To: Wellesley College Community
From: Courtney Coile, Provost and Lia Gelin Poorvu ’56 Dean of the College, and Carolyn Slaboden, Chief Human Resources Officer
Re: Update on negotiations with WOAW-UAW
Date: April 16, 2025
Tomorrow the College and WOAW-UAW, the union representing Wellesley’s non-tenure track (NTT) faculty, will resume the collective bargaining process. The College will approach this session as we have all sessions to date—in a spirit of good-faith negotiation with the goal of finalizing a fair contract.
We appreciate that the union is coming to the table with a new proposal, as we had asked. Because we have not reviewed it completely nor discussed it with them yet, we cannot comment on the specifics at this time.
We do want to be clear, however, that we reject the idea put forward by the union that a one-year contract would in any way benefit the College community. We are unwilling to put our students, faculty, and community at risk of experiencing the same disruption a year from now. The College is asking for a multiyear contract to ensure that no current students will experience another strike during their time at Wellesley. A multiyear contract would also help NTT faculty by locking in raises for the next several years—a period of expected financial uncertainty—and securing access to new benefits. Our community needs a multiyear contract so that we can move past this time of division and begin to heal.
The union does not need a one-year contract in order to end the strike and return to the classroom. They can do that today. And despite the union’s suggestions that our students are “losing” any part of their education, thanks to the academic plan the College put in place after NTT faculty decided to strike, all students will be able to finish the semester in good academic standing.
We look forward to a productive bargaining session tomorrow.