Faculty at two campuses of Long Island University found themselves on picket lines at the start of the fall semester. First to go out was the Long Island University Faculty Federation/AFT (LIUFF), representing 250 full-time and 400 part-time faculty at the university's Brooklyn campus. After a 10-day strike, they settled and ratified a three-year contract on Sept. 12 by a 5:1 support ratio.

The C.W. Post Collegial Federation/AFT (CWPCF), representing 324 full-time faculty and librarians at LIU's Brookville, N.Y. campus, was on strike from Sept. 8-25. After a federal mediator stepped in, both sides were able to come to an agreement that union members ratified unanimously on Sept. 26.

At issue for both unions were administration proposals for no raises, workload increases and health benefit reductions coupled with cost increases. The university also tried to push through divisive measures in both contracts, pitting full-timers against part-timers on the Brooklyn campus and senior faculty against new hires at C.W. Post. The university also played hardball over salary increases, even though enrollments are up, tuitions have been hiked and the university "opened negotiations saying we're doing fine, financially," says Howard Kushner, CWPCF treasurer and a member of the negotiating team.

Despite a history of having to strike for fair contracts at both campuses, faculty were far from battle weary. "Solidarity was unbelievable," says Kushner. Students and the community came out to support striking faculty. "Administration put together a package that violated everybody's sensibilities."

"They finally got the message that we weren't going to buckle under," says Jordan Kaplan, LIUFF president. The federation's three-year contract provides raises in each year, a workload reduction from as high as 24 credit hours per academic year to an 18-hour standard. In addition, the union convinced the university to contribute to a benefit trust fund to help adjuncts pay for health insurance.

The contract for the CWPCF achieves the same standardization of workload. The union negotiating team had to fight back the university's attempt to get unlimited increases in class size in association with the nine-hour-per-term workload. Certain courses will allow an increase of up to 15 percent, says Kushner.

The team waged another battle over healthcare. The university has wanted new employees to pay 50 percent of the premium for a family plan. "That would have been $12,000 a year," says Kushner. Instead, the contract keeps premium costs the same for the first year. In the second year, members will pay 5 percent and in the third year, 7 percent. Salary increases are 3 percent, 4 percent and 4 percent for the three years of the contract, with .4 percent increases for longer-term faculty affected by salary compression.

The university is attempting to dock employees for the time they were on strike. At the Brooklyn campus, the union is grieving that issue. At C.W. Post, the amount of pay withheld from a striker is capped according to an arbiter's formula. Faculty plan to provide students with the instruction they need to be kept "whole" despite missed classes in September, says Kushner. [Barbara McKenna]

[October 3, 2003]