Key Topics
Faculty Unions Topic - Online Learning
Most of the University’s four main faculty contracts are more than forty years old. All contracts were negotiated prior to the inception of online learning. Pre-pandemic, the University and the faculty unions negotiated language to address this component of work. Most of this language contemplates online learning as an optional “add on” to course load. In the post-pandemic learning environment, online learning has become a core part of teaching duties. Today, the fundamental change in the relationship to online learning has created a host of issues that are frequent topics of negotiation and labor/management discussions.
Graduate Student and Medical Residents Unions Topic - Bargaining Challenges
While most of the University’s unions that represent full time employees have existed for decades, the growth area for unionization at UMass, and in Higher Education generally, has been unions that represent student workers. Our panelist will discuss the unique challenges associated with bargaining with these unions. Panelist from Amherst and Dartmouth will discuss their campuses’ decisions to utilize state mediation services, and the Boston panelist will discuss their experience with collaborative bargaining and Lowell will discuss a recent completed negotiation. The session will conclude with a presentation from UMass Chan about their medical resident union, which represents Chan employees in non-university clinical settings. This is the University’s newest union and shares some similar characteristics with graduate student unions as it relates to the negotiation process.
Speaker Bios
Jacquie Kittler (Facilitator)
Jacquie serves as the Director, Employee & Labor Relations for the UMass President's Office. She has worked for the University since June 2015. She has previously served as the Assistant Director of Human Resources and Payroll & Benefits Manager for Framingham State University. Jacquie holds a Masters degree in Human Resources Management from Framingham State University.
Michael Eagen (Panelist)
Michael has been the Associate Provost for Academic Personnel for UMass Amherst since 2017 where he oversees human resources and labor relations matters specific to the academic employees include faculty, librarians, post-doctoral researchers, graduate employees and scientific staff. He previously served as Director of Labor Relations and Labor Counsel for the University of Connecticut and a labor and employment attorney in private practice and in-house for a large municipality.
Mickey Gallagher (Panelist)
Mickey Gallagher currently serves as Executive Director of Labor & Employee Relations at UMass Boston, leading a team that manages employment/labor relations for all campus unions inclusive of academic and staff units, as well as assisting with non-unit professional staff issues. She previously served as Consultant for Higher Education with the Massachusetts Teachers Association working with every segment of Massachusetts public higher education, as well as engaged in employment law private practice and as a faculty member in the Labor Relations Graduate Program at UMass Amherst.
Matthew Lyford, Esq. (Panelist)
Matthew Lyford is the Director of Employee and Labor Relations in UMass Chan Medical School’s Human Resources Office. Matthew supervises a team of Employee & Labor Relations consultants and serves as a chief negotiator in collective bargaining with campus unions. Prior to his current role, Matthew served as UMass Chan’s Senior Labor Relations Consultant and Assistant Director of Employee & Labor Relations. Before joining UMass Chan, Matthew’s experience includes serving as Staff Representative for SEIU Local 1199, a Law Clerk for the Massachusetts Superior Court, and a legal intern to the City of Boston Office of Labor Relations. Matthew is a graduate of Bridgewater State University and New England Law | Boston.
Mike Murray (Panelist)
A practicing labor and employment lawyer in the private and public sectors for 36 years, Mike Murray currently serves as the Director of Labor Relations for the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth. He is primarily responsible for all labor relations matters for the University’s six bargaining units including bargaining agreement negotiations, grievances, arbitrations and administrative litigation. Prior to coming to UMass Dartmouth, Mike served as the Director of Labor Relations for the Massachusetts Department of Higher Education where he was responsible for all labor relations matters at the Commonwealth’s state universities and community colleges. Mike's prior positions include Bureau Chief and General Counsel for the Massachusetts Senate’s Post Audit and Oversight Committee, Partner in the Providence law firm of Patridge Snow & Hahn LLP, General Counsel for the Bristol County Sheriff’s Office and an associate with the New Bedford law firm of Fernandes, Fraze & Finnerty. He has extensive experience as a civil litigator in the courts of Massachusetts and Rhode Island and as an advisor on labor and employment matters to government agencies, Fortune 500 companies and small businesses.
Bill Storella (Panelist)
Bill Storella is the Director of Labor Relations and Compliance for the UMass Lowell campus. As Director, Bill serves as negotiator and contract administrator for the campus’s eight (8) collective bargaining agreements. Bill provides guidance and advice to administrators on matters regarding employee relations and the administration of collective bargaining agreements. Prior to working at UMass Lowell, Bill spent two (2) years with the Commonwealth’s Office of Employee Relations as an Assist Director, served as a Labor Relations Specialist with Lawrence General Hospital and the Executive Office of Health and Human Services, and spent nine (9) years with SEIU Local 888 as a Union Representative.