The University Council – American Federation of Teachers aims to prioritize academic freedom, job security and new guidelines on technology in the classroom in its ongoing contract negotiations with the UC system.

A new contract would govern the approximately 5,314 Unit 18 teaching faculty members, which includes lecturers that UC-AFT represents throughout the UC system. The union met with UC administration most recently June 4 and is set to continue bargaining June 30.

“The University of California and the UC-AFT union began bargaining in March, and negotiations have progressed regularly,” said UCOP spokesperson Heather Hansen in an email. “UC is working toward a fair and sustainable agreement that supports quality instruction, advances the University’s academic mission, and helps students succeed.”

UC-AFT aims to ensure lecturers are afforded the same academic freedom protections as their tenured colleagues, such as protections regarding what topics they can speak openly about with their students, according to UC-AFT Communications Chair Caroline Luce.

Luce said employment for lecturers often remains precarious in “moments of budgetary crisis.” She noted cuts to language programs, as well as the potential termination of 29 lecturer positions in UC Berkeley’s Fall Program for First Semester, which is set to shut down.

“We’ve seen this year after year after year, so our job security proposals really aim to reflect … the value of our labor and our contributions to campus, so that we can be honored with the kind of dignity and stability that I think every educator deserves,” Luce said.

UC-AFT seeks to restructure lecturer positions as “open-ended appointments that would be fully funded” to ensure faculty members have due process rights to challenge separation, according to Luce. She described the UC’s job security proposals presented in contract negotiations as “unsatisfactory” and noted that they “just sort of respect the status quo.” UC-AFT is still reviewing these proposals.

“Our fight for language instruction at the university is a fight for the university to honor its global mission,” Luce said. “And to think of itself as a global leader, not just a safe place for international students and a place of belonging for immigrant students … but also as a university that is committed to the value of that international perspective.”

Regarding technology in the classroom, UC-AFT endeavors to protect lecturers’ rights to opt in to certain technologies, according to Luce. She cited the Canvas cyberattack in May, which she said threatened “our intellectual property.” Luce also noted that UC-AFT aims to mandate human instruction in academics.

UC has not yet responded to UC-AFT’s demands regarding technology in the classroom, nor has it offered a counterproposal regarding academic freedom, according to Luce.