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, Feb. 1, 2024. At this meeting, I am happy to report that the parties reached tentative agreements on the Intellectual Property and Research Misconduct, Assignment Notification, and International Employee Rights articles.

Through these tentative agreements, the parties have agreed that Dartmouth's Policy on Patent, Copyright, and Other Intellectual Property Rights and Research Misconduct Policy continue to apply to GOLD-EU members as they do now and any disputes under these policies are not subject to the contractual grievance and arbitration provision.

We also reached a tentative agreement on the content of a Notice of Assignment that will outline the basic terms and conditions of a TA or RA assignment. Dartmouth will provide the Notice of Assignment at least 21 calendar days before the start of the assignment; however, if the assignment is not finalized at that time, Dartmouth will provide an updated notice at a later date.

After many months of discussion, the parties reached a tentative agreement on the international Employee Rights article. We agreed that in cases where CPT and OPT do not involve employment at Dartmouth, nor employment covered by the collective bargaining agreement, that there should not be a provision regarding CPT and OPT in the contract. The parties also agreed to when and how international employees will make requests to work remotely if they are unable to return to Dartmouth because of reasons outside of their control.

The parties moved closer to agreement on the grievance procedure article, exchanging revised counter proposals and having productive conversations around the concerns each had with the others' language, specifically around the timing of a union member filing a grievance involving a harassment or discrimination claim. We are hopeful that we will reach a tentative agreement soon.

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 Thursday, Feb. 22. 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