Tag Archives: Unions

Michigan State Nontenure-Track Faculty Go Union

Posted on June 3, 2009 by | Comments Off on Michigan State Nontenure-Track Faculty Go Union

FACE: Michigan State Nontenure-Track Faculty Go Union

AFT Michigan has added another notch to its belt, as nontenure-track faculty at Michigan State University voted by a two-to-one margin for representation. The new union, the Union of Nontenure-Track Faculty (UNTF), will represent 650 part-time and full-time nontenure-track faculty on MSU’s East Lansing campus. The mail-in ballot election was overseen by the Michigan Employment Relations Commission and the votes were counted May 29. The final tally was 240-113.

Email, RSS Follow

Comments Off on Michigan State Nontenure-Track Faculty Go Union

Posted in Organizing

Tagged , , ,

Zambia: Teachers in Southern province resolve to strike next Monday

Posted on May 12, 2009 by | Comments Off on Zambia: Teachers in Southern province resolve to strike next Monday

Lusaka Times: Teachers in Southern province resolve to strike next Monday

Teachers in Southern Province have resolved to go on strike when schools re-open for the second term on Monday.

Basic Education Teachers Union of Zambia, BETUZ,Acting Chairperson, Mwangala Dyaunka and Provincial Secretary, Basil Hibajeene, disclosed this to ZANIS in Mazabuka today.

The two union officials said the teachers resolved not to report to work in order to press government to expedite the conclusion of negotiations for increased salaries and improved conditions of service.

Email, RSS Follow

Comments Off on Zambia: Teachers in Southern province resolve to strike next Monday

Posted in Strikes & Labor Disputes

Tagged , , ,

Detroit: DPS officials meet with teachers’ union leaders

Posted on May 12, 2009 by | Comments Off on Detroit: DPS officials meet with teachers’ union leaders

Detroit Free Press: DPS officials meet with teachers’ union leaders

Detroit Public Schools officials met with city, state and national teachers’ union leaders in Washington, D.C. today, just weeks before contract negotiations are expected to begin in Detroit.

DPS Emergency Financial Manager Robert Bobb and his top academic appointee, Chief Academic and Accountability Auditor Barbara Byrd-Bennett, met with Detroit Federation of Teachers President Keith Johnson and American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten at AFT headquarters, according to district officials.

Email, RSS Follow

Comments Off on Detroit: DPS officials meet with teachers’ union leaders

Posted in Campaigns & Contracts

Tagged , , ,

Jackson Community College faculty union planning to picket board meeting

Posted on May 11, 2009 by | Comments Off on Jackson Community College faculty union planning to picket board meeting

The Jackson Citizen: Jackson Community College faculty union planning to picket board meeting

Jackson Community College’s faculty union plans to picket Monday’s Board of Trustees meeting to bring attention to its lack of a new contract and concerns about the number of full-time faculty on campus.

The board said Friday in a statement it was surprised by the JCC Faculty Association’s plans to picket and responded to what the union calls “major issues” dividing the two sides.

Email, RSS Follow

Comments Off on Jackson Community College faculty union planning to picket board meeting

Posted in Uncategorized

Tagged , , , ,

Florida State Grads Say Yes to the Union

Posted on May 6, 2009 by | Comments Off on Florida State Grads Say Yes to the Union

FACE: Florida State Grads Say Yes to the Union

When the ballots were counted this past Friday, it was clear that graduate employees at Florida State University wanted a union. By an overwhelming vote of 448-140, FSU grads voted in favor of the United Faculty of Florida being their sole representative for the purposes of collective bargaining. The new union, the FSU Graduate Assistants United, will represent 2,800 graduate employees.

Email, RSS Follow

Comments Off on Florida State Grads Say Yes to the Union

Posted in Organizing, Unions

Tagged , ,

Florida State graduate assistants OK union

Posted on May 4, 2009 by | Comments Off on Florida State graduate assistants OK union

Tallahassee Democrat: FSU graduate assistants OK union

588 out of 3,000 cast ballots; 448 vote for representation

Graduate assistants at Florida State University have voted overwhelmingly in favor of joining United Faculty of Florida, the statewide union representing higher education faculty and staff.

Only 588 of the approximately 3,000 eligible graduate students employed by FSU cast ballots during the two-day election, with 448 (76.2 percent) voting to have UFF represent them in collective bargaining. The election ended Friday afternoon.

Email, RSS Follow

Comments Off on Florida State graduate assistants OK union

Posted in Uncategorized

Tagged , , ,

Drawing Attention to Contingent Labor

Posted on May 1, 2009 by | Comments Off on Drawing Attention to Contingent Labor

Inside Higher Ed: Drawing Attention to Contingent Labor

Thursday was declared to be New Faculty Majority Day and featured events at many campuses, particularly in California, designed to draw attention to the poor working conditions faced by adjuncts. Also Thursday, the Modern Language Association released its Academic Workforce Advocacy Kit, which provides departments with summaries of relevant MLA reports, statistics and policies so that departments can work to educate campus leaders on issues related to the extensive use of adjuncts, frequently without adequate pay or benefits, and work to improve the way contingent faculty members are treated.

Email, RSS Follow

Comments Off on Drawing Attention to Contingent Labor

Posted in Contingent labor

Tagged , ,

Instructors Off Tenure Track Mark Today as ‘New Faculty Majority Day’

Posted on April 30, 2009 by | Comments Off on Instructors Off Tenure Track Mark Today as ‘New Faculty Majority Day’

The Chronicle News Blog: Instructors Off Tenure Track Mark Today as ‘New Faculty Majority Day’

Non-tenure track faculty members, on University of California campuses and elsewhere, are teaching their classes outside, holding rallies, and wearing red today in observance of the first-ever New Faculty Majority Day.

The point is to draw attention to the fact that most people who teach at colleges and universities nowadays work outside the tenure track, many of them part time and with no job security. Today’s “national day of action” gets its name from a newly formed coalition of contingent faculty members, The New Faculty Majority.

Email, RSS Follow

Comments Off on Instructors Off Tenure Track Mark Today as ‘New Faculty Majority Day’

Posted in Unions

Tagged , , ,

Labor Leaders Call for Collective Efforts to Reduce Reliance on Adjuncts

Posted on April 21, 2009 by | Comments Off on Labor Leaders Call for Collective Efforts to Reduce Reliance on Adjuncts

The Chronicle: Labor Leaders Call for Collective Efforts to Reduce Reliance on Adjuncts

The strain on university budgets from the economic crisis should serve as a catalyst for faculty unions and college administrators to build more mutual trust so they work together to reverse higher education’s reliance on adjunct labor, Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, said here on Monday.

Email, RSS Follow

Comments Off on Labor Leaders Call for Collective Efforts to Reduce Reliance on Adjuncts

Posted in Contingent labor

Tagged ,

New Idea on Grad Students, Unions at NYU

Posted on April 20, 2009 by | Comments Off on New Idea on Grad Students, Unions at NYU

Inside Higher Ed: New Idea on Grad Students, Unions

New York University has been the site of a historic breakthrough for the push to unionize graduate teaching assistants — and a bitter strike to preserve the union, which ended in failure, without collective bargaining. NYU administrators are now floating an idea that would give graduate students the right to join the university’s adjunct union.

The idea is linked to improvements NYU is considering in doctoral students’ funding packages. Currently, students receive five years of support, but some of the support is linked to teaching for two or four semesters. The NYU plan would end the teaching requirement. Graduate students would still be encouraged to teach, but any teaching assignments would be paid on top of their fellowships. For those assignments, they would be treated as adjuncts, and covered by NYU’s adjunct union.

Email, RSS Follow

Comments Off on New Idea on Grad Students, Unions at NYU

Posted in Organizing

Tagged , , , , , ,

Yale and UNITE HERE Agree on Three-year Contracts Nine Months Early

Posted on April 16, 2009 by | Comments Off on Yale and UNITE HERE Agree on Three-year Contracts Nine Months Early

Yale U OPR: Yale and UNITE HERE Agree on Three-year Contracts Nine Months Early

UNITE HERE President John Wilhelm, Yale President Richard C. Levin, Local 34 President Laura Smith and Local 35 President Robert Proto announce tentative agreement on new labor contracts.

New Haven, Conn. — Yale University and UNITE HERE Locals 34 and 35, the two major unions representing Yale employees, have agreed on new three-year contracts more than nine months before the expiration of their current contracts. The new agreements will take effect January 2010 and cover 3,400 clerical and technical employees in Local 34 and more than 1,200 service and maintenance employees in Local 35.

Email, RSS Follow

Comments Off on Yale and UNITE HERE Agree on Three-year Contracts Nine Months Early

Posted in Unions

Tagged , , ,

Montana State U profs vote to unionize

Posted on April 16, 2009 by | Comments Off on Montana State U profs vote to unionize

FACE: Clean Sweep in Montana

The votes have been counted and the Montana State University-Bozeman faculty, tenure-track and adjunct, have made it clear that they want a union. With this vote, MEA-MFT, the state affiliate of the AFT and the National Education Association, now represents all faculty in the public colleges and universities of Montana. That’s what we call “union density”!

Bozeman Daily Chronicle: MSU faculty votes to join union

The faculty at Montana State University voted Tuesday for the first time in history to join a union.

The vote was close among tenured and tenure-track faculty n 168 to 156 in favor of unionization, or 52 to 48 percent.

Email, RSS Follow

Comments Off on Montana State U profs vote to unionize

Posted in Unions

Tagged , ,

Washington: Budget cuts revive AAUP chapter at WSU

Posted on April 13, 2009 by | Comments Off on Washington: Budget cuts revive AAUP chapter at WSU

Spokesman-Review: Budget cuts rekindle faculty group
AAUP advocates shared governance, protection of rights for members

Concern about budget cuts at Washington State University has prompted a resurgence of a national faculty rights organization on campus.

The American Association of University Professors, active in Pullman in the 1950s and 1970s, is recruiting members from among WSU faculty fearful of how the administration will respond to state spending cuts, according to applied statistics professor Rich Alldredge, president of the local chapter of the AAUP.

Email, RSS Follow

Comments Off on Washington: Budget cuts revive AAUP chapter at WSU

Posted in Organizing, Unions

Tagged , ,

Arbitrator Rules Against Prof Who Didn’t Want Extra Course

Posted on April 13, 2009 by | Comments Off on Arbitrator Rules Against Prof Who Didn’t Want Extra Course

Inside Higher Ed: Arbitrator Rules Against Prof Who Didn’t Want Extra Course

The University of Florida did not violate collective bargaining rules by requiring a professor to teach an additional course, an independent arbitrator has concluded. Florence Babb, an endowed professor and graduate coordinator of the university’s Center for Women’s Studies and Gender Research, challenged Florida’s decision to change her teaching load, saying her employment agreement stipulated that she would only be required to teach one course each semester. Given significant budget challenges, Florida officials increased Babb’s teaching requirements. Babb is now required to teach three courses over the spring and fall semesters, in addition to carrying out her duties as graduate coordinator for the women’s studies center. Ben Falcigno, an arbitrator who reviewed the case, based his decision on Babb’s 2004 appointment letter. The letter states that the “normal” course load for Babb would be two courses a year, but Falcigno concluded current budget constraints constitute “abnormal” conditions that allow the university to increase Babb’s teaching requirements. Babb was represented by the United Faculty of Florida, a statewide union affiliated with the National Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers. Pradeep Kumar, who represented Babb for the union, said the arbitration ruling is binding and won’t be appealed. Babb could not be reached for comment.

Email, RSS Follow

Comments Off on Arbitrator Rules Against Prof Who Didn’t Want Extra Course

Posted in Unions, Working conditions

Tagged , , ,

Scrutiny and Standards for Branch Campuses

Posted on April 9, 2009 by | Comments Off on Scrutiny and Standards for Branch Campuses

Inside Higher Ed: Scrutiny and Standards for Branch Campuses

The growing trend of North American colleges creating branches abroad threatens to erode the quality of higher education and to undercut the rights of faculty members, according to a statement issued Wednesday by the American Association of University Professors and the Canadian Association of University Teachers.

Email, RSS Follow

Comments Off on Scrutiny and Standards for Branch Campuses

Posted in Unions

Tagged , ,

AAUP Urges Faculty Role in Protecting Workers’ Rights at Overseas Campuses

Posted on April 9, 2009 by | Comments Off on AAUP Urges Faculty Role in Protecting Workers’ Rights at Overseas Campuses

The Chronicle: AAUP Urges Faculty Role in Protecting Workers’ Rights at Overseas Campuses

The American Association of University Professors and its Canadian counterpart jointly issued a statement on Wednesday calling on colleges with campuses abroad to protect the rights of overseas workers and give their faculty more say in planning foreign programs.

Email, RSS Follow

Comments Off on AAUP Urges Faculty Role in Protecting Workers’ Rights at Overseas Campuses

Posted in Unions

Tagged , ,

Vermont: UVM faculty plan budget-cut protest

Posted on April 6, 2009 by | Comments Off on Vermont: UVM faculty plan budget-cut protest

Fox 44: UVM faculty plan budget-cut protest

BURLINGTON, Vt. (AP) – University of Vermont faculty members who say a starvation diet is being imposed on the school’s academic programs are planning a “Let Them Eat Gruel?” budget-cut protest.

United Academics, the union representing most UVM faculty, says President Daniel Fogel’s plan to reduce staffing will result in an English department without courses on Charles Dickens, a Political Science department without courses in international politics and a civil and environmental engineering program at risk of losing accreditation.

Email, RSS Follow

Comments Off on Vermont: UVM faculty plan budget-cut protest

Posted in Budgets & Funding

Tagged , , ,

Florida: Faculty complaint exposes unrest at Chipola College

Posted on April 6, 2009 by | Comments Off on Florida: Faculty complaint exposes unrest at Chipola College

Tallahassee Democrat: Faculty complaint exposes unrest at Chipola College

MARIANNA — An obscure labor-law complaint filed by nursing professors at Chipola College has exposed simmering unrest among faculty members at the little campus in the tall-pine country of Florida’s Panhandle.

“They used to get paid the same for doing the same work,” said Tom Brooks, a Tallahassee attorney for the United Faculty of Florida. “Now they have to work a lot more to earn the same.”

Chipola faculty representatives say there’s “an ol’ boy network” that pays handsome salaries to an influential current state legislator and another former lawmaker who serve as roving ambassadors for the college president.

Email, RSS Follow

Comments Off on Florida: Faculty complaint exposes unrest at Chipola College

Posted in Legal issues

Tagged , ,

L.A. school board chief meets with teachers willing to accept pay cuts

Posted on April 6, 2009 by | Comments Off on L.A. school board chief meets with teachers willing to accept pay cuts

Los Angeles Times: L.A. school board chief meets with teachers willing to accept pay cuts

A top Los Angeles school district official is meeting this morning with teachers who are breaking with their union to support pay cuts as a way to avoid layoffs.

Board of Education President Monica Garcia will huddle with teachers from Miguel Contreras Learning Complex, just west of downtown, where more than 30 young or less experienced faculty members have received notice that they might lose their jobs at the end of the year. Delegations from other schools also are expected to attend.

Email, RSS Follow

Comments Off on L.A. school board chief meets with teachers willing to accept pay cuts

Posted in Salary/Economic Benefits

Tagged , , ,

Iraqi teachers’ struggle

Posted on March 30, 2009 by | Comments Off on Iraqi teachers’ struggle

Unionbook.org: Update on Iraqi teachers’ struggle

The Iraqi teachers Union (ITU) held its second national protest on 28 March 2009 with over 500 protesters. The ITU protest attracted Iraqi media, and support from Iraqi trade unions and civil society organisations such as the Association of Political Prisoners (victims of former regime).

The ITU protest carried the following slogans:

*Respect the Iraqi constitution.

*The ITU reject the Iraqi government interference in the internal affairs of the union and call on it to cease its undemocratic attempts to take control of the ITU.

*The union shall hold elections only under its internal rules and in the presence of judge

*Support civil society organisations. Allow them to do their job to strength democracy.

The ITU (please see statement below) is struggling along side the people of Iraq and other Iraqi sister unions to consolidate the principles foundation of democratic culture and thus is working to galvanizing and shape Iraqi public opinion against any breach or deviation from the Iraqi constitution and the rule of law. The union will stand firm against all attempts to turn the unions into tools in the hands of the executive and the ruling political power which are inspired from the culture of authoritarian regime that is still rooted in the heart and mind of the ‘champions’ of the current crisis facing the ITU.

Email, RSS Follow

Comments Off on Iraqi teachers’ struggle

Posted in K-12 issues

Tagged , , , ,