4/25/2012: Sam Stites of the ODE has a piece on the union, Diane Dietz of the RG has more, here. Interestingly, no quotes from Interim Pres Berdahl:
“I wouldn’t say it was a change of heart. It’s more an acknowledgement of the bargainers desire to have the one unit,” acting UO Provost Lorraine Davis said. “Our goal all along was to respect the rights of the faculty in their right to organize despite the fact that our preference would have been, perhaps, two units, we will support and work to make this work as they desire.”
Yes, with Lorraine it’s always been about respect for the faculty, or as she like to call us, “those children in the sandbox.” Good for at least a few union votes, if not a full beamer’s worth. Then this from Scott Pratt:
“It was all very confusing because we all heard the neutrality statement originally, and it did come from the president’s office,” Pratt said. “It may be members of the administration themselves were not neutral about unionization, but institutionally there really was only one answer.”
And this from Dev Sinha:
Also, disparate groups are in the union, he said, including professors who have given their lives to the institution, and “somebody who is teaching one class on aerobics. We are in the same bargaining unit with them. Not to be snobby at all, but we have very different professional trajectories, professional interest on this campus, and now we are bound by one body to talk about how we negotiate our contracts.”
Sinha said he’d work with people and keep an open mind, but the adjustment will be difficult. “There are people who are celebrating today and there are people who are not so happy. That’s a division that has been there this whole process. We’ll see how well that can heal.”
Very true. Berdahl’s agreement with the union, and a list of admins and faculty heads excluded is here. The original “Excelsior list” that excluded PI’s is here. This now looks like a strategic mistake by Geller and/or Rudnick. The UO letter trying to exclude faculty supervising GTF’s is somewhere on this blog, try google you lazy bum. The question of who is in the union is still up for negotiation:
I haven’t heard of the April 4 union objections before. The union Meta-FAQ is here.
So what happens when department chairs shift? Do faculty members go in and out of the union?
This is the same question about PIs (when then cease to be PIs, or become PIs): how does one go in and out of the union? What does it means to one’s contract?
I think the precendent is pretty clearly established by what happened when Jim Bean went from Provost to professor – no change in pay, but JH will no longer use tuition dollars to make the note on your beamer.
Seriously, it’s a good question. I’ll be doing this myself I’m sure. Seems like the union contract terms will have to become a de facto baseline for “supervisors”.
Yes, people will go in and out of the Union. It is how it works elsewhere.