Date: Mon, 21 May 2007 10:05:21 -0400
From: Dave Reed <ddreed@mtu.edu>
To: acadforum-l@mtu.edu, Jim Baker <jrbaker@mtu.edu>,
        Anita Quinn <aquinn@mtu.edu>, wjmckill@mtu.edu

All:

Several of you that were at the Michigan Tech Fund meeting asked
questions about negotiations and the current status of articles,
particularly the post-tenure review article the union recently
distributed.  The University and the union completed three more days of
negotiation last week without reaching tentative agreement on any
additional articles.

It is important to remember that negotiations are a give and take
process, and many iterations of a proposal may occur before the
University and the union tentatively agree on language to be included in
the contract.  For example, one union proposal on the table (Article 11)
currently contains language requiring faculty who are conscientious
objectors and do not wish to join the union to pay higher fees than
those that are union members in good standing.  Further, it would force
deans and chairs to furlough (without pay) faculty members who refuse to
agree to payroll deductions for union dues or the above noted service
fee.  Such requirements are probably illegal, yet the proposals are
still actively on the table.

In the case of post tenure review, the union neglected to mention the
discussion that surrounded the presentation of the post tenure review
article, or that many universities that the union leadership have held
out as examples have such an article, such as Wayne State.

As you may remember, our past practice with faculty salary adjustments
has been to base them on merit, marketplace, and equity when funds are
available for adjustments. Across the board adjustments have only been
made when there was minimal funding available for increases (<2%).  The
union has been very insistent that a significant portion of the raise
pool be distributed across the board.  This of course makes it very
difficult to reward merit or to make marketplace or equity adjustments.
When the University's post tenure review article was presented at the
table, it was presented as a way to evaluate and reward faculty
performance when the ability to make merit salary adjustments is reduced
or eliminated by the union's demand for across the board raises.

In the end, Michigan Tech will work to ensure a fair contract for all
that is consistent with our strategic plan. As always, if you have
questions please feel free to ask me or to direct questions to Ellen
Horsch.

 From time to time someone asks where to find the status of the
negotiations.  So, as a reminder, the current status of negotiations and
copies of current proposals may be found at the site below by clicking
on Human Resources, going down to the AAUP heading, and clicking on the
second item.

http://www.admin.mtu.edu/hro/adminresources/rd.html#hr

Also, as another reminder, the archive of messages to the Academic Forum
list can be found at:

http://www.admin.mtu.edu/admin/prov/Academic%20Forum%20Archive%20email/archive%20index.htm

Dave R

--
David D Reed
Vice President for Research