State says UMass needs to resolve “core issues” with union before mediation

Four days after unionized staff members at UMass Amherst held a vote declaring they had “no confidence” in Chancellor Javier Reyes, the state Department of Labor Relations said the union and the university must keep trying to resolve contract negotiation issues before a state-appointed mediator can step in. 

Members of the Professional Staff Union have been negotiating a new contract with university leadership for about 18 months now, and held a rally last month to call attention to the ongoing struggle for better pay and working conditions. 

“For the sake of the common good, it’s time for UMass Amherst to settle PSU’s contract,” said Nellie Taylor, a co-chair of the union, which represents professional staff at UMass’s Amherst and Boston campuses. “Javier Reyes has united the entire campus against him in a little over two years. He has instituted anti-worker and anti-democratic policies and decisions, which are a bad match with the history and values of public higher education in Massachusetts.”

PSU leaders said that of the 1,025 union members who cast votes last week, 966 members, or 94%, voted “no confidence” in Reyes. In a statement, the union said the overwhelming vote was because the university, under Reyes’s leadership, has been unwilling to work with the union, impeded employees’ ability to do their jobs effectively, and fostered a campus climate of fear and distrust.

In October, UMass Amherst Director of Labor Relations Brian Harrington filed a “Petition for Mediation and Fact-Finding” with the state Department of Labor Relations, which initiated a preliminary investigation to determine whether a state-appointed mediator would step in. According to Harrington’s filing, an “impasse” has developed in the negotiations over wages, sick leave, “anti-privatization,” excessive workloads, and discipline, among other issues. 

Since the negotiations began, PSU has filed three charges with the DLR accusing the university of bargaining in bad faith. One complaint filed in June alleges that the university began training management to conduct evaluations considering merit-based pay increases, a contentious topic in their ongoing negotiations. The union also took issue with UMass’s filing for mediation with the DLR, saying the move was an attempt to force the union into a contract it did not agree with.

Last week, the DLR opted not to proceed with mediation — yet. In a Dec. 8 letter to Harrington and PSU leadership, DLR director Philip Roberts wrote that his department will “retain jurisdiction” over the case while the union and the university are “directed to continue face-to-face bargaining sessions to narrow the number and scope of the issues open for mediation.”

“Once the parties have bargained and narrowed the focus of their differences, they can report back to the Department their progress towards resolution of their differences and a decision will be made on the appropriateness of mediation at that time,” Roberts wrote. “It is in the parties’ best interest to resolve as many core issues as possible prior to mediation.”

Union members and university leaders both say they view the DLR’s decision positively.

Emily Gest, a spokesperson for the university, said in an email to The Shoestring that UMass “fully agrees” the parties should attempt to resolve core issues before mediation. The university “looks forward to continuing good faith efforts to reach an amicable agreement,” she wrote.

PSU staff organizer Jonah Vorspan-Stein, on the other hand, called the DLR letter “a major loss for Chancellor Reyes’s attempt to circumvent bargaining and impose unilateral takebacks on his unionized professional staff.” 

“We very much look forward to getting back to the bargaining table and reaching a fair contract for our members,” Vorspan-Stein said in an email.

One point of disagreement in the ongoing negotiations revolves around merit-based pay increases proposed by the university, which would take effect in January 2027. Gest explained the university’s proposal to The Shoestring: it would grant a 2.25% pay increase to PSU members in July 2025, January 2026, and July 2026, then offer staff a .75% increase in January of 2027 with an additional 1.5% increase distributed to select employees based on merit.

“The parties remain in negotiation on the distribution method,” Gest told The Shoestring. 

PSU has pushed back against the proposal.

“Chancellor Reyes is attempting to strip PSU members of the baseline economic guarantees that were provided by Governor Healey,” Andrew Gorry, a PSU co-chair, said in a written statement to The Shoestring. “His team wants to cut the pay of most of our members $750 – $1,500 a year and it won’t even save UMass any money — this is about one Chancellor’s desire for power and control. If Chancellor Reyes agrees to take his hands off our cost-of-living increases, we’re confident an agreement could be reached quickly.”

Friday marked the 48th negotiation session between PSU and UMass leadership. The university has settled contracts with six other campus unions in fewer than 20 bargaining sessions, according to Gest, including the union representing faculty and librarians, which agreed to merit-based pay increases. 

Once the contract is settled, PSU members will receive retroactive pay increases back to January 2025, Gest said. This would bring employees’ pay back in line with scheduled cost-of-living adjustment increases that, according to PSU leadership, have been withheld during the prolonged negotiations. 

In his letter, Roberts directed PSU and UMass to report back to the DLR on any progress made in their negotiations by Jan. 16. According to PSU leadership, bargaining teams have reached tentative agreements over five issues within the last several weeks. 

Correction: This story has been updated to clarify when PSU members’ pay increases would begin under current contract proposals. They would be retroactive to January 2025.