An effort over four years in the making to unionize University faculty may have garnered enough support to become a reality next year — and could lead to changes in how future staff and academic decisions are made on campus.
“I think we have to yell louder,” University musicology professor Anne McLucas said of the move to organize faculty, whose interests she said have not been adequately addressed by the administration. “And yelling one by one doesn’t do anything.”@@http://directory.uoregon.edu/telecom/directory.jsp?p=findpeople%2Ffind_results&m=staff&d=person&b=name&s=McLucas@@
The process for unionizing faculty began in 2007 when a small group of professors contacted two national advocacy groups — the American Association of University Professors and the American Federation of Teachers — to assist them in organizing their peers and gaining collective bargaining rights on campus.
Following the request, the AFT conducted a series of surveys that indicated there was a solid level of support for unions across campus. Since then, the group of faculty has expanded to a formalized committee, known as United Academics University of Oregon, which has spent the past four years working to gain support from academic departments across campus.
“We’re at the point now that people are beginning to think there’s something wrong with this system,” McLucas said.
As it stands, faculty influence in deciding on the most pertinent issues on campus is primarily through representatives in University Senate, McLucas said. Included on the Senate, however, are also representatives from administration, which McLucas said is problematic.
“They’re all at the same table, and that table is owned by administration,” McLucas said. “Maybe it’s time to find something new.”
Important decisions that directly affect them are made regularly without faculty input, McLucas said, noting in particular growing class sizes, changes in health care benefits and unfair contracts for non-tenure track professors. A union, McLucas said, will give faculty a chance to have a voice in these decisions.
“A lot of people are reaching their wits’ end, and they need to have hope,” McLucas said.
Deborah Olson, who has worked on campus for 22 years as an assistant professor in the special education department, said that because she is nontenure track, her contract with the University never extends past one year. Olson hopes that through a union she can bargain for more job security and more transparency in how administration makes decisions on promotions and employee contracts.@@http://directory.uoregon.edu/telecom/directory.jsp?p=findpeople%2Ffind_results&m=staff&d=person&b=name&s=Deborah+Olson@@
These sentiments were shared by other non-tenure track professors, which universities around the country are relying on more and more to teach courses.
“I just want to be able to have a seat at the table,” Tina Boscha said of her goal in organizing a union.@@http://directory.uoregon.edu/telecom/directory.jsp?p=findpeople%2Ffind_results&m=staff&d=person&b=name&s=Tina+Boscha@@
Boscha has worked on a yearly contract as an adjunct instructor in the University’s English department since 2003. A yearly contract was an improvement, Boscha said, given that her contract used to be decided term by term.
“There’s times when you think, ‘I might not get this, what will I do?’ ” Boscha asked.
University leadership has decided to remain neutral on the issue, according to an email statement from the media relations department at the Office of the President. University Senate plans to hold open discussions about the issue and address it formally when Senate reconvenes in the fall.
“The 2011-12 Senate is committed to working hard on all of these vital issues,” University Senate President Robert Kyr said in an email statement.
McLucas hopes the faculty will have the makings of a formalized faculty union come winter term next year. It’s time, McLucas said, “to get faculty actively engaged in their own destiny.”