Workday Minnesota: Crookston, Duluth faculty reject contract offer
Faculty members at the University of Minnesota’s Duluth and Crookston campuses have voted to reject a contract offer.
The offer was turned down last week after an overwhelming majority of the Crookston faculty rejected the local provisions for the Crookston campus. The contract would have covered faculty at both campuses.
In its offer, the University had refused to drop a demand to give the administration authority to unilaterally change parts of the contract addressing Crookston-specific issues at any time, without faculty input, according to leaders of the faculty union, the University Education Association (UEA).
The offer also failed to adequately address other key contract issues for Crookston, such as tenure and workload. The University has indicated that it needs flexibility regarding the direction the campus goes in the future, said Mark Keränen, president of the Crookston UEA local.
The Crookston faculty, which unionized in February 2005, has been working under a stop-gap agreement that covered their salaries and gave them a grievance procedure. It expired July 1, 2006.
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