VOA: Zimbabwe Teachers Association Says Politics Hindering Wage Talks
Salary negotiations between the Zimbabwe Teachers Association and the government stalled this week after the government failed to send a representative to a meeting scheduled to take place on Wednesday, Zimbabwe Teachers Association sources said Thursday.
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Posted in Campaigns & Contracts
Daily Nation: Teachers’ 13-year patience runs out
6,000 tutors threaten to strike over promotions
More than 6,000 teachers have threatened to go on strike over a 13-year wait for promotion.
The A level teachers with P1 qualifications accused the government of giving preferential treatment to their untrained colleagues who, they said, earned twice their salaries and allowances.
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Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged Kenya, Strikes & Labor Disputes
PCC Courier: Cal State LA holds teach-in about cuts
The California Faculty Association and the Students for Social Justice/No Cuts Coalition presented a teach-in for California college students regarding recent budget cuts and enrollment fee increases Tuesday at Cal State LA.
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Posted in Budgets & Funding
CBC: NSCC teachers set strike date
Teachers and support staff at the Nova Scotia Community College have set Oct. 20 as a possible strike for its 930 instructors and support staff.
The Nova Scotia Teachers Union announced the decision in a news release Thursday evening in a move that could affect the education of 25,000 students at 13 campuses across the province.
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Posted in Strikes & Labor Disputes
Tagged community colleges, Nova Scotia, Strikes & Labor Disputes
CBC: Faculty calls president’s pension ‘obscene’
The outgoing University of Calgary’s president’s $4.5-million pension is “obscene,” says the faculty association in an open letter to the board of governors.
Harvey Weingarten’s controversial pension package, recently reviewed by Alberta Auditor General Fred Dunn, was the subject of a letter Wednesday from association president Anne Stalker.
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Posted in Salary/Economic Benefits
Tagged pension, Salary/Economic Benefits, U of Calgary, University presidents
The Chronicle: North Dakota State U. President Resigns Amid Uproar Over New House
North Dakota State University’s longtime president, Joseph A. Chapman, resigned on Wednesday amid mounting criticism over his expensive new presidential residence. State officials have called for an audit of the home-construction project, whose cost overruns have swelled the price tag to more than $2-million, compared with a target of $900,000
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Posted in Administration
Tagged North Dakota State U, resignations, University presidents
Inside Higher Ed: Union U
SILVER SPRING, MD. – Ethan is indeed a rare breed. Trotting through the administrative offices of the National Labor College on a recent Tuesday morning, the German Shepherd/Chinese Shar Pei mix is just about the only “worker” on campus who has yet to secure a contract with management.
“He works off of love and bones,” says Carol Rodgers, Ethan’s owner and the college’s associate provost for external relations.
Welcome to the National Labor College, where library visitors are greeted by a bronze sculpture of George Meany, the plumber turned A.F.L.-C.I.O. president who first envisioned the campus. But much has changed in the labor movement since Meany started building it up more than 50 years ago. Unions are at a crossroads, and many question how they will retool themselves for the 21st century. Membership fell to about 12 percent of the workforce in 2008, down from 20 percent in 1983 when comparable data first became available, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Press & Sun-Bulletin: BU coach Broadus placed on paid leave
Binghamton University basketball program in turmoil
Binghamton University men’s basketball coach Kevin Broadus was placed on paid leave of absence today in wake of a wide-ranging investigation into the basketball program.
Assistant Coach Mark Macon will assume the duties of head coach on an interim basis.
SUNY Chancellor Nancy Zimpher, who had directed University President Lois B. DeFleur to cooperate fully with a former judge’s investigation into allegations of misconduct, instructed her Wednesday to preserve all materials that may contain information relevant to the investigation. Zimpher also instructed the university by the close of business Thursday to forward a list of everyone on campus who may have information relevant to the investigation.
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Posted in Athletics
Inside Higher Ed: AFT Wants TIAA-CREF to Promote ‘Fair Labor’
The American Federation of Teachers Executive Council on Wednesday passed a resolution urging TIAA-CREF to take tougher stands in its investment decisions to promote “fair labor.” The resolution says that many companies in TIAA-CREF’s portfolio “routinely pay sub-poverty wages and suppress workers’ rights to organize and collectively bargain.” While TIAA-CREF has a fund that factors in social concerns of investors, the AFT resolution said that this fund is too narrow in what it excludes, and that a more expansive definition of socially conscious investing is needed to “promote the values and to meet all the financial needs” of AFT members whose retirement funds are handled by TIAA-CREF. A statement from TIAA-CREF defended its portfolio decisions, and called the company “a leader in advocating for corporate social responsibility.” The “socially screened funds and accounts give special consideration to companies’ environmental, social and governance records, and assess, among other things, employee relations, union relations, health and safety, and retirement and work/life benefits,” the statement said. Further, it said that in 2008, TIAA-CREF voted on management and shareholder proposals at more than 7,000 portfolio company meetings and that “we supported resolutions asking companies to disclose how they are addressing human rights issues.”
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Posted in Unions
Tagged AFT, fair labor, TIAA-CREF, Unions
AP: Iraq suspends university for politics
BAGHDAD — Iraq’s prime minister suspended classes and banned political activities at one of Baghdad’s leading universities following student protests on campus, a government spokesman said Wednesday.
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Posted in Government, Politics
Tagged Government, Iran, Politics, Protests, university closures
The Daily Camera: CU asks court to bill Ward Churchill $52,000 for case fees
The University of Colorado is asking for more than $52,000 from Ward Churchill to recover costs the school incurred fighting a lawsuit filed by the former ethnic studies professor.
The total tab, filed in Denver District Court last week, includes individual expenses ranging from $2 for courthouse parking to $22,095 for “in-trial video and visual exhibits.”
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Posted in Legal issues
Tagged CU, Legal issues, U of Colorado, Ward Churchill
The Chronicle: Kent State U. Says It Will Pay Bonuses to About 800 Professors
In a year when many college employees are going without raises or worse, more than 800 lucky faculty members at Kent State University will get cash bonuses, the result of an experimental incentive program the university started last year.
The bonuses are financed by a “shared success pool” based on how Kent State performs in three areas of strategic importance: freshman retention, external research support, and fund raising.
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Posted in Salary/Economic Benefits
Tagged bonuses, incentive pay, Kent State U, Salary/Economic Benefits
Daily Press: Sen. Tommy Norment wearing two hats for W&M: well-paid employee and powerful advocate in the General Assembly
WILLIAMSBURG – On July 1, 2008, state Sen. Tommy Norment boosted his state paycheck nearly tenfold with the stroke of a pen. That’s when he accepted a part-time faculty appointment with the College of William and Mary, his law school alma mater.
His annual salary for teaching two courses: $160,000.
That means Norment now wears two hats with regard to William and Mary: well-paid employee and powerful advocate in the General Assembly.
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Posted in Government
Tagged Conflict-of-interests, double-dipping, Ethics, Government, Salary/Economic Benefits
CaribbeanBusinessPR.com: UPR idled for full week due to general strike
he University of Puerto Rico system will be shuttered all week due to the planned general strike by island labor unions scheduled for Thursday to protest the dismissal of more than 16,000 government workers.
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Posted in Strikes & Labor Disputes
Tagged General Strike, Strikes & Labor Disputes, U of Puerto Rico
The Chronicle: Scholars’ Right to Keep Unpublished Work Private Is at Issue in Lawsuit
In a case with potentially major implications for scholars and publishers, a Stanford University professor who often serves as an expert witness against tobacco companies is fighting an effort by lawyers for the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company to obtain the manuscript of his unpublished and unfinished book on that industry.
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Posted in Academic freedom, Legal issues
Tagged Academic freedom, Legal issues, Stanford U, tobacco companies
Inside Higher Ed: Schwarzenegger Vetoes Limits on Administrators’ Pay
California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Sunday vetoed a bill that would have barred most salary increases and bonuses for executives at the University of California and California State University systems in bad budget years, such as this one. In his veto message, the governor criticized the measure as too broad and intrusive. “A blanket prohibition limiting the flexibility for the UC and CSU to compete, both nationally and internationally, in attracting and retaining high level personnel does a disservice to those students seeking the kind of quality education that our higher education segments offer. The regents and the trustees should be prudent in managing their systems, given the difficult fiscal crisis we face as a state, but it is unnecessary for the state to micromanage their operations.” The veto drew a sharp response from Sen. Leland Yee, sponsor of the bill and a leading legislative voice for closer oversight of the university systems. Yee noted that well compensated executives have continued to receive bonuses and raises even as the university systems face unprecedented budget cuts. “It is deeply disappointing that the governor wants to ensure top executives live high on the hog while students suffer,” Yee said. “The governor’s veto is a slap in the face to all UC and CSU students and the system’s low wage workers. His veto protects the UC and CSU administration’s egregious executive
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Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged California State U, Salary/Economic Benefits, U of California, University presidents
Inside Higher Ed: History, But No Smoking Gun
COLLEGE PARK, Md. – Undergraduates here announced on Friday the findings of their year-long study to uncover the University of Maryland’s slavery ties, discovering no evidence that slaves built or worked at the institution, even though many of its founders were themselves slaveholders.
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Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged salvery, U of Maryland
Inside Higher Ed: Organized Against Labor
In the last few years, a conservative legal organization has filed complaints and extensive information requests to at least 11 colleges and universities with regard to labor centers that conduct research about and offer programs for unions.
The American Association of University Professors, which has tracked the complaints, issued a statement about them Friday, charging that they are an attempt to violate the academic freedom of the academics who work in these programs.
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Posted in Unions
The Guardian: Oxford University’s global standing at risk
Outgoing vice-chancellor says university budgeting to make loss for fourth year
Oxford University faces “grave” risks and needs more than £1bn investment in the next decade to bring its “unfit for purpose” facilities up to a world-class standard, the institution’s outgoing vice-chancellor warned today.
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Posted in Budgets & Funding
Tagged Budgets & Funding, Oxford U
The New York Times: Authorities in Iran Arrest 18 Students
Iranian authorities arrested 18 student leaders in Tehran on Friday in a crackdown on demonstrations, which flared up at two universities as classes resumed this week.
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