In response to growing pressures on the rights of professional employees, the AFT, the Newspaper Guild-CWA and the Department for Professional Employees (DPE) of the AFL-CIO are joining forces to launch the Professional Rights and Opportunities (PRO) Network.

Speaking at the first PRO forum, held Wednesday (Oct. 23) at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., AFT vice president William Scheuerman said that a free press and a high-quality education system require that the professionals who work in these institutions have "a zone of professional independence and expression."

The zone of free expression in the news media, education and other fields has shifted over time, Scheuerman warned.Journalists, professors, engineers and other professional employees increasingly feel threatened by corporate influences in classrooms and newsrooms, technology used to monitor workers, and challenges to academic freedom and intellectual property rights.

The growing use of non-tenured part-time faculty in colleges and universities is also of concern.Since these academics have little or no job security and are non-tenured, they are not guaranteed the same academic freedom that has been traditionally granted to full-time professors.

Lawrence Soley, professor of communications at Marquette University and a speaker at the forum, detailed what he calls "leasing the ivory tower." Soley charges that priorities and research of physics and engineering departments are being influenced by large defense contracts; biology and chemistry departments by drug companies and biotech firms; and computer science departments by chip makers and software firms--a development that has led many universities to place the interests of business ahead of students and basic research.

The PRO also notes warns of proposed changes in FCC rules that would allow a newspaper and television station in the same market to have the same ownership.The FCC has blocked cross-ownership for 27 years but is now considering lifting the ban, a change that would have a dramatic impact on local news by eliminating diverse voices and opinions.

PRO activities will include periodic reports, model contract language, forums and suggested legislative and regulatory reforms.

The DPE will take the lead on coordinating the work of PRO as well as operating the network's Web site, http://www.dpe-pro.net/. [AFT press release/Jamie Horwitz]

[October 23, 2002]