In an ongoing effort to study undergraduate student writing, the College Writing Programs is undertaking a research project to collect written assignments from faculty teaching undergraduate courses throughout the campus. The purposes of this research are to gain an accurate sense of the range and types of writing demands that students face in their undergraduate careers at Berkeley and to develop a collection of assignments that can be used to guide faculty in their work with students.

Please click on the following link (or paste the URL into your browser) to find a list of equivalencies negotiated by the lecturers' bargaining team with the UC Office of the President.

Lecturers' workload equivalencies list

The term "equivalency" refers to work in addition to your courses that must now be compensated if performance of those duties is "required or clearly expected" by your department. Some lecturers are already compensated by their departments for these activities as part of their appointment percentage. But if you're not compensated for these activities and want to be compensated for them, please let us know.

Below please find an article-by-article summary of the changes to the librarian contract negotiated in successor bargaining for the Unit 17 Memorandum of Understanding (MOU). A ratification vote will be held at all campuses during the week of March 31-April 4. There will also be a mail ballot option for those unable to vote on their campuses. Only union MEMBERS have the right to vote.

Click here to read the summary.

To review the texts of the tentatively agreed on articles, click on the links below:

Revised Articles

Article 1--Recognition
Article 2--Nondiscrimination

By Bill Whitson

The history of LAUC-B is the history of the development of academic status—of a new, more challenging professional role for librarians.

The University and the Unit 17 bargaining team have arrived at the tentative agreement described below. This deal is being brought to the members for their evaluation because the team and the unit faces a significant choice: to take the terms offered, which the team leadership believes is the best we can do at this time -- or to reject these terms and return to the bargaining process. If the tentative agreement is ratified, the University will provide a 2% cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) retroactive to October 1, 2005. If the members choose to reject this settlement and go forward with the bargaining process, the University will continue to hold back this cost-of-living adjustment.

Below please find a description of the tentative agreement concluded in the current reopener bargaining between the Unit 17 and the University.

• Salary -- 2% cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) in 2005 (retroactive to October 1, 2005); 2% cost-of-living adjustment in 2006; 3% cost-of-living adjustment in 2007. Payment of the cost-of-living adjustments in 2006 and 2007 is contingent upon the University's receipt of the funding levels specified in the current state budget compact. Funding for merit increases does not change.
• Duration -- The entire contract is extended through March 31, 2008. (The current MOU expires on August 30, 2006.) The Union has the right to reopen Salary in the event that the state compact that guarantees these cost-of-living increases is not fully funded in 2006 or 2007, and the University does not otherwise provide cost-of-living adjustments of 2% by October 1, 2006 and 3% by October 1, 2007.