Labor Relations

UA, UNAC continue making progress in contract negotiations

November 1, 2024

Contract negotiations between the University of Alaska (UA) and United Academics (UNAC) continued this week, with another article being TA’d, and more articles being exchanged.

The Context: Next week, the Board of Regents will meet to approve UA’s FY26 budget proposal. While UA has reached a place of stability and enrollment continues to grow, Regents and UA leadership remain mindful of the need to keep our budgetary requests to the state restrained.

  • Managing Fixed Costs... As fixed operating costs continue to rise, UA will continue to find efficiencies while strategically investing in programs and opportunities for long-term stability.
  • …While Reaching a Balance. Since there will be limited appetite for significant increases to UA’s state appropriation in Juneau next year, Regents and UA leaders will continue to balance student affordability and strategic investment with constrained state support. 
  • Planning for Juneau: UA will seek state appropriations consistent with agreed-upon monetary terms in active CBAs, and fairly compensate other eligible employees.

What’s Next? Negotiations will continue. Both UA and UNAC hope to reach an agreement by the end of the year, which would leave plenty of time for a TA’d CBA to get approval from the Board of Regents.

  • Even if a contract isn’t reached by the end of the year, UA and UNAC have agreed to maintain the current agreement and keep negotiating.
  • State law also requires the Governor’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to review CBA monetary terms before they are submitted to the Legislature, which must occur no later than March 21, 2025.

Notable Dates:

  • October 31, 2024 – UA’s FY26 budget requests due to OMB
  • November 7-8, 2024 – Regular Full Board of Regents Meeting; FY26 budget request approval
  • December 15, 2024 – Deadline for Governor’s FY26 budget to be released and transmitted to Legislative Finance 
  • December 31, 2024 – Current UNAC CBA expires
  • January 21, 2025 – Legislative session begins
  • March 21, 2025 – Bargaining unit monetary terms due to the Legislature

The Bottom Line: Visit https://www.alaska.edu/hr/labor/labor-relations/unac.php for updates on the progress of negotiations throughout this semester.