An Illinois court has ruled against the effort of the UIC United Faculty to jointly organize TT and NTT faculty at UIC (University of Illinois Chicago). This does not mean that UIC will not be unionized, as the university has said that it does not object to separate unions for TT and NTT. It looks like the faculty union, while it has the right to appeal the court decision, will move forward with separate unions so as to begin collective bargaining sooner rather than later. For more, check out the UIC United Faculty website and this story from Inside Higher Ed.
I don't frankly understand why the UIC administration has been so adamant in its attempt to keep NTT and TT faculty separate. If it is part of a divide and conquer mentality, that effort is not likely to succeed, I don't think, as separate locals, which are generally part of the same overall union organization (AFT/AAUP in the case of UIC) end up working together in any event. From a purely administrative standpoint, it would presumably be more efficient to have one union contract rather than two. Union activists at the recent NEA Higher Ed conference were themselves split on which sort of structure works better for them--it's not as if the union movement is united in believing that their leverage is better with a local joining TT and NTT, as the two sorts of faculty do sometimes have divergent interests. At any rate, my experience has been that the NTT and TT locals work pretty well together here at SIUC as separate locals, from the union side of things, and that UIC should thus be able to do just fine with two separate unions, if that's what the administration and courts insist upon.
A little burst of blogging this weekend after an extended Spring Break . . .
Sunday, March 25, 2012
13 comments:
I will review and post comments as quickly as I can. Comments that are substantive and not vicious will be posted promptly, including critical ones. "Substantive" here means that your comment needs to be more than a simple expression of approval or disapproval. "Vicious" refers to personal attacks, vile rhetoric, and anything else I end up deeming too nasty to post.
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One positive side of the UIUC saga was the resignation of its President. Perhaps faculty here should sign a petition to get rid of Poshard?
ReplyDeleteHere's a prediction. The faculty won't like whoever is brought in as the next U of I president.
ReplyDeleteSame thing at SIU. If Poshard and Cheng suddenly resigned tomorrow, certain folks on campus will not like whoever is brought in to take over.
Presidents and chancellors have to make decisions and faculty, at least some of them, just don't like that...don't like being told what to do.
Well, if they are making wrong decisions, then they should be told what to do. That is what faculty governance is all about, except for those who want to be obedient servants.
DeleteSome people will be happy if the FA runs the university. They are always thinking that FA leaders won't make mistakes. Imaging what situation will become if the FA leaders had run the university. Do you believe that thing is getting better? I don't think so.
ReplyDeleteWell, Anonymous 10:47, if leadership is brought in that you agree with, leadership that makes the right decisions, then you'd be in the position of being an obedient servant wouldn't you?
ReplyDeleteNot if they were rational, devoted to the cause of education, engage all areas of the university community in consultation, listen to people who have been here longer, and not incompetent as this lot are. Your comment is really dumb as befits your attitude to changing things for the better
DeleteWell, lets just stipulate that you'll never like whatever leadership is brought in....it really doesn't matter because you know better than everyone else.
DeleteThus, you'll never be an obedient servant.
Good for you.
No, unless Ano himself lead the university. He think himself the only one the best. Hope him view his research the same way.
DeleteNo, I reserve the right to criticize bad leadership and demand change in the same way that one critiques a student paper. This the result of exercising judgment rather than being brain dead, a quality you seem to support in terms of being passive in the face of the bad administration we have here. Students must love being in your class with this type of attitude since they will know they will never be challenged and inspired to do better work.
ReplyDeleteWow. My jaw aches from the words you're trying to cram into my mouth. And don't assume I'm a faculty member.
DeleteAnonymous 2:00PM: Your creativity equals to negativity. It definitely won't help in any situations.
ReplyDeletePerhaps you should look at today's blog comments in the Southern about bad leadership and realize that you are in the minority here?
ReplyDeleteI don't think so.
Delete