University administration offered to meet with Departments to answer questions as to what would happen if the union was elected. Some Departments have taken them up on their offer while many have not. As a part of these meetings, certain supposed facts were cited both orally and in print concerning the nature of collective bargaining. In this communication, we will address these facts from our perspective:
UCHC Administration Fact: The State Labor Board has determined that Academic Freedom and Responsibility provisions in higher education are not mandatory subjects of bargaining.
AAUP Response: Academic Freedom is not a mandatory subject of bargaining but it was developed by the AAUP and, as part of a national agreement with associations of colleges and governing boards, it is incorporated in many bylaws of institutions, including the University of Connecticut. UConn, Storrs AAUP contracts require that the article on academic freedom is honored and enforced.
UCHC Administration Fact: The last year, the National AAUP reported spending less than 2% of their total budget on Political Activities and Lobbying.
AAUP Response: The national AAUP has a government relations program, but no political action.
UCHC Administration Fact: By State law, all employees in a bargaining unit are required to pay to the Union an amount equal to the regular dues, fees and assessments that a member is charged. Service fee payers, i.e. those who do not pay for full dues [because of ideological causes not in line with the views of the payer—parens ours] are considered by the AAUP to have "limited membership and are not permitted to have voting rights nor shall they hold office or participate in any AAUP activity having to do with collective bargaining."
AAUP Response: The UConn, Storrs AAUP faculty have determined that each member will pay .9% of their salary as union dues. That means that if an individual faculty member has a salary of $100,000, that person's dues would be $900 per annum. At New Jersey Medical School the faculty decided the dues would be less than $20.00 per pay period, with 26 pay periods per year. If a faculty union is elected, the amount of dues and the use of the dues would be determined by UCHC faculty. The dues could be utilized for staff positions such as director of the chapter and a support person as well as for office rental and legal representation.
The prime business of the union is to represent collective and individual faculty and to negotiate with UCHC administration for all aspects of a positive work environment. Faculty who choose not to be actual members are entitled to a rebate for that share of their dues (agency fee for non-members) which is not attributable to the cost of negotiation and administration of the contract. They can vote for a collective bargaining agreement but cannot vote for union officers. Very few of the small number of non-members at Storrs actually request the rebate.
The ability to have an effective organization that represents faculty requires financial resources. In turn those resources are committed to the well-being of faculty and the institution. Since all faculty will benefit, it would be unfair if some faculty had the choice to not pay a portion of dues and yet would still benefit from its efforts. Even more to the point and as UCHC Administration states, the requirement to pay dues when there is collective bargaining is State law.
UCHC Administration Fact: The UConn, Storrs AAUP has made concessions this year and in other years.
AAUP Response: The UConn, Storrs AAUP has agreed to concessions when it meant that the health of university was at stake. The AAUP is proud of its efforts to ensure that students are not victimized and that members are protected, even as the contract protections must sometimes be modified by membership agreement for the larger good. However, in negotiation with University administration, concessions were structured so that faculty would receive the same or larger increases in the next year; in addition the concessions were coupled with job security. In contrast, UCHC Administration unilaterally chose to not provide faculty with raises over the last two years with no faculty negotiation.
UCHC Administration Fact: Karen Duffy Wallace states (as referred to in the blog of Dr. William Mohler) that, salary increases must be frozen until negotiations are complete (up to 18 months) if the vote is for unionization.
AAUP Response: Merit raises issued or negotiated prior to the call for an election would be required to be addressed. However the issue is moot since the UCHC administration has not provided any merit increases in the last two fiscal years. The AAUP has urged the administration to pay out the now delayed promotion increases, and notes that matters of delayed compensation and equity can and should be the first matter of negotiations. Further, it is expected that after the election of the union, the collective bargaining negotiation would begin in January 2010. There is every reason, other than purposeful UCHC administration delay, to believe that a collective bargaining agreement can be achieved quickly.
The UCHC AAUP Faculty Association
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Visit www.uchcaaup.org FAQ to read AAUP is a No Strike Union
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