get documents and information that is needed to bargaining fairly, ensuring neither party has exclusive access to relevant information.

CAT

The Contract Action Team, the members of which are frequently just referred to as CATs. They are responsible for spreading the word about union updates, meetings, and upcoming collective actions to other members of the union.

Article

An Article is a section of the Collective Bargaining Agreement that discusses the rules around a particular subject, i.e. Benefits, Wages, or Discipline.

Comprehensive proposal

A complete proposal that includes all articles.

Permissive issue

A permissive issue is a subject that can be bargained over, but neither party is obligated to bargain over.

Ratify

After bargaining, the Collective Bargaining Agreement will be presented to the entire unit for a vote to ratify. The contract isn’t legally binding until it is ratified by the members.

Caucus

Caucus is the time during bargaining when the parties are not in the room together, but convening with only their side. This time is used to research, refine, and respond to the proposals passed by the other side. 

Good faith bargaining

The expectation is that both sides engage in good faith bargaining, which includes things such as agreeing to meet at regular pace, sending people with the authority to make decisions to bargaining, providing information to the other side, and working to move proposals closer to each other.

Bad Faith Bargaining

This occurs when a party bargains with the intention of not moving towards the other party or stalls out the bargaining process. Some examples include delaying tactics, regressive bargaining, which is where a party passes a proposal that moves further from the other side’s position, and surface bargaining, where proposals are passed that do not progress negotiations in a meaningful way.

Impasse

This occurs when negotiations hit a deadlock and neither side reasonably believes that further negotiations are futile. This allows the employer to present a final offer and may lead to mediation, fact-finding, or a strike. Impasse is a prerequisite for CAUSE-UAW to strike under Alaska labor law.

Red-lining

The process of marking up a proposal that is passed with edits before handing it back to the other side to consider. This serves as a record of the changes to contract language over time.

Initial Bargaining Demands

This is a document written by referring to the results of the bargaining survey by the bargaining committee and ratified by the membership that is presented to the University that represents the high level goals the union will be negotiating for.

Demands

Formal proposals made by a labor union during collective negotiations with an employer. These demands outline what the union seeks regarding workplace terms.

Ground rules

A set of mutually agreed upon rules to govern the bargaining process. While not uncommon, they are not required and considered a permissive subject of bargaining under PERA.

PERA

The Public Employee Relations Act, which is the Alaska law that governs the rules for collective bargaining for our unit.