GOLD-UE Bargaining Update

To the Guarini community,

I write to provide an update on negotiations between Dartmouth and GOLD-UE.

The Dartmouth and GOLD-UE bargaining teams met Thursday, Jan. 4, 2024. At this meeting, Dartmouth presented counter proposals on workload, discipline and discharge, non-discrimination, and international employee rights. I am happy to report that the parties reached a tentative agreement on the workload provision. The union agreed to remove language from this provision asking Dartmouth to acknowledge that most work tasks for RAs and TAs should be carried out from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Instead, the parties agreed that as "a general principle" most work tasks should be carried out during "regular weekday hours." The union also acknowledged many work obligations necessarily fall outside of regular weekday hours.

The parties are moving closer to a non-discrimination provision that balances GOLD-UE's desire for additional accountability and information about Dartmouth's processes and Dartmouth's concern that it be able to follow its non-discrimination policies and procedures to completion and in accordance with law. 

The parties are also moving closer to agreement on discipline and discharge. They are continuing to discuss language distinguishing between employment-related misconduct and employment-related poor/non-performance, which is subject to the contractual discipline and discharge provision, and academic misconduct and academic-related poor/non-performance, which is not subject to this provision.

Finally, for the international employee rights provision, the matters still under discussion are the parameters around requests for remote work, as well as curricular practical training (CPT) and optional practice training (OPT). The union wants to include a provision in the contract about international students' access to CPT and OPT. Where CPT and OPT do not involve employment at Dartmouth, nor employment covered by the collective bargaining agreement, Dartmouth does not agree that a provision regarding CPT and OPT should be in the contract.  This discussion is ongoing.

Dartmouth remains committed to working with GOLD-UE to reach a mutually beneficial agreement and is appreciative of the efforts of the GOLD-UE bargaining committee.

Our next bargaining session is scheduled for Jan. 18. I will provide additional updates following that meeting. An overview and FAQs about graduate union organization at Dartmouth are available on the provost's website.

Sincerely,

David Kotz
Provost