Thomas Breen file photo
Yale union members and supporters at a Prospect Street rally in May.
Yale and its blue-collar and clerical and technical worker unions have struck a tentative agreement for new contracts that would cover more than 5,000 university employees over the next five years.
University and union spokespeople made that announcement in a Monday evening email press release. UNITE HERE Local 34—which includes administrative, library, research, and clinical workers at the university — posted on Facebook Tuesday about the tentative accord.
“I am delighted that we have reached tentative agreements with Local 34 and Local 35,” Yale President Peter Salovey is quoted as saying in the email press release. “Yale’s strong partnership with our unions has helped the community overcome many challenges, including the unforeseen difficulties brought about by the pandemic. I am deeply grateful for all that we have accomplished together and look forward to the work ahead of us.”
“We have reached a tentative agreement with Yale University!” Local 34’s Tuesday afternoon Facebook post reads. “Together we have fought for and secured the terms of a five-year contract that introduces historic new job security protections while protecting our economics and securing our retirement.”
Wooster Square Alder and Local 34 Executive Board member Ellen Cupo celebrates tentative accord on Facebook.
The email press release was signed by Yale spokesperson Karen Peart, UNITE HERE spokesperson Ian Dunn, Local 35 President Bob Proto, and Local 34 Secretary-Treasurer Ken Suzuki.
It states that the tentative agreement will next be taken up by each bargaining unit for ratification in October. If approved, the agreement would cover the years 2022 through 2027.
The email press release states that the agreement comes after nearly 15 months of negotiations conducted entirely via video-conferencing technology.
The university and labor unions “worked collaboratively to preserve employment for union staff, provide unique COVID-related benefits, return employees to on-campus jobs with new safety procedures, agree on future wages and benefits, and creatively address union interests regarding job security and engagement in light of the accelerated use of technology in the workplace.”
Neither the university nor the unions have yet publicly disclosed the terms of the tentative contracts.
Click here to read about the last time Locals 34 and 35 ratified new contracts with Yale, in 2017.
Street Closure OK’d For New Haven Rising Event
Thomas Breen photo
Hill Alder Ron Hurt (right) at May’s “Yale: Respect New Haven” event.
The labor peace announcement comes a few days after the Board of Alders voted overwhelmingly in support of closing off a downtown block in early October to keep the pressure on Yale to hire locally and contribute more to New Haven’s financial bottom line.
Every local legislator present except for one cast their vote in support of closing Prospect Street between Grove and Lock Streets on Saturday, Oct. 2 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. (Downtown Alder Abby Roth, who works for the Yale School of Medicine, abstained from the vote.)
While no alders spoke up on the matter during the regular deliberation and voting section of the meeting, Hill Alder Ron Hurt used his time at the mic during the so-called “points of personal privilege” section at the end of the meeting to encourage his colleagues to come out to the early October event.
Come to the corner of Prospect and Grove Streets on Oct. 2 and “find out what Yale is for,” Hurt said. “We have done so much for Yale, and they have not done much for the City of New Haven.”
For the past decade, Yale’s unions have backed a majority of the Board of Alders — and have been some of the most influential political players in the city.
The street closure order approved by the Board of Alders Thursday night was submitted by New Haven Rising Director Scott Marks.
Marks wrote that earlier this year the alders approved the installation of public art on Prospect Street “that advanced the broad community campaign to urge Yale University to respect New Haven by hiring local residents, especially from neighborhoods of need, and by increasing its financial support to the City of New Haven.” In advance of that rally, union leaders and members painted “Yale: Respect New Haven” on Prospect Street near the intersection with Grove.
That rally also saw union leaders and local, state, and federal politicians press the university on the then-ongoing contract negotiations.
The Oct. 2 event, Marks wrote to the alders, will “focus on amplifying this message by repairing and refreshing this public art.”
Click here to read more about that May street painting event and rally, and for the university’s response to criticisms made at those events.
How do you report on a new union contract and not report the terms?
Does anyone know how much the leaders of the unions are paid? What do the workers pay from their checks for this representation?
Tom Breen has written brilliantly and in detail on so many topics.
This article reads like a Press Release. I am disappointed.
[Reporter's note: Thanks for the comment! Neither the university nor the unions have released the terms of the agreement yet. Just put in a sentence to that effect. I'll make sure to have a follow up article on the terms, when I find out what they are. Thank you!]