UTF Solidary Forever! (to the tune of "Mine eyes have seen the glory of...")

Thanks to Erin Fox, CMU Art/Theater Dept. for the following adaptation of a traditional labor song. We sounded wonderful singing it together today!

Solidarity forever!

Solidarity forever!

Solidarity forever!

For we make CMU strong!

We're your teachers, we're your mentors, we assign the grades you earn!

The right to form a union is our number one concern!

Hopes for a better future will be realized when we learn

That we make CMU strong!

With the union's inspiration we'll negotiate health care

Not to mention job security and wages that are fair!

Which is why we're rallying here today to stand up and declare

The we make CMU strong!

We're so pleased that part-time faculty now have the right to vote!

President Ross and trustee members finally listened and took note!

They realized that temp faculty keep CMU afloat!

For we make CMU strong!

[reprise]

Don't miss this one!...a rousing chorus of "Part Time Worker" (to the tune of "Part Time Lover")...courtesy of AFT-MI Organizer (and beloved Motown Diva) Lynn Marie Smith! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2d_Ourmq0J4

Here's more coverage of CMU's big day! http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Union-of-Teaching-Faculty/115082651853728

Sing On, Everyone!

Details on CMU's agreement: planned 6/30 protests turn into celebration!

What a great rally, everyone! The show of solidarity in Mt. Pleasant today was wonderful -- we're so happy for you all!
June 30, 2010
[pictures & video at http://bit.ly/ausSDg]

MOUNT PLEASANT, MICH.—Following four months of negotiations, Central Michigan University and the American Federation of Teachers have agreed on which nontenure-track faculty members will be recognized as members of a potential new bargaining unit. The adjunct faculty and their supporters, who had planned a protest rally for today, will still hold a rally at 11 o’clock this morning near the library on the Mount Pleasant campus to celebrate the agreement.

Under the agreement, nontenure-track faculty who teach quarter time or more, with some exceptions, are eligible for representation.

“The process that resulted in this agreement took time, as the administration and the union gathered all of the information necessary to craft an agreement that both parties found acceptable,” said AFT Michigan President David Hecker. “What counts is that we were able to reach this agreement. We look forward to a successful election and to joining with the administration to further enhance this great university.”

CMU was notified in early March by the Michigan Employment Relations Commission that nontenure-track faculty had filed for union certification.

“We are ecstatic about the opportunity to vote for union representation, and we look forward to a collaborative relationship with President Ross and the CMU administration,” said Mary Ann Freling, an adjunct professor who has worked for two decades in the English department.

Ray Christie, vice provost for academic administration, said: “Central Michigan University has a long-standing and well-established positive relationship with collective bargaining units, and values the dedication, contributions and commitment of our faculty and staff toward the success of our students.”

A unionization vote will be scheduled as the next step in the process. CMU will withdraw its request with MERC for a hearing on the matter. Across Michigan, thousands of nontenure-track faculty have formed unions or are in the process of doing so, including faculty at the University of Michigan, Ferris State University, Henry Ford Community College, Wayne State University, Michigan State University, Eastern Michigan University and Western Michigan University.

_______________________________________

Jon Curtiss jcurtiss@aftmichigan.org

Organizer, AFT Michigan, AFL-CIO

(734) 358-7004

CMU adjuncts get an agreement!

Just in...this note from AFT Organizer, Chris Pomeroy, from CMU:

Hello All,


I am very pleased to inform you that an election agreement for non
tenured-track faculty at CMU has been reached! We have a signed agreement
on definition of unit and timing and type of election at CMU.

As a result of this wonderful news, we will no longer be demonstrating in
Grand Rapids on Wednesday. Thank you all for your commitment, without the
threat of your action this agreement may not have been possible!

Details will be forwarded as they are made available.

Apparently, a celebration is now planned in place of protests in Mt. Pleasant (main campus), too! Congratulations, CMU-UFT!!

Letter condemning adjunct firings at EWU!

Thanks to Peter D.G. Brown, SUNY New Paltz, for passing along (via the Contingent Academics list) the following copy of a letter sent to EWU's Chancellor! Let's keep up the pressure on EWU administration and get the word out to Philip Smith that we appreciate his support!

June 28, 2010

Chancellor Dr. Mohammed Wasiullah Khan
East-West University
816 South Michigan Avenue
Chicago, IL 60605

Dr. Khan:

As the president of the nation's largest higher education union, I wish
to convey UUP's strong condemnation of your precipitous action against
your adjunct faculty. UUP (United University Professions) represents
35,000 academic and professional faculty at the State University of New
York, including its adjunct faculty. We believe adjunct faculty deserve
to be protected just as much as full-time faculty.

It strains credibility to hear your spokesman say that the sudden
decision to send non-renewal notices to all of your adjunct faculty had
anything to do with the initiative by part-time instructors to form
their own union. Your actions appear to be an exercise in manipulation
and intimidation.

Employees have the right to organize to have their interests
represented as part of the collective bargaining process. To prevent
such an organizing effort is a violation of federal law as well as basic
human rights.

We strongly urge you to reinstate these faculty members immediately and
refrain from interfering with their ability to unionize. We also request
that you take no action to penalize any adjunct faculty member for their
role in the unionization drive.

We look forward to your prompt response and positive actions.

Sincerely,

Phillip H. Smith
President
United University Professions

To contact EWU administration:

Chancellor Dr. Mohammad Wasiullah Khan
chancellor@eastwest.edu
ph: 312-939-0111; fax: 312-939-0083

Provost Dr. Madhu Jain
madhu@eastwest.edu
ph: 312-939-0111; fax: 312-939-0083

NFM denounces termination of East-West U Adjuncts for trying to unionize

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: June 28, 2010


Akron, Ohio – New Faculty Majority: The National Coalition for Adjunct & Contingent Equity faxed a letter today to East-West University Chancellor, Dr. Mohammad Wasiullah Kahn, condemning the Chicago area university’s mass firing of its adjunct faculty and urging him to restore their contracts. This letter was also copied to U.S. Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis and U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan.

See more here: http://www.free-press-release.com/news-new-faculty-majority-denounces-east-west-university-s-efforts-to-prevent-part-time-faculty-from-unionizing-1277756718.html. 

Thanks, NFM! Solidarity will win the day!

Organizing Adjuncts...an International Topic!

One of the more than 1,000 workshops featured at the Social Forum this past week was our UPTF-sponsored offering, entitled "Voice for the Voiceless: Organizing Part-time Faculty." About twenty attendees, coming to the issue from different perspectives, packed the room: unionized adjuncts, those working on organizing, grad students thinking about their futures, and others who just care deeply about the state of higher education in this country. Two Turkish colleagues joined us, making it an international event: yes, there are adjuncts in Turkey!

After intros, I focused my part of the presentation on what's happening out there in higher ed these days, and where the biggest challenges to faculty exist. We discussed the pitfalls of the "Anyone Can Teach" mantra put out there as higher ed continues to corporatize and casualize our profession. We discussed the extra challenges adjuncts face in today's corporatized schools and why unionization is almost essential if we wish to make the living we deserve and preserve the dignity of teaching--at any level!

Importantly, we discussed the need to reframe the mixed messages adjuncts send to school administrations when we speak with an incoherent collective "voice." Every survey published seems to indicate that at least 40-50% of adjuncts are "satisfied" (more or less) with the status quo. Unfortunately, these surveys are mostly engineered (consciously or not) to generate responses that overplay the importance of "flexibility" and underplay dissatisfaction with our typical conditions of employment. School administrators can study these surveys and feel assured they're giving us what we want, based on our love of "flexibility." As we discussed, "units of flexibility" (as one community college v.p. calls us, according to Joe Berry) equal units of disposability! So we discussed the need for a more positive, unified message out there:

"Fair Treatment for Adjuncts is Good for Higher Ed!" What would fair treatment look like? A handout listed several ideas--unfortunately, no one in the room could check off many items from their current experience!

UPTF president Susan Titus then took over and led everyone in an exploration of the major features of organizing a local union. Locating and striking up a conversation with potential members is the first, sometimes difficult step. The painstaking, labor-intensive process of motivating everyone to collective action was another issue discussed: several attendees had great ideas, but it was clear that organizing is not for the faint of heart. Even so, the time is ripe, it is achievable, and worth the effort!

Thankfully, we concluded on a hopeful note: Dan Kukuk from Central Michigan U's organizing team related the challenges CMU adjuncts have been having with including all adjuncts in their newly-forming union, and he asked for everyone's support for a June 30th action. Everyone signed "We Care" postcards to send to CMU administration, Labor Secretary Hilda Solis and the EWU Chancellor who recently fired all adjunct staff when they tried to form a union. The other Big Message that emerged that day was: we're in these challenges together, and solidarity will win the day!

Check out Social Forum news...

It's impossible to do justice to all the wondeful actions that have been carried out and the causes that have been promoted during this incredible event in Detroit, but here's a link that archives the stories: http://www.ussf2010.org/newsarchive.

I am simply in awe of the organizing effort that went into making this event the success it has been. Here's where I have to take off my Higher Ed/Adjunct hat and assume my Member of Humanity hat: the week's events have proven there is hope...or, as one headline put it, "answers are emerging from below." In other words, waiting for "Godot" -- whether that be government or corporate power structures -- to solve our many pressing problems is as absurd as the namesake theater piece.

People have always found ingenious ways to solve problems and--as one of my favorite economists, David Korten would say--"connect unused resources with unmet needs." We need to get back to what Korten calls "living economies"--economies that serve people's true needs, not the needs of "Phantom Wealth." For more on these ideas and Korten's work, see http://www.yesmagazine.org/. Here's where I can put my Higher Ed/Adjunct hat back on: Higher Ed needs to be a microcosm of the larger Living Economy we all need. Hmmm...more to come on this issue!