BY KELLY HAND With the inauguration of president-elect Donald Trump just two days away, and with legislators in several states targeting higher education—through efforts to eliminate tenure (Iowa and Missouri) and specific courses or programs (Wisconsin and Arizona)—there is an urgent need for faculty to take action to protect academic freedom and quality higher education. The…
BY HANK REICHMAN Today more than 12,000 University of California (UC) administrative, clerical and support workers, members of Teamsters Local 2010, walked off the job to protest numerous unfair labor practices and violations of state law committed by the UC administration. The walkout at all ten UC campuses, five medical centers and three national laboratories…
POSTED BY MARTIN KICH On January 3, John McNay, the President of the Ohio Conference of AAUP, appeared with Ohio AFL-CIO President Tim Burga on Ed Ferenc’s radio program “America’s Workforce Radio.” Among other topics related to the labor movement, they addressed “right to work” theats looming in Ohio and nationally. The audio of the…
POSTED BY MARTIN KICH In a September post to this blog [https://academeblog.org/2016/09/05/saving-the-labor-center-at-umass-amherst/], I reported on the efforts to keep the UMass Labor Center from being closed. Earlier this month, the Amherst Bulletin included a story by Jack Suntrup titled “UMass Labor Center Saved from Shutdown and New Scholarships to Center Available”: “After months of upheaval…
POSTED BY MARTIN KICH During the 2016 election, the Carrier factory’s decision to move jobs from Indiana to Mexico was a story that stuck. Donald Trump won a political victory when he convinced the CEO of Carrier’s parent company, United Technologies, to keep 800 jobs in Indiana. Trump’s efforts run counter to a broader global…
POSTED BY MARTIN KICH This news report is from CNN: General Motors is cutting almost half the jobs at its only plant inside Detroit city limits. In another sign of slowing auto sales, the Detroit-Hamtramck plant will eliminate its second shift and about 1,300 of its 3,000 jobs. The layoffs will take place in March.…
BY HANK REICHMAN Words: On November 17, Columbia University President Lee C. Bollinger spoke to attendees at the university’s annual Hamilton Award Dinner. Here is part of the Columbia Spectator’s report on his remarks: “The University is not a political institution—we do not take positions on political issues. But when you have a position that…
POSTED BY MARTIN KICH What follows are excerpts from an article on the recent Teamsters election, written by Alexandra Bradbury for Labor Notes: For the first time in nearly two decades, reformers have won seats on the Teamsters’ international executive board—and come within a hair’s breadth of unseating the incumbent administration led by President James…
BY HANK REICHMAN A majority of teaching and research assistants at Columbia have voted to unionize, the National Labor Relations Board confirmed today, December 9. Graduate and undergraduate students voted 1602 to 623 in favor of joining Graduate Workers of Columbia-United Auto Workers Union. University administrators and especially provost John Coatsworth had lobbied vigorously against…