Collective Bargaining

AAUP Amicus Brief Supports Collective Bargaining Rights

In June, the AAUP submitted a friend-of-the-court brief to the National Labor Relations Board on the question of whether faculty members at private colleges and universities who are seeking to be represented by a union are employees covered by the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) or excluded managers. In the case Point Park University v. Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh and Communications Workers of America, faculty members petitioned for an election and voted in favor of representation by the Communications Workers of America, Local 38061.

Chapters and Affiliates Settle Contracts

Five AAUP-affiliated collective bargaining units have recently reached agreement on new contracts.

No Choice but to Serve

During my thirty-seven-year career as a professor of English literature, I have learned as much from professional service outside my home institution as I have from my work as a teacher and scholar. Engagement with the Modern Language Association (MLA) and the Association of Departments of English (ADE) has both enabled my service at my home institution and awakened me to threats that neither the MLA nor the ADE can counter. Fundamentally, however, I am a teacher. I do research so that I have something to teach.

A Warm Welcome to New Members at Wright State

In October, full-time non-tenure track faculty at Wright State University voted overwhelmingly to have the Wright State chapter of the AAUP represent them in collective bargaining. The chapter has served as the collective bargaining agent for full-time tenure track faculty.

Bowling Green Faculty Fights Cuts, Negotiates Contract

The year 2013 got off to a tumultuous start at Bowling Green State University, where members of the AAUP-affiliated faculty union led protests against funding cuts and became involved in intensive—and ultimately successful—contract negotiations.

AAUP-CBC Hosts Regional Meetings

The AAUP-CBC held its Eastern Regional Meeting in New York City on February 23 and its Western Regional Meeting in Portland, Oregon, on April 6. The events were hosted, respectively, by the Professional Staff Congress of the City University of New York, an affiliate of the AAUP and the American Federation of Teachers, and the Portland State University AAUP chapter.

Organizing Cleveland State

Whew! It had been a trying day—a long slog of a day, and it never let up. Organizing faculty members— convincing them to get beyond their all-encompassing scholarship to support a collective political objective— was a daunting challenge. As an associate professor of political science, the president of the university’s AAUP chapter, and the driving force behind the unionization campaign at Cleveland State University, Rodger Govea knew he might fail. He shook his head, trudging from his AAUP office to his car; he had been on the front lines all day.

Organizing for Change

It’s been a little over a year since the Organizing for Change slate was elected to lead the AAUP. In running for office, we noted that higher education in general and the AAUP in particular are at a crossroads. We argued that higher education and our values are under attack, pointing to assaults on collective bargaining rights and shared governance, the continuing abuse of full- and part-time non-tenure-track faculty appointments, and the erosion of academic freedom for both students and the faculty.

Historic First Contract at University of Oregon

United Academics, a joint affiliate of the AAUP and the American Federation of Teachers, reached an agreement on a first contract with the University of Oregon administration in September. United Academics is a union representing over 1,800 faculty members and other academic employees at the University of Oregon.

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