The thirty-member group, of which I am a member, DID sign their names to the publicly circulated letter that Jason Ryan references. To say that members of that group "elected not to sign their names to the association emails" is misleading and connotes that we wished not to be identified. The fact that we signed the letter is evidence to the contrary. We did not see the need to attach 30 names to each email.
The UCHC Faculty Association was not "backed by the National AAUP," at least not financially. They did provide information and advice. They neither ran nor funded the campaign. There have not been nor will there be "outsiders" involved other than in an advisory capacity. The union organization consists of the faculty. All committees, including the negotiating team will consist of faculty.
Again, the National AAUP is NOT providing funding. Funds available to is will have to be collected as dues from the membership. As for the dues, it is the case that the "union" will set them insofar as WE ALL are the union. The amount to be collected will be decided by FACULTY. I certainly do agree that everyone must participate.
As for the specific suggestions made, I disagree that we should hold "internet meetings" or discuss issues by blogging "instead of meeting in person." Certainly, internet resources, such as those set up on the UCHC AAUP web site can and will serve as an important adjunct to meeting in person. Discussing important issues face-to-face is essential. As for having "free time" to attend meetings, well, it's a matter of priorities. I certainly don't have "extra" time available but I have, do, and will MAKE time to participate. I suggest that we all find a way to do that. Keep in mind that the meetings that have been scheduled for next week are just the FIRST of many to come.
As to video recording of the meetings, perhaps that can be arranged but there are currently NO FUNDS available to pay for such a service. In fact, we have available exactly the amount that the National AAUP poured into the campaign, namely $0.00. Perhaps the administration will cover the fee for video communications to record the meetings. Perhaps Jason Ryan would be willing to make that request.
As a final note, we now have a union. It will take widespread and diverse participation by the faculty in order for it to be successful. There is currently NO GROUP that has the authority to make decisions on behalf of the union. The 30 of us (including David Dorsky) who signed the letter Jason Ryan referenced have no special standing. The group that will have authority to negotiate on behalf of the faculty (with decisions ratified by the faculty) must be elected. All of this will be discussed at the meeting and the "next steps" have already been communicated to all and are available for you to read on the UCHC AAUP web site.
There is no grand conspiracy here as the tenor of Jason Ryan's memo suggests. Taking uninformed pot-shots is neither desirable nor constructive. Please take the time to get the FACTS. Please participate. The AAUP union is US folks!
Les Bernstein
At 09:57 AM 11/25/2009, Ryan,Jason wrote:
Dear Colleagues:
I am writing to solicit your support in making two important changes to the upcoming union meetings:
We have the technology to do this at UCONN. It is done every week for medical grand rounds ( http://mediasite.uchc.edu/Mediasite41/Catalog/pages/catalog.aspx?catalogId=a4c52db4-bb58-46e4-8d78-796c73c76f89 ). Many faculty members will be unable to attend next week. We have faculty spread out from Simsbury to Farming, in clinics, labs, and operating rooms. To include only those who can make the meetings in person will exclude far too many of us from such a vital task. At a minimum, the meetings should be transcribed, and conducted with PowerPoint slides that can be posted online.
- The union organizational meetings next week should be video recorded and posted online.
Instead of a meeting in person, we can set up a blog. Groups (such as the critical constitutional writing group) can post thoughts and replies as they build consensus. Voting can be done via email. This will allow everyone to be involved, not just those with free time to attend meetings.
- Man of the future meetings should be conducted via the internet.
I have made both of these requests to David Dorsky, who heads the AAUP Faculty Association. This is the 29-member group, backed by the national AAUP (http://www.aaup.org/aaup), that has been sending us emails from @info.aaup.org. The other members are listed below. They have elected not to sign their names to the association emails but I feel we must know who they are since they are organizing the union for now. Speaking for the group, Dr. Dorsky tells me the above requests cannot be honored due to lack of resources. Essentially, he says they lack the time to arrange these things. I find this hard to believe given all the effort that went into the unionization vote. Plus, the national AAUP has large resources to devote to this effort.
As we saw with the polling last week, every vote counts. Participation must be maximized or a small group will end up representing all of us. Remember that the union will set dues which are mandatory. These may result in a decrease in our salaries of up to several thousands of dollars per year. If the union is effective, there will be a return on this investment. But we all need to participate.
Please reply to this email or directly to the AAUP Faculty Association members if you would like to see the above changes implemented.
Respectfully,
Jason Ryan
AAUP Faculty Association Members
David Dorsky, MD (apparent head and organizer; he and Sandra Hewett replied to my requests for information)
Sandra J. Hewett, PhD
Leslie R. Bernstein PhD
Santhanaman Lakshminarayanan, M.D.
Michael Abeles, M.D.
Duck O. Kim, D.Sc.
Bruce J. Mayer, Ph.D.
Shigeyuki Kuwada, Ph.D.
S.J. Potashner
Marion E. Frank, Ph.D.
Douglas L. Oliver, Ph.D.
John H. Carson, PhD
Don Kreutzer, Ph.D.
Ulrike Klueh, Ph.D.
Richard R. Lindquist, MD
Bruce A. White, PhD
Joel S. Pachter
Manika Das, Ph.D.
Audrey R. Chapman, PhD
Gloria Gronowicz, Ph.D.
Kent Morest, M.D.
Stephen L. Schensul, Ph.D.
James Hewett, PhD
Lisa H. Conti, Ph.D.
Elisa Barbarese, Ph.D.
Joseph A. Burleson II, Ph.D.
David M. Waitzman, MD, PhD
David Gregorio, Ph.D
Jane A. Ungamack, Dr.PH.
Nilanjana Maulik, Ph.D.
Dipak Das, PhD
From: Faculty Meeting [ mailto:info@uchcaaup.org]
Sent: Tuesday, November 24, 2009 10:42 PM
To: Ryan,Jason
Subject: General Faculty Meeting
Dear Doctor Jason W. Ryan,
Now that the election is complete and the results are in, the process of organizing our faculty for the purposes of collective representation needs to be initiated. To begin this process, we are calling for a series of meetings to exchange information, solicit questions and comments and most importantly encourage the active participation of faculty in the steps leading to collective representation and bargaining.
The first meetings will take place on Tuesday, December 1, 2009 at 5:00 pm in the Massey Auditorium and Tuesday, December 8 at 7:00 am in the Keller Auditorium. At these meetings we will discuss the development of a constitution and the organization of medical clinical, dental clinical, research and education working groups to identify the concerns and needs of faculty and ensure that the constitution and the collective bargaining process reflects those concerns and needs.
This is now our organization and our opportunity to express ourselves for both our own issues and those of the institution. We need your involvement, no matter how you voted, to make this process work.
Participate in an agenda building working group. Sign up for a working group at the meeting or at Faculty Association WebSite
UCHC AAUP Faculty Association
MC-3401
Department of Neuroscience
University of Connecticut Health Center
263 Farmington Avenue
Farmington, CT 06030
Voice: (860) 679-4622
FAX: (860) 679-8766
email: Les@neuron.uchc.edu
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