BY MARTIN KICH

In a previous post, I showed in photos the large turnout of Wright State AAUP members at the October meeting of our board of Trustees. I have also posted the remarks made by two of our officers, the president of our Faculty Senate, and a department chair, all advocating for the Board to demonstrate that academics are still the core priority of our university.

Our chapter is a member of the Dayton and Miami Valley Regional AFL-CIO Labor Council, which covers the southwest quadrant of Ohio. At that Board meeting, there were representatives of most of the major labor unions in the Labor Council, and after the board of Trustees meeting, they participated in a press conference, publicly advocating for our efforts to get a fair contract. Some of them are pictured in this photo, in which Tom Ritchie, the President of the Labor Council, is speaking:

With Tom is Diane Walsh, the Executive Director of the Labor Council.

Other unions represented at the meeting were:

AFSCME Ohio Council 8

AFSCME Ohio Council 8, DPSU Local 101

UFCE Local 75

IBEW Local 82

IUE/CWA Local 4322

IUE/CWA

IUE/CWA Local 755

O A P S E

S E I U Local 1199

A number of regional political leaders have also supported us and were present at the board of Trustees meeting and press conference:

Russ Joseph, Montgomery County Clerk of Courts

Dan Foley, Montgomery County Commissioner

Karl Keith, Montgomery County Auditor

Matt Joseph, Dayton City Commissioner

John McManus, Vice President Dayton School Board

Starting with the effort to repeal Senate Bill 5 in 2011, our chapter had very gradually expanded our linkages with regional labor unions and political figures, and we had discussed joining the regional Labor Council. When we actually followed through on doing it, we discovered that it was relatively inexpensive and that it has paid dividends much beyond anything that we anticipated it might.

 

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