POSTED BY MARTIN KICH

Please sign a petition of support for our chapter’s efforts to get a fair contract: https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/stand-with-wright-state-faculty.

In voting that ended at 5 pm on Noember 7, members of AAUP-WSU voted overwhelmingly to reject the Fact Finder’s report: 467 voted to reject, 12 to accept. Over 97% of the voters rejected the report.

Our members found that the Fact Finder’s recommendations would erode the quality of education faculty provide our students, hurt the community Wright State University serves, and threaten the livelihood of our faculty — and they voted accordingly.

AAUP-WSU is ready to negotiate. It is now the responsibility of President Schrader and the Board of Trustees to sit down with us. AAUP-WSU has committed not to initiate a strike unless President Schrader and the Board try to impose a contract that would damage education at Wright State.

Marty Kich, President of AAUP-WSU, said, “Our membership is clearly united in their determination to protect education for present and future Wright State students. Our position has always been that solving WSU’s short term financial crisis should not inflict permanent damage on the University’s academic mission. In fact, WSU avoided fiscal watch without any of the extreme proposals President Schrader and the Board demanded. For months, they have only pretended to engage in bargaining. It is time to work together to ensure WSU’s future.”

The numbers:

564 persons are in the Bargaining Unit represented by AAUP-WSU.

Of these, 493 were chapter members and eligible to vote.

Among the eligible voters, 97.2% did indeed vote.

Among those who voted, 97.5% voted to reject the Fact Finder’s report

Please sign a petition of support for our chapter’s efforts to get a fair contract: https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/stand-with-wright-state-faculty.

Report of AAUP-WSU Executive committee on the Fact-Finder’s Report

The unanimous recommendation of the AAUP-WSU Executive Committee is to REJECT the report. The Fact Finder’s report (attached) was overwhelmingly negative for faculty. He found in favor of the faculty only on maintaining the current standards for continuing NTE appointments and on the determination of merit pay.

The Fact Finder decided in favor of the administration/Board on all other unresolved issues– including retrenchment, workload, healthcare, furloughs, summer teaching rights, and raises.

What follows is a brief summary of each article that was before the Fact Finder with page references to his report:

For RETRENCHMENT, the Fact Finder recommended that “it would seem beneficial to the Parties, based on the current impact of the Senate Bill 6 scoring, that that component [SB6 score of 2.4] be included in the existing criteria that includes, fiscal exigency; significant reduction in enrollment over four (4) or more academic semester[s]; and, the discontinuation of a College, Department or Program” (pp. 82-84). In addition, he reduced the review period from 60 to 30 days and gave new power to the president in the retrenchment process. This would make tenure and continuing appointments meaningless– immediately.

For WORKLOAD, the Fact Finder reports: “Here, the current financial state the University, for various reasons, finds itself in, provides compelling reasons… wherein the determination of ‘Workload’ is viewed as an inherent Management Right” (pp. 99-100). This makes null and void our workload agreement MOU and gives administration total control over how many courses any individual faculty member teaches. If we accept this Fact Finder’s report, we are conceding to them a new management right.

For HEALTHCARE, the Fact Finder states that “the overwhelming evidence of record concerning the financial picture for this University warrants, even on a temporary basis for the duration of this [contract], drastic and immediate changes in the way in which this particular benefit is handled for this specified duration. Given the difficulty in implementing any plan on a University-wide basis, the implementation date for this recommendation be January 1, 2019 and run for the duration of the [contract] as recognized and proposed by the University” (pp. 125-126). This gives us the healthcare plan imposed on the staff– the worst in the state– and gives the administration/Board the right to impose additional changes with 60 days’ notice, taking away our right to bargain over healthcare.

For FURLOUGHS, “the number of days subject to this recommendation [includes] … two (2) Cost-Savings Days/Furlough Days per semester” (p. 135). These furlough days amount to an annual 2% pay cut for us.

For SUMMER TEACHING ASSIGNMENTS, the Fact Finder recommends “the Parties adopt the University’s proposal with respect [to] Article 7” (p. 64). This gives the administration/Board the right to deny summer teaching to Bargaining Unit Faculty.

For RAISES, the Fact Finder recommends that “there be no wage increases for the duration of the [contract]” (p. 106). Also, he recommends “no increases and/or decreases in minimum salaries for the duration of the [contract]” (p. 108). There is no money to offset the losses we will take in healthcare, furloughs, summer teaching assignments—never mind the real cut in pay due to inflation.

For NTE PROMOTION, the Fact Finder wrote: “given the manner in which certain other issues at impasse have been addressed in this Report, wherein such affords the University more drastic measures to implement, there seems to be no compelling reason to recommend the University’s proposal in this regard. As such, the recommendation of the status quo is supported” (p. 74).  Thus, the requirements for continuing appointments for NTE faculty remain the same.

For MERIT PAY, the Fact Finder wrote, “as such, a recommendation for the status quo is hereby recommended” (p. 69). He did not give administration total control of merit pay.

For EARLY RETIREMENT, the Fact Finder stated, “it is hereby recommended the Parties ‘agree in principal’ to the concept of offering early retirement to those who may be interested; however, subject to the Parties reaching some kind of agreement with respect to the framework of such a program” (p. 139). The Fact Finder has left this to the parties to negotiate.

The Fact Finder was clearly influenced by the hyperbolic arguments made by the administration’s labor attorney, arguments that President Schrader and members of the Board walked back at the most recent Board of Trustees meeting.

For the above reasons, it is the unanimous recommendation of the AAUP-WSU Executive Committee that members vote to REJECT the report.

Please sign a petition of support for our chapter’s efforts to get a fair contract: https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/stand-with-wright-state-faculty.

A previous post on our contract impasse, “How to Make Tenure Meaningless,” is available here: https://academeblog.org/2018/09/11/how-to-make-tenure-meaningless/.