February 2, 2026
An update from our third bargaining session with the University
Our bargaining team — Lauren Denofrio-Corrales, Jake Davis, Andy Goveia, Chris Pederson, Kevin Thompson, Amy Yount and IEA UniServ Director Ben Matthews — had our third bargaining session scheduled with the University for 4pm on February 2.
At the start of the meeting, the University’s representatives communicated that they do not intend to provide any proposals or counter-proposals to our team until our team has shared all of our language proposals with the University. When it became clear the University was not going to engage at the bargaining table tonight, the session was postponed and our bargaining team spent the evening working on our remaining proposals and discussing our next steps.
While we are not surprised, we are disappointed.
We have committed from the beginning to working in a collaborative manner. But it has become clear the University prefers an adversarial and positional bargaining process and relationship. Even in that process, we expect better and we demand respect and for the University to show a genuine effort to reach agreements and find common ground.
We are scheduled to meet again with the ISU team on February 16 from 12-3pm.
We are very thankful for those members who are part of the negotiations committee — and to everyone who has provided support and encouragement. Having dinner provided for the team again tonight was greatly appreciated! If you are wanting to help in any way, you can reach out to LSEA president, Meg Flanagan!
Our power at the bargaining table comes from membership. If you have not yet joined us, please join us today! Reach out to anyone of the bargaining team or contact Meg, if you have questions or would like more information about becoming a LSEA member!
Don’t hesitate to reach out with questions. And watch for more updates as we have more information to share.
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