PrintWashington state faculty get collective bargaining
On April 4, Gov. Gary Locke signed into law a collective bargaining bill that should launch a new era of higher education organizing in Washington state. The bill, sponsored by a coalition led by the Washington Federation of Teachers, brings in the last group of faculty who had been left out in the nonbargaining cold. They are those 8,000 or so who teach in the state's public four-year and research institutions and are defined as "faculty" by their specific institution's faculty code or other internal documents.
The bill's progress as it wended its way through the legislative process had moments that mimicked a Grade-B adventure flick. No sooner had the bill triumphed over one calamity than it turned the corner to meet the next. The climax came after the carefully crafted bill passed through the House. In the Senate, which earlier in the week had passed a collective bargaining bill for teaching assistants at the University of Washington, S.B. 6440 met its poison--a last-minute amendment that would force faculty to choose between having collective bargaining or shared governance--but not both.
This amended bill passed, thus putting its champions in the possible position of having to ask the governor to veto it.
Undaunted, the bill's advocates consulted with legal experts, called out the masses of supporters among the WFT and Washington Education Association groups, the labor unions and the faculty senates, and figured out a way for the governor to strike the offensive language from the bill and sign it.
Making the law a reality required acts of both faith and courage, says Sandra Schroeder, WFT president. "I think no one thought this bill would make it. It had been failing for the past 40 years." What started the ball rolling was the last election, which gave the edge to Democrats in both houses of the state Legislature, adding to the clout of the Democrat in the governor's mansion.
This led to what Schroeder calls "the first historical moment," when the bill was "dropped" in January. Behind it was a coalition of the six university administrations, the six faculty senates and the two unions--the WFT and the WEA. In past years, the unions had had to file bills that lacked the involvement and support of the University of Washington.
This year, WFT legislative director Wendy Rader-Konofalski got wind that the UW faculty senate was working on its own bill, having had its interest piqued by the teaching assistants' union organizing campaign. She brought the WFT to work together with the faculty senate. The final bill had to reflect the interests of the faculty at Eastern Washington University, where the union has voluntary recognition; at Central Washington University, where the unit could include counselors, librarians and part-timers; and of the faculty bodies at the other institutions.
The coalition succeeded. "This bill has all the bells and whistles it needs to be a perfectly functioning bargaining bill," says Rader-Konofalski. She also credits the contributions of the Washington State Labor Council, which made the two higher ed bargaining bills top legislative priorities.
"One thing we learned is how much people who don't have collective bargaining don't understand about it," says Schroeder. "It took a lot of educating to allow those who would benefit from the bill to become its advocates."
The next step? "We'll be organizing in the fall," Schroeder says.
U of I agrees to talk to graduate employees
The Graduate Employees Organization at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign achieved an enormous concession from the administration, which has been fighting the graduate employees' right to have a union for eight years. On March 13, after 50 GEO activists occupied the main administration building for a daylong sit-in, U of I provost Richard Herman agreed to an impromptu meeting with the union's leadership. At the end, the two sides emerged with an agreement to hold a series of meetings to determine who would be eligible to be in the bargaining unit and hold a representation election.
The day's events began before business hours when the GEO entered the Swanlund Administration Building, which houses the offices of the university president and system chancellor, among others. A block away, U of I trustees were arriving to begin a two-day board meeting.
The GEO is seeking the right to represent 5,000 graduate students who are employed as teaching and research assistants at the university. In 1996, authorization cards were signed by 3,200 graduate employees. The next year, 64 percent voted for a union. The university refused to recognize the union, maintaining that the employees were students and ineligible to bargain. In 2000, an Illinois appellate court ruled against the university on this point, but last year, an unfavorable unit determination ruling by the Illinois Labor Relations Board excluded 95 percent of the identified unit.
Stymied by legal maneuvers, but determined to achieve recognition, the GEO turned this year to job actions and continued demonstrations. Its goal was to convince the administration that, with the support of the community and even the state Legislature, the GEO was not about to give up its dream. The message got through.
"After nearly a decade of organizing, the university administration will be negotiating with the GEO for the first time," says GEO co-president Uma Pimplaskar. "This is a real tribute to the power of direct action and the unwavering dedication of hundreds of GEO activists over the years."
Florida faculty join the AFT
Put together 375 faculty who haven't had a pay raise in two years, a faculty senate that feels it is not heard, an administration that isn't interested and what have you got? The perfect habitat for cultivating a union.
Or so the full-time faculty at Florida Community College in Jacksonville came to believe. On April 4, they voted 201-132 to be represented by the Florida Community College Faculty Federation. The FCCFF is affiliated with the United Faculty of Florida, a statewide higher education unit, and the merged AFT/NEA state federation, the Florida Education Association.
Locals settle contracts in three states
Despite the fact that most states are dealing with large budget problems, AFT locals across the country have managed to make great gains at the bargaining table. Negotiating teams in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin hammered out agreements that not only protect the economic security of members and their families but also introduce innovations on other fronts. In some cases, negotiators just managed to pull their members back from the precipice of inevitable strikes.
In Pa., a whole new salary schedule
Full-time faculty, part-time faculty and classified units at the Community College of Philadelphia, represented by the Faculty Federation of CCP, came to tentative agreements the night before well-mobilized union members had planned to walk off the job. The agreements, which all were ratified in March, improve salaries and maintain health benefits without increasing premiums. Classified employees, with a unit size of 230, also will benefit from a new career ladder structure.
For full-time faculty, the big gain was "putting our math skills together with our political skills to negotiate a salary schedule where none had been before," says Karen Schermerhorn, co-president of the FFCCP. "We had to ensure that people with the same number of years of experience, same degrees and same rank would be earning the same thing by the end of the contract. Right now, there can be as much as a $12,000 discrepancy."
The five-year contract provides an average increase of 3.5 percent per year for the full-time unit of 425. It corrects a long-standing problem of inadequate starting salaries while also providing increases for those at the upper end of the scale by guaranteeing raises of at least $1,000 per year.
The part-time and visiting lecturers' agreement provides larger percentage increases to the adjuncts than the full-timers received--an important development, says John Braxton, co-chair of the part-time and visiting lecturers unit. "While we couldn't get the administration to say publicly that there is a parity problem, we did force them to recognize that they had to do something in this area for us to settle." As with the full-timers, this unit of 1,200 maintained its prorated medical, group life insurance and disability benefits. Also, the college agreed to limit its use of part-timers by creating a new visiting lecturer position when a department has 20 or more unassigned sections at the beginning of a semester.
The contract leaves part-timers feeling "both angry and proud," says Braxton. "We know what we've achieved is better than what is achieved at most community colleges, mainly because we've been unionized longer. So we're proud of that. But also, we're equally aware of how unfair [our situation] is and how far we need to go."
In negotiations, the college had sought hefty increases in health insurance premium co-pays. The union headed those off by getting the college to drop its expensive indemnity plan and merge other plans, while retaining the mental health benefits that members believe are essential.
Michigan grad employees chart childcare gains
After participating in a one-day work stoppage March 11, the Graduate Employee Organization/AFT at the University of Michigan bargained right up to the strike deadline wire--and prevailed on its primary issues: wages and benefits for members with children.
On March 18, the union came to closure with the university, which agreed to add three GEO members to a university committee charged with looking into childcare issues. UM also promised to commit $450,000 to act on the committee's recommendations. The university will increase its subsidy to parents--$1,700 per semester for the first child and $850 for the second and third.
The GEO, which represents approximately 1,600 graduate instructors, secured a minimum 8.5 percent pay increase over the life of the contract, which runs through January 2005. Pay raises are linked to the average increase of faculty in the School of Literature, Science and Arts. The union also was able to negotiate language on affirmative action and harassment--strike issues for members. For more details, visit www.geo 2002.org.
Wisconsin TAA wins domestic partner benefit concessions
The Teaching Assistants' Association (TAA) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison ratified its 2001-03 contract, securing a promise of close to 7 percent salary increases over the course of the agreement. The university also agreed to increase its contribution to the Child Care Tuition Assistance Program by 8 percent, an amount equivalent to the increase in childcare costs in Dane County over the past year. The TAA represents approximately 2,900 graduate employees.
The contract includes language ensuring that hourly project assistants who work the time equivalent of a one-third appointment will receive the statutorily mandated tuition remission the TAs receive. Also, the TAA negotiated for teaching and project assistants to have access to basic resources such as office space, a telephone and photocopier.
The state, which is facing harsh budget deficits, has yet to approve the contract and won't begin the process until the governor signs off on it. The last contract ended June 30, 2001, and the new contract's pay package will be retroactive to July 1, 2001, says Sandra Levitsky, TAA chief negotiator.
An important gain for the union, Levitsky says, is the inclusion of language providing domestic partner health benefits. The university offered to pay for the TAA's insurance reimbursement proposal and put its commitment to future support in writing. Despite the university's offer, the state refused to allow any state union to negotiate contract language relating to domestic partners. The university's support, however, is a breakthrough the union has been seeking for 10 years.
