During the Feb 4, 2013 Senate debate on the pros and cons of faculty
unionization, labor scholar and union advocate Monica Bielski reassured the audience that the chances of a faculty strike were extremely rare:
“The
assumption that collective bargaining is inherently adversarial is terribly
incorrect. When collective bargaining became the national law in 1935 with the
National Labor Relations Act, it was designed to build collaborative and
harmonious relations in the workplace. In instances where you see that break
down – and surprisingly in higher education there have been very few instances
of faculty strikes or faculty lockouts – it's because one or both parties is
acting in an unhealthy way.”
Despite these reassurances from faculty union advocates that faculty
strikes are very rare, and their assertions about how amicable and cooperative
union/administration relationships can be, we are already seeing a threatened strike up at UIC, where the union is less than two years old.
Of course, advocates will say a
strike is justified because of stubborn, unreasonable university negotiators
who refuse to give the union what it wants. But let's look more closely at what
the main sticking points are in the negotiations, according to the union’s website:
- A living wage, multi-year contracts and a real system of promotion for a high quality NTT faculty
- Faculty Control of Governance and Curriculum through the Senate, including expanding its role in budgetary decisions.
- A commitment to improve students’ learning conditions in classrooms, labs, and access to support.
- A compensation proposal that truly recognizes faculty taking furloughs and freezes in the past and moving forward is based on merit, responds to equity disparities and compression.
Let's
examine these demands in turn:
1. A living wage, multi-year contracts and a real system of promotion for a
high quality NTT faculty.
On this
campus, NTT salaries are above the national average. The option of
multi-year contracts for non-tenure-track faculty members is already reflected
in the EXISTING University of Illinois General Rules and promotion tracks for
NTT faculty are the subject of POLICIES ALREADY BEING DEVELOPED on our campus by the Provost’s office, after months of work by faculty governance leaders working with the administration. And
this was done without a faculty union, without union dues, without a strike,
and without a threatened strike.
2. Faculty Control of Governance and Curriculum through the Senate,
including expanding its role in budgetary decisions.
This
item belies the claim that unions will leave existing governance processes and
relationships in place. There is no need for them to be written into a contract,
and on this campus they generally are working very well. Where they are not, the Senate
has surveyed the situation and proposed actions to address any potential
problems. The issue of expanded faculty involvement with budget matters was a
major element in last summer’s Task Force report, with full support from
the administration. And this was done without a faculty union, without union
dues, without a strike, and without a threatened strike.
3. A commitment to improve students’
learning conditions in classrooms, labs, and access to support.
We see absolutely no reason why
this should be a union matter, given that union jurisdiction is limited to
salary and working conditions. Everyone wants to improve student learning and
support. But these are academic policy matters, not union matters. This demand
echoes the claim on the CFA web site that the union can:
. . . insist on better monitoring of the
progress of students through benchmarks, including not only admission, but also
rates of graduation in 4 and 5 years. We can insist on regular, clear summary
reports to the faculty on this issue. We can insist on clear benchmarks and
regular reporting on the hiring of underrepresented faculty.
We can also work on tuition. The recent sharp increases in tuition remain a barrier to increasing the number of students from underrepresented groups. Tuition rates are already so high that U of I is pricing lower-income and first-generation students (of all races and ethnicities) out of an education at UIUC. The effect is particularly pronounced on minority students, since their families are disproportionately of lower income.
We can also work on tuition. The recent sharp increases in tuition remain a barrier to increasing the number of students from underrepresented groups. Tuition rates are already so high that U of I is pricing lower-income and first-generation students (of all races and ethnicities) out of an education at UIUC. The effect is particularly pronounced on minority students, since their families are disproportionately of lower income.
No one denies the importance of
these issues. But they are academic matters to be controlled by the faculty
through the Senate and formal governance processes. This is a clear example
of the union seeking influence over matters outside its legally defined role.
4. A
compensation proposal that truly recognizes faculty taking furloughs and
freezes in the past and moving forward is based on merit, responds to equity
disparities and compression.
These salary matters are already being
addressed on this campus, after three years of faculty raises averaging over
4%, including specific targeting of internal and external equity concerns. (Notice
the great bragging by faculty union advocates about the 12 percent raise over
three years in the union contract at Oregon – minus dues, of course. We are doing much better here.) There is more work to be done, and the Senate Task
Force has addressed short-term and long term strategies to keep our salaries
competitive. And this was done without
a faculty union, without union dues, without a strike, and without a threatened
strike.
What would a strike mean? We want our colleagues to pay attention to the
language posted on the faculty union website up at UIC, and think about what it
would mean here (emphasis added):
Q: If a strike is authorized, who can go on
strike?
Anyone who is in the bargaining unit is
authorized to go on strike. If a strike does occur, you don’t have to be a
member or have voted in the strike vote to participate. Striking is a right of
every union represented employee regardless of official membership in the
organization. However, access to certain
legal defense funds and financial assistance programs offered by IFT/AFT/AAUP
are only available to members who have signed UICUF union cards.
Q: What would a strike look like for
faculty?
The bargaining committee can call a
short-term strike (between 1-5 days) or an indefinite strike, depending on the
circumstances of bargaining and on member input. If a strike were to occur, faculty would be asked to cancel classes
and support the union by picketing for a few hours each day of the strike. . . . .
Q: But what if I don’t want to do any of
those activities?
There is no such thing as being partially
on strike. Support of a strike means we do not report for work or perform work
duties for the duration of the strike. Each of us must decide what that means given the nature and scope of
work projects at a public research university. We do not have a “Get Relief
from Strike” card nor will we have a “snoop” squad to ascertain whether each
person adheres to a strict “no work rule.” In
the end, each of us must decide whether certain activities “give comfort” to the
administration. . . .
Q: Will my pay be docked for going on
strike? What about Insurance?
The University Administration has the legal
right to withhold pay during a strike. Technically
you can be docked for the days you do not work . . .
To ensure your bills are paid if you miss a
check, IFT-AFT has an interest-free loan program available for members who have signed
cards. Also, the IFT-AFT network of voluntary donations has raised thousands of
dollars in the past to support its striking sister locals. IFT and AFT members
and locals across the state and nation have been extremely generous when a call
for donations is made.
Q: Can the university use graduate students
to teach my classes while I’m on strike?
Graduate assistants and teaching assistants
are members of a union, the Graduate Employee Organization (GEO). Their
contract protects them from teaching load increases. We believe the university would have difficulty finding qualified
replacements for the time that we would be on strike. . . .
Q: I have federal grants that require me to
continue working. What should I do?
You may continue working on grant-funded
research that mandates you continue working—our strike is of labor contributed
directly to the university, with whose administrators we are negotiating. Classes, committee meetings and other
university functions are included in the strike.
Q: If a strike happens, what about my
access to university equipment?
Most employers in a strike situation will
block your access to employer provided resources. Make sure you have access to
a non-UIC e-mail address and computer. Remove
anything you’ll need from your office before the proposed strike date.
This language and strategy of strikes reflects the close advice the UIC faculty union is getting from the IFT and AAUP – the same groups advising faculty union advocates here. Local advocates have explicitly identified UIC as a model for how they want to organize. They like to bring in hand-chosen representatives from other unionized campuses to tell us how great life is with a faculty union. But UIC is the closest available parallel to what a unionized campus would look like here, the conflicts and difficulties it would encounter – and the kinds of strategies we would see invoked for action.
Do you want to work on a campus like that?
*** This
blog is a jointly authored project by two people who believe that the campaign for tenure-track
faculty unionization has damaged morale and divided our campus, and that a
faculty union, if ever established, would erode academic quality and undermine
our highly successful system of campus shared governance, which has earned
nationwide praise.
We speak for
ourselves. We have no organization behind us, we don’t ask for funding, we
don’t pay national hired guns to come in and make the case for us.
We want to
start a different campus conversation about faculty unionization, which we
believe will be more thoughtful and substantive when people have all the facts.
We
welcome and will consider postings from others expressing issues and concerns
about faculty unionization. We know that many faculty are very upset about the
possibility of working on a unionized campus.
If you see
any information here that is inaccurate, please tell us and we will correct it.
If you share
our concerns and want to help, please forward these postings to your friends
and colleagues, and urge them to do the same. ***
