The Chronicle: Professors and Picket Signs: When a Strike Seems Like the Only Choice
On the day before classes were set to begin for the current semester at Oakland University, near Detroit, months of negotiating had yet to yield a new contract for faculty members. So the campus chapter of the American Association of University Professors did what it has typically done when negotiations go down to the wire: The members voted on whether to strike.
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Posted in Strikes & Labor Disputes
Tagged Michigan, Oakland U, Strikes & Labor Disputes
Inside Higher Ed: Friending a Strike
When Oakland University, in Michigan, and the union that represents 600 of its faculty members failed to reach labor agreement last week, the professors went on strike and the university shut down — while representatives from the opposing sides went behind closed doors in downtown Detroit to negotiate. At the same time, a much larger and more eclectic group began discussing the issue in a space that had no doors — just walls.
Facebook walls, that is. Faculty officers from the Association of American University Professors (AAUP) created a group on the popular social networking site and began posting updates on the negotiations. They also started using the union’s Facebook fan page to post fliers, press releases, and links to media coverage of the strike. Supporters began leaving messages on the page’s comment wall. Others started chattering on the wall of the university’s official fan page. Soon, a student group devoted to the strike appeared on the social networking site and quickly acquired more than 300 members. Then a Twitter hash tag. Then another. Then a Flickr account. Then a YouTube channel.
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Tagged Facebook, Oakland U, Strikes & Labor Disputes, Twitter, YouTube
Detroit Free Press: Judge orders Oakland University, union back to table
An Oakland County Circuit Court judge has ordered round-the-clock negotiations between Oakland University and the American Association of University Professors.
If the sides can’t reach an agreement by 10 a.m. Thursday, Judge Edward Sosnick said, he will hold a court hearing on the university’s request for a preliminary injunction. The university has called the strike by its faculty “illegal” and said it has caused “irreparable harm” to students and parents.
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Posted in Strikes & Labor Disputes
Tagged Legal issues, Michigan, Oakland U, Strikes & Labor Disputes
Detroit Free Press: Oakland University, union meet with judge on strike
Representatives for Oakland University and the American Association of University Professors are talking with Oakland County Circuit Court Judge Edward Sosnick behind closed doors this morning in an attempt to settle the labor dispute that has now canceled classes for a fourth day.
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Tagged Legal issues, Michigan, Oakland U, Strikes & Labor Disputes
The Chronicle: Oakland U. to Ask Judge to Order Striking Professors Back to Work
Administrators at Oakland University, the Michigan institution where classes have been canceled since
Thursday because of a faculty strike, plan to ask a state judge to order professors back to work. The university’s chapter of the American Association of University professors said on its Web site that, a few hours before dawn today, talks held over the Labor Day weekend yielded a settlement agreement that the union’s bargaining team has “no authority to sign.” Negotiators for both sides will meet with a state mediator this afternoon.
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Posted in Strikes & Labor Disputes
Tagged Legal issues, Michigan, Oakland U, Strikes & Labor Disputes
The Chronicle: Faculty Strike Shuts Down Michigan’s Oakland U.
The first day of the fall semester at Oakland University was marked today by the start of a faculty strike that forced the 18,000-student public college in Michigan to cancel classes indefinitely.
The Oakland University chapter of the American Association of University Professors, which represents roughly 600 faculty members, has been in contract talks with the university since mid-May. Among the sticking points are workload issues, how to include the institution’s medical school in the contract, the elimination of some health-insurance plans, no new salary increases, and cuts in summer pay, the union said.
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Detroit News: Oakland University negotiators still at table
President’s ’08 pay hike, then freezes, at issue
Faculty negotiations at Oakland University are beginning to heat up as the professors’ Aug. 14 contract is set to expire.
And if history is any indication, negotiations will likely come down to the last minute, possibly narrowly averting a professor strike hours before students begin fall classes, similar to the last contract talks in 2006.
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Posted in Salary/Economic Benefits
Tagged Oakland U, Salary/Economic Benefits, University presidents
Daily Tribune: Pay freeze irks OU faculty, employees
Executive administration received salary increases last year.
An Oakland University press release regarding salary freezes has shocked university faculty and employees in light of recent information they gathered concerning sizable executive administrative salary increases in 2008.
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Posted in Salary/Economic Benefits
Tagged Oakland U, pay freeze
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