Welcome to the Collective Bargaining Congress' Contract Database.
This database is designed to enable full-text searches of collective bargaining agreements
of AAUP chapters & affiliates, as well as AAUP policy statements. Clicking the button will launch the database in a new window or tab, so you can easily refer back to the instrtuctions below. If you have any questions or suggestions, please contact the Department of Organizing and Services (DOS).
Getting started:
Entering the database requires a password (available from DOS staff) and a browser that allows pop-up windows. If you have a pop-up blocker installed, there are a number of ways to temporarily allow pop-ups, or allow pop-ups from a particular site. The security program usually displays instructions near the top of the browser window.
How to search:
From the drop-down menu on the main search page, choose the collection of documents you want to search in—the default collection (the entire database), just contracts (public/private/all institutions), or just policy statements.
Type search terms:
The rules for this are the same as a normal Google search: if you type early retirement policy, the engine will return every file that contains the words early OR retirement OR policy, not necessarily in the same article of the contract. If you type “early retirement policy” the engine will return only those files in which the entire phrase appears.
Suggestions: omit common words like policy or agreement from your search patterns. If you’re not getting enough hits, remove any quotes in your search, or use the advanced search tool. Also, try the suggested synonyms (if available). If you discover an effective synonym for one of your searches, please let us know. We are working to expand the list of synonyms & appreciate the feedback.
Retrieving results:
Typically, the engine will only display a few results followed by the comment
In order to show you the most relevant results, we have omitted some entries very similar to the 2 already displayed. If you like, you can repeat the search with the omitted results included.
Just click the link to display the complete result set.
Once the results of your search are displayed, clicking on any link will take you to a file where your search term appears. Files in the database are mostly full-text searchable & extractable pdfs, but some may be webpages or word documents. To find the article containing your search term, use the search function appropriate to the file—for pdfs, you should see an icon that looks like a pair of binoculars. [In its absence, holding down the CTRL key while typing the letter F is a standard shortcut; this should also work for webpages and word files.]
Rather than printing out entire contracts, you may wish to copy relevant articles into a new document. All of the pdf files in the database allow you to copy & paste; if you are having trouble with a pdf file, make sure that you have the latest version of Adobe reader installed on your computer.