In the second vote at a University of Wisconsin campus in two weeks, Eau Claire faculty have cast an overwhelming vote for the union. When the vote was counted on May 19, faculty at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire had voted 233-87 in a unit of 368 in favor of union representation through AFT-Wisconsin.
UW-Eau Claire English Professor Stephanie Turner believes that the implications of today's election are far reaching. "Today my faculty colleagues sent a strong message not just on collective bargaining, but on our place in the university," stated Turner. "There is no question that, along with academic staff, faculty are the stewards of the campus community. Now, for the first time, we will be able to advocate for the betterment of that community through collective bargaining."
UW-Eau Claire faculty join their colleagues at UW-Superior, who voted decisively in favor of collective bargaining last week. The two campuses are the first to form collective bargaining unions since their right to do so was established under the 2009-2011 state budget.
According to Bryan Kennedy, president of AFT-Wisconsin, faculty unions in the UW System have been decades in the making. "The UW-Eau Claire and UW-Superior elections are the culmination of a forty-year campaign to extend collective bargaining rights to UW academic staff and faculty," stated Kennedy. "Academic professionals throughout the UW System who have led this campaign are no doubt reflecting on these elections with a great sense of pride."
Faculty at the University of Wisconsin-Superior have voted 75-5 (in a unit of 100) in favor of union representation through The Association of UW Professionals (TAUWP), a local union affiliated with the American Federation of Teachers and AFT-Wisconsin.
The landslide vote is the first taken since the passage of the 2009 state budget, which included language extending collective bargaining rights to UW faculty and academic staff. Bryan Kennedy, president of AFT-Wisconsin, says UW educators have been chomping at the bit to exercise their right to vote on a union and engage in bargaining. "For over 40 years, faculty and academic staff throughout the UW System have demanded the right to collectively bargain with the employer. Today's historic and resounding election results substantiate that."
Furthermore, faculty believe that having a union will bring benefit to the entire university, says UW-Superior sociology professor Marshall Johnson. "Faculty are among the most effective stewards of our campus community, and having a voice at the table will directly impact the success of our students and UW-Superior as a whole. Having an equal voice in issues such as workload will ultimately enable us to be attentive to our students' educational needs on an individual basis." He adds that it will also strengthen the university's ability to attract and retain a top-notch faculty.
Negotiations for a first contract are expected to begin soon. Academic staff are exploring their collective bargaining options. Meanwhile, faculty at the University of Wisconsin, Eau Claire also are voting on the question of bargaining, with the count to take place next week.
A federal court in Albany has granted unions a restraining order against New York Gov. David Paterson, blocking him and the Legislature from forcing more than 100,000 state employees to take one-day-per-week furloughs, which had been set to begin next week-at the height of one of the heaviest work weeks of the academic year.
The United University Professions, which represents 35,000 faculty and professional staff on State University of New York campuses, and the Professional Staff Congress, representing 22,000 faculty and academic staff in the City University of New York system, moved swiftly to court on May 11, a day after the Legislature approved Gov. Paterson's emergency measure including the furloughs. The New York State United Teachers affiliates maintain in their lawsuits that the furloughs are illegal, violating the U.S. Constitution's prohibition against states passing legislation that impairs contract obligations, according to a NYSUT press release. They sought the restraining order while the court considers the suit.
In addition, because management confidential employees and private contractors are exempt from the furloughs, the unions charge that employees are being treated unequally. UUP is taking other legal action as well, including filing an improper practice charge with the state Public Employment Relations Board. It argues that the furloughs violate the Taylor Law, which requires that the state negotiate terms and conditions of employment. UUP is also filing a grievance against CUNY.
Paterson announced the furloughs last week, as state officials failed to reach agreement on a budget to close a $9 billion deficit. He said the public employees' "sacrifice is only necessary because their union leadership has rejected all other reasonable attempts at compromise."
"The governor's statement is patently untrue," says Barbara Bowen, PSC president and an AFT vice president. "We have never been contacted by the governor's office, CUNY management or anyone else to discuss alternatives to furloughs, and have never been asked to reopen our contract."
"The state does not have the authority to walk away from the contract and throw SUNY into turmoil," says UUP president and AFT vice president Phillip H. Smith, especially "at a time when faculty are giving final exams and grading papers."
At the same time the suits were being filed, PSC and UUP members turned out in the hundreds to angrily protest in the streets. They were joined by hundreds of New York State Public Employees Federation members at numerous sites around the state. PEF is also preparing to take legal action against the furloughs.
"This order at least temporarily spares our members across the state from having their salaries slashed by 20 percent, and stops the governor from inserting the furlough proposal in future emergency spending bills," says Smith.
"This restraining order affirms our contention that the furloughs are unconstitutional, and we are confident we will also win the lawsuit."
Representative George Miller, Chairman of the House Committee on Education and Labor, has introduced an amendment to the America COMPETES Reauthorization Act of 2010 that would require public institutions who have employees represented by labor unions and receive the public research funds covered by this Act to respond to union information requests in a timely manner or risk losing those research funds. We're posting a letter of support from President Weingarten of the AFT below - the full House [updated: original text read Committee] will be voting on this amendment today, so we'll hopefully have some positive outcome to report in the days ahead!
May 12, 2010
The Honorable George Miller
Chairman
Committee on Education and Labor
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20515
Dear Chairman Miller:
On behalf of the 1.4 million members of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), I write in strong support of your amendment to the America COMPETES Reauthorization Act of 2010.
The underlying bill seeks to maintain vital federal support for the next generation of American scientists and to ensure that our universities remain world-class centers of excellence in scientific research. This goal cannot be achieved unless we support the graduate students, staff researchers and postdoctoral scholars who are in our universities today, and treat them with the respect they deserve. While this group is composed of highly trained and highly skilled professionals, they are among the lowest-paid members of the university community and often perform their duties under difficult working conditions. Too often, this drives many of these talented people away from a career in science, at a time when we should be doing everything we can to keep them on this path.
Your amendment would support these workers by guaranteeing that, when scientists choose to represent themselves through collective bargaining to gain fair pay and better working conditions, they're able to get access, on a timely basis, to the information to which they're legally entitled. This will help expedite negotiations, facilitate mutual agreement on collective bargaining contracts and, ultimately, enhance the scientific work being performed at many of our public universities, since they will be better able to retain world-class talent in their workforce.
Thank you for your leadership on this important issue.
As we reported earlier, Michigan is a hotbed of higher ed organizing activity this spring. Now, the fruits of those efforts are starting to blossom--in some gardens.
Eastern Michigan University and the EMU Federation of Teachers have announced jointly that they have reached an agreement on the makeup of the bargaining unit of some 500 adjunct teaching instructors at the university. The instructors have petitioned the Michigan Employment Relations Commission to hold an election this spring. (EMUFT already represents the full-time lecturers.)
The tone of the university's statement is heartening:
"This agreement will give an additional estimated 500 teachers the opportunity to elect a collective bargaining representative and join our many valued teaching faculty who are already represented," said Jack Kay, EMU provost and executive vice president.
"Eastern Michigan highly values the important contribution our adjunct teaching instructors make to the education of our students. We support their right to organize, and to exercise their right to choose their bargaining representative.
"We value the strong, collaborative working relationship that we have with our many unions on campus, including the EMU Federation of Teachers, who would represent our adjuncts if elected. We look forward to building on that tradition of collaboration."
"We appreciate the collaboration of President Susan Martin and Provost Jack Kay, and look forward to working with them through the election," said EMUFT representative and part-time math instructor Paul Horvath.
Contrast this with the position of the administration over at Central Michigan University, where a similar group of nontenure-track faculty is trying to convince the university to give them an inclusive unit definition. The administration has dug in its heels and turned a deaf ear to appeals that have been coming in this week.
Perhaps a few of the sensible folks from EMU might consider heading up to Mt Pleasant and telling President Ross and the CMU administration that they don't need to be so afraid of workers exercising their rights.
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