Eastern faculty contract negotiations are ongoing after the University Professionals of Illinois, Eastern’s faculty union, and Eastern administrators failed again last night to make an agreement.

UPI presented administrators with recommendations for settling the contract Thursday but a decision wasn’t reached, said UPI chief negotiating officer Charles Delman, mathematics professor. Now administrators will review the recommendations throughout the next week and possibly provide their own for the two groups’ next meeting Sept. 23.

“That’s the way we’ve been doing it so far,” Delman said of the trading of information for review between meetings.

The administration agreed.

“It’s up to us to come up with some counter-offer now,” said Bob Wayland, director of employee and labor relations and the administration’s chief negotiating officer. “I can’t really get into the specifics, but each meeting I think we get closer to some sort of an agreement.”

Delman didn’t say if the negotiations progressed any closer to a conclusion, however, but he did say progress towards an agreement depends on if the administration accepts the proposals made last night.

Faculty are particularly concerned with intellectual property rights, Delman said, especially with more classes being taught through the Internet. The current contract doesn’t define those rights.

“It’s making sure there is a free flow of information and making sure faculty have control on how their work is being used,” he said.

Faculty workload is also a serious issue, Delman said.

Rising enrollment, increased class sections and budget crunches have forced faculty into taking on more work while losing time for research and one-on-one activity with students, he said.

“Professors are being worked to the bone this year,” Delman said. “They have very little time to do anything but teach.”

Last year’s contract expired on Aug. 31 before the two groups made an agreement. At that time, the administration and the faculty signed an agreement to extend talks indefinitely, and faculty will work under their old contract, which was finalized in February of 2000, until a new one is created.

Three options remain available, Wayland said, including an

agreement.

The other two options, which are highly unlikely, he said, will only happen if the two groups cannot reach an agreement.

Either party may request assistance from a third party to help mediate the labor dispute, Wayland said. The Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service handles labor disputes, Wayland said, but “we are a long way from needing that.”

In accordance with the Illinois Labor Law, the party must give a 10-day notice to hire a mediator.

Either party may also terminate the contract but it must give the other party a 10-day notice, Wayland said, which is also unlikely.

“I can’t foresee any reason for that,” he said.

Delman said he agreed with Wayland’s statement, saying the possibility of terminating the contract or requesting a mediator are unlikely at this point.