On July 8, 2026, CalArts and CU- UAW met for consolidated bargaining. CU-UAW exchanged counter proposals to (1) Management Rights, (2) Professional Development, and (3) Retirement. CalArts exchanged counter proposals on (1) Tuition Benefits and Loan Assistance, (2) Release Time, and (3) Duration.
For CalArts’ Counter, Tuition Benefits and Loan Assistance primarily preserves the existing Tuition Benefit policy and adds 100% tuition support for employees who have worked for more than 20 years. Release Time clarifies the ways in which bargaining unit members perform work for CU-UAW and Duration establishes the length of the contract. Additionally, CalArts passed a package proposal on (4) Technology, Automation, Artificial Intelligence, and Employee Data. This package proposal provides for the opportunity to meet and confer should new technology be expected to have a material and direct effect on bargaining-unit employees. CalArts discussed at length why it was otherwise premature to put AI provisions into a contract at a time at which no one fully understands the implications of AI in the higher education workplace. CalArts additionally explained the obligations of CalArts and any third party vendors when it comes to employee data and privacy compliance will be in accordance with the robust laws that govern both privacy and data.
The session concluded with a robust discussion centered on Academic Freedom. The discussion focused on the statement shared in the Faculty Handbook, where CalArts reiterated that the statement was drafted by the Academic Councils and Deans in the 1980s and is not official policy unless it were to be approved by the Board of Trustees. CU-UAW discussed the importance of the statement to faculty. CalArts stated that if CU-UAW wanted to accept that statement as the CBA article on Academic Freedom, CalArts would consider it and asked CU-UAW if that was what it was proposing. But CU-UAW interestingly said no.