This past weekend, I had the pleasure of joining the leadership and some members of the Illinois Conference at their annual meeting in Chicago. I had previously met several of those in attendance, and I had the opportunity to meet in person several others with whom I have corresponded about posts to this blog and…
Writing for the Indianapolis Business Journal, J. K. Wall has reported: “Indiana’s public colleges and universities, spurred by pressure from state lawmakers, are pumping out more graduates than ever. “But in spite of a 20-percent increase in degrees granted since 2010, the education level of Indiana’s younger adults has barely budged, for reasons that aren’t…
The most recent issue of the Journal of Collective Bargaining in the Academy is available at http://thekeep.eiu.edu/jc. The issue includes two op-eds and four articles. Here are excerpts from each of the op-eds and the first of the articles: Boris, Richard (2014) “From Ivory to Babel to A New Foundation,” Journal of Collective Bargaining in…
The most recent issue of the Journal of Collective Bargaining in the Academy is available at http://thekeep.eiu.edu/jc. The issue includes two op-eds and four articles. Here are excerpts from the second through fourth articles: Hicks, Steve (2014) “Post-Recession CBAs: A Study of Wage Increases in the Agreements of Four State-wide Faculty Unions,” Journal of Collective…
Declining Union Membership “Over the last three decades, U.S. labor union membership has fallen by nearly half, even though more Americans are actually in favor of unionization. “Some 11% of all wage and salary workers in 2014 were in a union — down from 22% in 1983 after peaking at nearly 35% in 1954, according…
Workers’ Pay Is Still Higher in Pro-Labor States “Under federal law, no one can be forced to join a union as a condition of employment, and the Supreme Court has made clear that workers cannot be forced to pay dues used for political purposes. So-called right-to-work (RTW) legislation goes one step further and entitles employees to the…
Record Corporate Profit Margins “One item that hasn’t gotten much attention lately is corporate profit margins, which are near record highs. Since the financial crisis, companies have been cutting operating costs, trimming debt, and increasing exposure overseas — all actions that have boosted margins. But as the bull market and economic recovery have aged, we have heard…
Soaring CEO Compensation “America’s corporate leaders have recovered nicely since the recession. The average worker? Not so much. “The annual pay for CEOs soared 12.1% last year, the fastest increase since 2010 and up from a median increase of just 1.6% in 2013, according to an analysis by professional services firm Towers Watson & Co.…
The following is excerpted from the main AAUP website. Please go there to see the report in its entirety: I. Introduction In the middle of summer 2014, Dr. Steven Salaita, associate professor of English at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, having resigned his tenured position, was preparing to relocate to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he had more…