New Brunswick: Striking faculty to vote Monday on offer from St. Thomas University in N.B.

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The Canadian Press: Striking faculty to vote Monday on offer from St. Thomas University in N.B.

Striking professors at St. Thomas University in Fredericton were preparing to begin voting Monday on a final contract offer from the university as students waited anxiously to learn when they would return to class.

The union representing the faculty has recommended its members reject the deal before the Labour and Employment Board on Monday and Tuesday.

Dawn Morgan, a union spokeswoman, said she wants both sides to head back to the bargaining table.

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Posted in Strikes & Labor Disputes

New Brunswick: Student union urges St. Thomas professors to accept university’s offer

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Maclean’s: Student union urges St. Thomas professors to accept university’s offer

Student president says the faculty union’s disregard for students can no longer be tolerated

Student leaders at St. Thomas University in Fredericton say if striking faculty vote against a contract offer from the university next week, it will be viewed as a vote against students.

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Posted in Strikes & Labor Disputes, Students

New York: Time to arm BCC’s police

Posted on January 28, 2008 by | Comments Off on New York: Time to arm BCC’s police

Press & Sun-Bulletin: Time to arm BCC’s police
Virginia Tech, other attacks spur need for more protection

Broome Community College President Laurence Spraggs has a serious and controversial decision to make, but it might not be so difficult now that the board of trustees has expressed support for arming the campus police officers.

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Posted in Campus Life, Crime, Violence

Wyoming governor defends academic freedom

Posted on January 28, 2008 by | Comments Off on Wyoming governor defends academic freedom

Casper Star-Tribune: Gov: UW academic freedom suffers

Researchers and academics in Wyoming need latitude to present their ideas and opinions without fear of political retaliation, Gov. Dave Freudenthal said Friday.

Even lawmakers need to refrain from targeting UW programs and faculty members who espouse unpopular or controversial beliefs, he said.

“That’s hard,” Freudenthal said during a meeting with the University of Wyoming Board of Trustees. “The tradition has been that if you don’t like their book, we call for the faculty member to be fired.”

The comments came one day after the Legislature’s Joint Appropriations Committee failed to endorse a portion of Freudenthal’s budget earmarked for UW’s Ruckelshaus Institute of Environment and Natural Resources. The governor had recommended a $500,000 funding increase for the institute.

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Posted in Academic freedom

Key Legal Win in Adjunct Union Battle

Posted on January 28, 2008 by | Comments Off on Key Legal Win in Adjunct Union Battle

Inside Higher Ed: Key Legal Win in Adjunct Union Battle

Adjunct professors at Pace University — who have been engaged in a long fight to unionize and negotiate a contract — won a key battle on Friday when a federal appeals court rejected the New York university’s attempt to limit the size of the bargaining unit.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia upheld the actions of the National Labor Relations Board, which had ruled that the adjunct union should have as its members all instructors who met certain minimal teaching requirements (teaching three credit hours). The university had asked the court to restrict membership to those who met those requirements in at least one semester in any two of the previous three academic years — a request that would have eliminated adjuncts from union membership in their first two years working at Pace.

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Posted in Contingent labor, Legal issues

When universities suffer, the middle class notices

Posted on January 28, 2008 by | Comments Off on When universities suffer, the middle class notices

The Tallahassee Democrat: When universities suffer, the middle class notices

If the Board of Governors was just bluffing, if it only wanted to focus the minds of state legislators and parents of university students in this impending budget crisis, hiking tuition and capping enrollment would be a marvelously clever tactical ploy.

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Posted in Government

New Jersey: Printing Company Told Not to Print Issues After Newspaper Budget Freeze

Posted on January 28, 2008 by | Comments Off on New Jersey: Printing Company Told Not to Print Issues After Newspaper Budget Freeze


Montclarion Presses Stopped by Student Government
Printing Company Told Not to Print Issues After Newspaper Budget Freeze

The Montclarion, Montclair State University’s student-run newspaper, was prevented from publishing its first issue of the semester, due to a Jan. 22 budget freeze by its parent, the Student Government Association (SGA).

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Posted in Free speech, Students

UK: Hefce scheme encourages businesses to co-fund students

Posted on January 26, 2008 by | Comments Off on UK: Hefce scheme encourages businesses to co-fund students

The Guardian: Hefce scheme encourages businesses to co-fund students

The Higher Education Funding Council for England (Hefce) announced today it will establish an “employer engagement fund” with up to £105m over the next three years to push forward the government’s policy of getting businesses to co-fund students.

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Posted in Corporate University

Union Rates Increase in 2007 (barely)

Posted on January 25, 2008 by | Comments Off on Union Rates Increase in 2007 (barely)

Center for Economic and Policy Research: Union Rates Increase in 2007

For the first time in the past quarter of a century, in 2007 U.S. unions increased their share of membership among workers, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ (BLS) annual union membership report released today. Unions added about 310,000 members last year, raising the unionized share of the workforce to 12.1 percent from 12.0 percent in 2006.

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Posted in Unions

UK: Teachers pay strike looming

Posted on January 25, 2008 by | Comments Off on UK: Teachers pay strike looming

Sunderland Echo: Teachers pay strike looming

Schools across Wearside could be hit by industrial action if teachers decide to strike for more pay.

The National Union of Teachers say the Government announcement of a proposed 2.45 per cent deal is well below inflation and represents a pay cut.

Union executives meet next week to decide what steps to take, but industrial action has not been ruled out.

Ed Balls, Children, Schools and Families Secretary of State, announced the proposed rise, effective from September, saying it is fair and affordable.

Vince Allen, regional spokesman for the NUT, said the Government had earlier set up pay appraisals which would reassess teacher pay if the level of inflation went above three per cent.

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Posted in Strikes & Labor Disputes

The pedagogues are revolting

Posted on January 25, 2008 by | Comments Off on The pedagogues are revolting

The Economist: The pedagogues are revolting

Teachers want more; everyone else wants what they are having

AFTER a decade of generous pay rises, teachers found the three-year pay deal proposed on January 15th by Ed Balls, the schools secretary, distinctly underwhelming. On offer is 2.45% extra in 2008-09 and 2.3% in each of the following two years. This is far short of the 4% teaching unions had said they needed to keep pace with retail-price inflation—“in effect a pay cut”, growled Steve Sinnott, who leads the National Union of Teachers. His executive will be meeting to discuss the offer next week and he expects a “robust response”.

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Posted in Campaigns & Contracts, Salary/Economic Benefits

Central African unions strike despite resignations

Posted on January 25, 2008 by | Comments Off on Central African unions strike despite resignations

Reuters: Central African unions strike despite resignations

BANGUI (Reuters) – Unions in Central African Republic said on Saturday they would continue a general strike over civil servants’ salary arrears despite the resignation of Prime Minister Elie Dote and his government late on Friday.

Dote, who had been prime minister since 2005, announced his resignation as parliament was preparing to vote on a censure motion against him. Unions launched a general strike on January 2 to demand the payment of seven months of arrears in salaries to civil servants and teachers.

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Posted in Strikes & Labor Disputes

Tunisian teachers stage two-day strike

Posted on January 25, 2008 by | Comments Off on Tunisian teachers stage two-day strike

Magharebia: Tunisian teachers stage two-day strike

The General Syndicate for Secondary Education organised a strike by high school teachers throughout Tunisia on Wednesday and Thursday. The union protested what it calls the Ministry of Education’s politically-motivated actions against teachers.

Tunisian high-school teachers went on a two-day strike this week in response to a call from their union to protest actions by the Ministry of Education. In a message to its members last week, the syndicate asked that teachers strike on January 16th and 17th “to confront the oppression and the injustice with which the Ministry of Education has dealt with the unionists in general, … to claim the right of employment and the unionist right, and to demand the return of those teachers who have been oppressively expelled and transferred”.

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Posted in K-12 issues, Strikes & Labor Disputes

Pittsburgh teachers get first look at contract

Posted on January 25, 2008 by | Comments Off on Pittsburgh teachers get first look at contract

Post-Gazette: Pittsburgh teachers get first look at contract

Pittsburgh Public Schools teachers will vote this week on whether to accept a contract that would raise the top-scale pay for a master’s degree from $73,500 last school year to $79,800 over three years.

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Posted in Campaigns & Contracts

Colleges to copyright electronic material

Posted on January 25, 2008 by | Comments Off on Colleges to copyright electronic material

Newsday: Colleges to copyright electronic material

Hofstra University and two other colleges, in negotiations with the Association of American Publishers, agreed to treat electronic educational materials with the same copyright principles applied to printed work, according to the association.

The agreement last week makes Hofstra, Syracuse University and Marquette University among the first schools to establish standards in conjunction with the association for faculty and staff use of digital materials, said Allan Adler, vice president for legal and government affairs for the association.

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Posted in Open access

New York: CCC, faculty at impasse over contract

Posted on January 25, 2008 by | Comments Off on New York: CCC, faculty at impasse over contract

AuburnPub.com: CCC, faculty at impasse over contract

A state report will try to do for Cayuga Community College and its faculty association what couldn’t be done in nearly four years: procure a retroactive contract for faculty members.

College faculty have been operating without a contract since 2004 and internal efforts to negotiate a new contract have ended at an impasse. To break the stalemate, both parties turned to the state Public Employment Relations Board to have an impartial arbitrator mediate a solution that might lead to a contractual agreement.

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Posted in Strikes & Labor Disputes

Oregon: Mediator enters contract talks at PSU

Posted on January 25, 2008 by | Comments Off on Oregon: Mediator enters contract talks at PSU

The Oregonian: Mediator enters contract talks at PSU

A state mediator stepped into stalled contract talks Friday between faculty and administrators at Portland State University.

Negotiations broke down in December over pay, workload and other issues, said Gary Brodowicz, president of the campus chapter of the American Association of University Professors.

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Posted in Strikes & Labor Disputes

Israel: Cost of lecturers’ strike estimated at nearly NIS 300 million

Posted on January 25, 2008 by | Comments Off on Israel: Cost of lecturers’ strike estimated at nearly NIS 300 million

Haaretz: Cost of lecturers’ strike estimated at nearly NIS 300 million

The empty campuses and classrooms during the senior faculty strike that ends Sunday cost the universities dearly. The state will pay an extra NIS 648 million for the agreement reached with the striking teachers, but with a possible junior faculty strike on the horizon the price could raise even more.

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Posted in Strikes & Labor Disputes

Michigan: Ford CC adjuncts talk union

Posted on January 25, 2008 by | Comments Off on Michigan: Ford CC adjuncts talk union

Detroit News: Ford teachers talk union
Drive moves to election stage for part-timers at college who seek better pay, working conditions.

DEARBORN — Part-time teachers at Henry Ford Community College hope to form a union this spring in an effort to gain higher wages and better working conditions.

Following a national movement to unionize among part-time faculty who increasingly teach heavier workloads for far less money than full-timers, adjunct professors formed an association last spring to explore unionization. The group is affiliated with the American Federation of Teachers-Michigan.

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Posted in Contingent labor, Unions

Pennsylvania: Kutztown president faces union test

Posted on January 25, 2008 by | Comments Off on Pennsylvania: Kutztown president faces union test

The Morning Call: Kutztown president faces union test
University faculty is considering a vote of no confidence.

Faculty union leaders at Kutztown University are moving toward taking a vote of no confidence in President F. Javier Cevallos, saying the quality of education has eroded and the state school’s status has declined since he took the helm in 2002.

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Posted in Faculty