United Faculty and the North Orange County Community College District reached a Tentative Agreement (TA) on the 2025-2026 reopener negotiations. The TA was presented to the Representative Council for approval to move forward, then to the full membership for a ratification vote. The signed agreement covers changes to Article 13 (Leaves) and Article 20 (Salary — additional duty days). This article summarizes what was in play at the table this semester, what changed, and what did not.

What was on the table

Six articles were reopened for the 2025-2026 negotiations cycle:

• Article 5 — non-credit office hours and workload (NOCE)
• Article 13 — leaves
• Articles 17 and 18 — tenured and probationary faculty evaluations
• Article 20 — salary, including additional duty days
• Article 29 — extended labs

Where agreement was reached

The TA covers two of the six reopened articles:

Article 20 — Additional Duty Days. The District agreed to increase additional duty days for faculty in specific areas: Athletics, Automotive, Dental Hygiene (formalizing a previous MOU), and Forensics. These are areas where faculty work has consistently extended beyond the contracted duty schedule, and the change codifies compensation for that work in the CBA rather than leaving it in year-to-year discretion or informal practice.

Article 13 — Leaves. Two categories saw substantive change:

Bereavement leave (Article 13.1) was updated to comply with recent legislative changes. The previous regional distinctions were removed, and paid bereavement was extended to up to five nonconsecutive days regardless of distance. This brings the CBA in line with the underlying statutory floor.

Unpaid Personal or Professional Leave (Article 13.7) saw a shift in the approval authority to the Chancellor or designee, but United Faculty was able to preserve several critical member protections through the negotiation:

• The appeals process was maintained, including Program Review committee involvement to help determine impact on the program.
• No multi-year freeze period was imposed on faculty following a granted unpaid leave — members can reapply without a lockout.
• A new provision (Article 13.7.1.3.5) was added to ensure all faculty are explicitly informed of the member's cost of health and welfare coverage while on leave. This cost was always the member's responsibility under the CBA, but it was never explicitly stated. The new language protects members from surprises when they return.

Where agreement was not reached

Three of the six reopened articles did not produce agreement in the 2025-2026 cycle:

• Article 29 (Extended Labs) — the District never presented any language during negotiations. Without a District proposal to work from, the parties never got close to agreement.
• Articles 17 and 18 (Faculty Evaluations) — the District proposed only limited changes, and the parties were not close to agreement on the substantive evaluation issues.
• Article 5 (Non-credit Office Hours and Workload, NOCE) — extensive back-and-forth throughout the semester, but no agreement to any contractual changes by the last bargaining meeting of the semester on Monday, May 18, 2026.

These items remain live priorities for the upcoming round of negotiations. Members who worked this cycle on office hours, evaluations, or extended labs know these are not resolved issues.

How the ratification vote worked

The TA was voted on as a whole (not article by article). All members had the opportunity to vote in the ratification. Ballots were sent by email from the Election Committee Chair, Alejandro Omidsalar, to members' personal email addresses on file, and voting was conducted electronically through SimplyVoting.com. The voting window opened on the day the TA was released and closed on Friday, May 29, 2026 at 11:59 p.m.

Recognition

The UF Negotiations Team put substantial work into this cycle. Faculty members across the District — those who helped keep the team informed, provided data, and made time to meet with the team throughout the semester — made the team as well-prepared as possible at the bargaining table. That preparation is what produced the agreements in Article 13 and Article 20 and kept the chapter in a position of strength on the articles that did not reach agreement this cycle.

The full signed Tentative Agreement is posted in the members-only Documents Library.