After three bargaining sessions between union representatives, student residential staff and university administrators, a memorandum of agreement (MOA) has been approved by all parties.
The MOA amends the standing collective bargaining agreement between Fordham University and the Office and Professional Employees Union Local 153, the representative union for the student residential staff at Fordham Lincoln Center (FLC) and Fordham Rose Hill (FRH).
The document has been approved by the union and university representatives and is expected to be signed this week, according to Jennifer Petra, associate vice president for media and public relations.
Negotiations occurred on Feb. 5, March 5 and March 9. The resulting MOA is based on policy proposals offered by union representatives and negotiations between the union and the university. The MOA was approved by 100% of the FLC resident assistants (RAs) and resident first-year mentors (RFMs) who voted, according to Om Patel, Gabelli School of Business at Lincoln Center ’27.
The MOA incorporates the FLC RAs and RFMs into protections codified by the collective bargaining agreement negotiated in spring of 2024, when the union consisted solely of FRH RAs.
Patel, an RA at McMahon Hall, attended all three of the bargaining sessions and described the resulting contract as “a very solid agreement.”
The MOA incorporates the FLC RAs and RFMs into protections codified by the collective bargaining agreement negotiated in spring of 2024, when the union consisted solely of FRH RAs.
FLC student residential staff are now entitled to union orientations at the start of each academic year, as well as the creation of a labor management committee. The committee would consist of five union members and five university representatives meeting twice per semester (once at each campus) to discuss “issues of mutual concern.”
In addition, the FLC RA and RFMs’ semesterly stipends have increased to $775 for RAs and $650 for RFMs, as opposed to the previous $675 stipend for RAs and $600 for RFMs. Staff who worked a full semester during the current academic year will receive a retroactive payment of $50 (for RAs) or $25 (for RFMs) to cover the increase.
The MOA stipulates that the stipend payments must be made within two weeks of the start of each semester, given that each RA or RFM has filled out the necessary paperwork. According to Patel, this addition follows an issue from previous semesters in which training meal stipends arrived after the training had actually occurred.
“That was an issue because that means everyone’s paying out of pocket to be there for those two weeks that’s mandatory. So we got a new provision that says that all compensation gets disbursed within two weeks,” Patel said. “That’s nice because it means there’s more consistency and you can expect when to be paid.”
Although the contract contains several wins for the union, negotiations were limited by the fact that the standing bargaining agreement is set to expire in June of 2027.
Other implementations in the MOA include the possibility of one-semester contracts for residential staff who wish to study abroad, as well as codification of the RA and RFM job descriptions, compensation and rehiring process.
Although the contract contains several wins for the union, negotiations were limited by the fact that the standing bargaining agreement is set to expire in June of 2027, meaning that not many changes could be made before the actual renegotiation date of the current contract. Meal checks for RAs and RFMs in McKeon Hall are one proposal that would be brought up during the next negotiations, Patel said.
Patel described the negotiation sessions as fair and productive.
“Negotiating, I think, was really interesting and enjoyable,” Patel said. “(Fordham) definitely tried to hear out what the students are asking for and do whatever is reasonable for them. I felt like the people that we were negotiating with were actually quite reasonable and certainly surprised us in certain ways.”
Negotiations for the new bargaining agreement will begin in 2027 and will involve student residential staff from FLC and FRH negotiating together for the first time.
“I think it’ll be a little bit more complicated now managing all the different interests involved, but I think there’s certain things which both campuses can probably agree on,” Patel said.
Until then, the RAs and RFMs at Lincoln Center are included in the newly amended bargaining agreement.
