On Oct. 8, the Wellesley Organized Academic Workers (WOAW) union members reached an agreement on participating in flagship research programs during its 11th bargaining session with Wellesley College.

According to the bargaining update published on the WOAW website, the latest bargaining session led to a two-year Memorandum of Understanding between the College and the union regarding participation in the Albright Faculty Affiliates Program and the Hillary Rodham Clinton Center Faculty Research Initiative. The new memorandum allows union members to access these opportunities, as well as to be “included on all College-wide communications about all Wagner Centers Initiatives.”

Union members previously told The News that non-tenure track faculty were not allowed to apply for these initiatives on the grounds of being in active bargaining with the College. This new memorandum is a reversal of this policy.

According to bargaining updates published by both WOAW and the College, other proposals were discussed in sessions but have yet to be agreed upon. These include “Workspace and Materials,” “Privileges,” “Titles,” “Workload,” “Course Assignments,” “Wintersession,” “Employment Records” and “Evaluations and Performance Reviews.”

In September, the union created an open letter about discrimination and harassment policies on campus, which has reached over 620 signatures from college community members as of Oct. 16. No new updates in proposals or counter-proposals about this topic have occurred since September 24, according to WOAW’s proposal tracker.

Despite the signing of the memorandum, WOAW’s published bargaining update stated that the union “continue[s] to see an imbalance in the pace of bargaining.” The union also stated that the College is using “attrition oriented bargaining” where it is “moving slowly and hoping employees will become bored, frustrated, and discouraged.”

The College’s bargaining update stated, “The College hopes to continue to work to reach agreement on several other articles in the near future.”

WOAW’s next bargaining session is on Tuesday, Oct. 22. Updates about this bargaining session and future sessions can be found on the union’s bargaining hub. WOAW will also be holding a teach-in on Oct. 24 that community members can attend.

Contact the editors responsible for this story: Valida Pau, Sazma Sarwar and Lyanne Wang