Union of Nontenure-Track Faculty
Michigan State University
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The Union of Nontenure -Track Faculty: Update for April 15, 2010 Congratulations to all on the election of UNTF Officers and an Executive Members elected include: These are the people who will help lead this union to success. We congratulate them for their effort in building quality education and for Please contact UNTF at (517)203-0880 or email office@untf.org with any questions. Save the Dates!! Mark your calendar for April 15th and 16th! April 16th: Important event! Contact us for information on how you can get involved in our activities on April 16th. . Update for March 22nd, 2010 Bargaining in Bloom: This Spring semester bargaining sessions will generally be held on Mondays and Thursdays from 1-5pm. It is so important to have observers at all of these sessions; it gives our proposals strength to have members from across campus support us at the bargaining table. Please contact the UNTF office at (517)203-0880 in advance if you would like to attend. Department Meetings: Please contact the UNTF office at (517)203-0880 If you have not had a meeting in your department. Take the lead on this one, it’s extremely easy, educational, and there’s free lunch! An experienced member of the bargaining team will come to your department to give you and your colleagues a detailed and inside look at what’s happening in negotiations. Already had a meeting? It’s time to start planning another one!!
Update for February 23rd, 2010 ACTION: Join fellow UNTF members in making a statement and supporting MSU athletics! A group of nontenure-track faculty members and The Bargaining Committee continues to bargain our first contract. The basic pattern for negotiation sessions is every Monday and Thursdaystarting March 1st, except the 4th of March and the 29th of March and April. We are also tentatively committed to negotiate Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday of Spring Break. Please contact the UNTF office at (517)203-0880 to observe a bargaining session. It is extremely important to have members outside of the bargaining team in
Update for February 8th, 2010 The Bargaining Committee presented our complete initial proposals for the first contract on Monday, Feb 1st to the Administration. Thursday, Feb 4th we received their initial proposals which fell far below our expectations. We will continue to have negotiation sessions several times a week throughout the semester and all members are encouraged to attend with advance notice. Important decisions regarding your working conditions are being made, so your participation is vital. The Steering Committee meets weekly at the UNTF office. Lately we have been discussing a semester long organizing plan to ensure a strong union and timely contract. We have also been talking to potential union stewards and are looking for participation from all departments. Meetings are currently scheduled for Thursday evenings at 5:30pm and all are welcome. The office is located in suite 202 of the Marriott Building at 333 Albert Avenue, in East Lansing.
UNTF Updates for Wednesday, January 29th, 2010 Dear Members, This past week after several meetings that attended by members, union staff, administration representatives and benefits experts, we have reached an agreement with the administration regarding the changes to the University provided health care plans brought about by PHP's decision to sell itself to Blue Care Network (BCN). We believe that this agreement gives the balances continuity and ease of administration with our ability to advocate for ourselves during bargaining this semester. As you may know, PHP currently provides the HMO option to MSU employees, and while a relatively small proportion of UNTF members participate in the HMO, 64 of the more than 500 employees in the unit, it was very important to make sure that the union receives all the pertinent information and that union leadership consults closely with the affected members to develop a strategy. Please take the time to read this email, and feel free to contact us with any questions. The principal differences between the PHP plan and the BCN plan are as follows. 1. This proposal would not stop us from negotiating over health care costs or who can receive MSU provided benefits, potentially effective from the date the contract is ratified. As always please do not hesitate to email us or call at any time! office@untf.org Additional Update January 29th, 2010 Michigan State University’s administration has finally agreed to give qualified UNTF bargaining unit members their customary merit pay adjustments. This Background: In mid-June, 2009, MSU’s administration announced its intent to walk away from its agreement with UNTF, made earlier that month, which Actions: Beginning in early September, nontenure-track faculty across campus joined together to speak out about this issue to their colleagues and to community members. UNTF members Lynn Scott, and Stephen Thomas, as well as leaders of other campus labor and political organizations, including President of the Coalition of Labor Organizations, Wayne Cass. and President of the MSU College Democrats, Mitchell Rivard, spoke on UNTF’s behalf at the October MSU Board of Trustees Meeting. Petitions calling on MSU to “Honor Our Agreement” were signed by over 600 supporters. UNTF’s parent organization, AFT Michigan, also filed an unfair labor practice charge against the administration with the Michigan Employment Relations Commission in the fall, arguing that the administration “violated its obligation to bargain in good faith by repudiating an agreement with respect to a mandatory subject for bargaining” and “unilaterally disregarding and rejecting a practice of long standing without prior good faith bargaining and without the existence of an impasse.” With a hearing on the MERC charge set for February 11th, the administration has decided to settle the agreement outside of the courtroom, by granting eligible members their due raises under the policies already existing in departments. MSU has also agreed to honor the portion of the June agreement that consisted of providing UNTF with information about what those policies are, and where they are lacking. What to Look For: You should be hearing from your department or unit within the next few weeks about how thedepartment plans to distribute the merit pay amounts that it will receive from the University. Our negotiated settlement with MSU provides for these merit pay amounts to be calculated retroactively to the customary October 1 wage increase date, so we believe that if you are entitled to a merit increase, you are also entitled to retroactive merit pay. Please contact the UNTF office at (517)203-0880 with questions regarding the merit pay adjustments.
UNTF UPDATE for Wednesday, January 20th, 2010 Update for October 13th, 2009 Last Friday, Oct. 9th, the Union of Nontenure-Track Faculty, AFT Michigan, AFL-CIO filed an Unfair Labor Practice charge again the administration in response to the decision to break their agreement with us to give scheduled merit-pay increases. Yesterday (Monday, Oct. 12th) six members of the UNTF hand delivered a copy of the charge to the Provost’s office. Click Here to download the Press Release sent out describing the events so far, or see the story at Lansing Online News.There is currently a petition circulating in an effort to show the administration that we stand in solidarity in asking them to honor their original agreement with us. If you haven’t had a chance to sign the petition, please contact your office at (517) 203-0880 or reply to this email and someone will meet you at your convenience to sign.
Dear Members, We encourage you to attend the first membership meeting of the Union of Nontenure-Track Faculty. We are currently accepting open nominations for interim leadership officers to lead the union in the bargaining process and will be voting on those positions during our membership meeting on Sept. 25th. Please email nominations for the following positions to office@untf.org: The Steering Committee will begin the process of recommending a slate to be elected at the membership meeting. This process will begin on Sept. 10th and nominations are due by Sept. 17th. If you are interested in being on the slate, please attend the next Steering Committee Meeting, Thursday September 10th at 5:15pm in the UNTF office Suite 202 of the Marriott Building, 333 Albert Avenue in East Lansing. The membership meeting is scheduled for Friday September 25th from 3-5PM in Snyder 201. For more details or to confirm your attendance, please contact your union office at (517) 203-0880 or email office@untf.org. UNTF UPDATE for August 28th, 2009 Dear Members, 1) The Bargaining Survey is Live! Members of the UNTF Steering Committee have put together an ONLINE SURVEY so that everyone can let their voices be heard. The results of this survey will be extremely important in setting our bargaining priorities, so we ask you all to complete the survey ASAP. Click this link to take the survey! The union is only as strong as its members so we will be contacting individuals, reminding them to do the survey. This will include phone-calls, campus visits 2) We have scheduled our first membership meeting of the contract campaign. It is scheduled for Friday September 25th, 3-5pm. The meeting is tentatively planned for Snyder 201. More details to follow. We want this meeting to large and energetic to set an enthusiastic tone for the contract campaign. We will elect interim leadership, ratify our bargaining team, and approve a bargaining platform after discussing the results of the survey. Again, because the success of this meeting is crucial we will be doing whatever it takes to talk to every member about taking just two hours to participate in their union. If you are interested in taking a leadership role or joining the bargaining team, please don't hesitate to write us at office@untf.org or call us at (517) 203-0880. We will be distributing the details of a formal process for nominating individuals for officer positions shortly.
Update for August 7th, 2009 For the next few weeks, in addition to the tasks outlined in the last update, we will be concentrating on forming the committees necessary to build a strong successful union. There are four committees, and each needs the commitment of several representative members across campus. The four committees are: The Bargaining Committee, The Constitution Committee, the Organizing Committee, and the Stewards’ Council. The Bargaining Committee will have its first meeting next Thursday, August 13th at 4PM in the UNTF office. This is an informational session and is open to anyone who is interested in being a part of the bargaining committee. Those would simply like to know more about the bargaining process are also strongly encouraged to attend. Your AFT-M staff representative, Alyssa Picard, will be leading this informational session. This committee will research and draft proposals as well as negotiating a contract with the administration’s bargaining team. Fifteen members are needed for this committee. This meeting will be in your UNTF office located at 333 Albert Avenue in Suite 202 of the Marriott building. Contact us at (517) 203-0880 or at office@untf.org for more information.
Hello members! We hope you are having a great summer and have been keeping up to date on what’s been happening with our union. Since we won our election on May 29th the Steering Committee has continued to meet weekly to set and implement the goals for the UNTF. With over 600 members currently in our bargaining unit it is vital that everyone participate in order to create a strong democratic organization. There are many ways to get involved now! The following will help us get started on the road to success: •Come to a Steering Committee Meeting: These meetings are open to all, and everyone is encouraged to attend. The meetings are every Wednesday from 5:15PM to about 6:45PM in your union office, located at 333 Albert Avenue in East Lansing on the second floor of the Marriott Building. We need as many voices as possible at these meetings in order to negotiate our first contract in the fall. Parking is available in the ramp across the street, to the south of the building, and attached by a sky walk (free tickets to park will be provided.) • Help with the interview process: The Steering Committee is currently conducting interviews to non-tenure track faculty members across campus to gain a broader understanding of our shared issues. This is an extremely important part of the process as we near our first contract negotiations. Please call (517)203-0880 to participate by being an interviewer or interviewee. • Meet one-on-one with an AFT-Michigan Organizer: We need to meet individually, with each member of the UNTF, to talk about the upcoming months now that we have a certified union. We would love to buy you a cup of coffee and talk for a bit. Please call your union office at (517)203-0880 to set up an appointment. We are very flexible with schedule and location. Thank you for taking the time to read the UNTF Updates, it’s important that everyone stay informed. Hope to see you soon! Update from May 29th, 2009 The ballots were counted this morning and nontenure-track voted 240 to 113 to certify the UNTF. This 2-to-1 margin with more than 50% turnout is a clear victory for nontenure-track faculty here at MSU. We will be celebrating in our office for the rest of the afternoon (Friday May 29). Come join us! Suite 202 of the Marriott Bldg. 333 Albert Ave. in East Lansing. We will need to meet soon to begin planning for bargaining, please contact us if this sounds interesting to you, office@untf.org.
Update for May 13th, 2009 The ballots were mailed out a week ago, so just about everyone should have received your ballots by now. If you have not received a ballot, it is important for you to call MERC at (313) 456-3524 ASAP, and request another ballot be sent. Make sure to give her your home address as the information the administration provided could be wrong. Please let us know as well so that we can assist in the process. The GOTV has been going well. Dozens of you responded to the email last week, often with thoughtful messages of support. We thank you very much for all of those! We still need to hear from many of you. Please email us and let us know that you have voted! Or call us at 517-203-0880. We won't stop until we have heard from everyone. We are also calling people to check if they have received their ballots and have mailed them back. If you haven't written an email to us, please expect us to be calling! Likely you've received a call already. Those who we aren't able to reach by phone may receive housecalls from committee members and organizers. Phonecalls and housecalls are an important part of how we assure that we win this election. While a majority of eligible voters are members, only the people who actually vote have their voices heard at this crucial stage. Once our victory is certified Friday morning, May 29th, we will begin the next phase in addressing the concerns and changing the lives and livelihoods of nontenure-track faculty across campus. Update for May 7th, 2009 The ballots to certify our union went out on Wednesday, and many people in the Greater Lansing area have received them. If you live farther afield it will be Saturday and maybe Monday. If you don't receive them by Monday, please contact Denise Hinneburg at MERC to request they mail you another. Her number is (313) 456-3524. We will be calling you to make sure you've voted, so if you've voted please let us know to save us some time. Don't forget to put a stamp on the return envelope, and that postage goes up to $ 0.44 on Monday! In other news, graduate students at Central Michigan voted to certify their union by a nearly 9 to 1 margin. Read more about it here: http://www.aftface.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=524&Itemid=63 Update for April 22nd, 2009 After several months of discussion with the MSU administration, we have reached an agreement on the definition of the UNTF bargaining unit – and will now move forward to an election in a few short weeks! The administration has agreed to a mail ballot, which should go out in the first week of May. In short, discussions with the administration consisted of us trying to include *more* people in the bargaining unit (the group of people eligible to vote in the election and eventually to be covered under the union contract) and the administration trying to include *less*. We believed, for example, that advisors and continuing-track instructional staff shared a "community of interest" with other nontenure-track faculty and staff who work directly with students; the administration did not. At one point, the administration proposed excluding anyone with a single-semester appointment and anyone with a less than half-time appointment. This would have eliminated many of the people who need a union the most. In the end we reached a compromise that includes the vast majority of the people we proposed initially—but which does contain some disappointments. However, nearly everyone teaching for-credit, and those teaching non-credit required classes are included. If you have any questions about whether you are included or not, please contact us at (517) 490-0464. Update for March 20th Big news! Last week, members of the UNTF organizing committee filed our official petition with the state labor commission -- along with all of our membership cards! This is a big milestone for this campaign, and the hundreds of us that have been involved should be proud of what we've done. The next step is finalizing negotiations with the administration over the bargaining unit definition, and the certification election itself late his semester. The organizing committee is now asking members to add their name to our "We're voting Yes" poster that will be distributed prior to the union election. Hundreds of members have already said yes to their name appearing, but we still haven't heard from everyone. To sign the poster contact us at office@untf.org -- or someone may contact you soon in person or by phone. We are continuing to meet on Thursdays at 5:15 in the UNTF office 333 Albert St. suite 202. Please join us for about an hour. As we wrap up the membership drive phase of the campaign we will continue to meet with supporters one on one. We still need to talk to hundreds of faculty in the coming months, so your help in joining the organizing committee would help strengthen the organization. Update for Feb 27th Organizing is continuing at a steady pace and we plan on filing with
the state labor commission in a few weeks! With a strong majority
signed up, we're confident that UNTF will become an official union by
the end of the semester. Members of our sister unions at U of M,
Wayne State, and here at MSU have been helping us out by visiting on
campus and talking to folks about what they've been able to achieve
through organizing.
Good News Department: In the last few weeks two other higher-ed locals
have filed petitions with the state labor board requesting
certification elections. The Graduate Student Union at Central
Michigan hopes to represent 500+ graduate teaching and research
assistants. The Professional Instructors Organization is an
organization of Part-Time instructors at Western Michigan University.
Click on the links below to read more: Update for February 10, 2009 Organizing is going very
well these last two weeks as we are signing up lots of people teaching
for the first time as nontenure-track faculty at MSU. The big news this
week, however, is the excellent story written about our campaign in the
Lansing State Journal. It features profiles of two of our members, and
good quotes from the administration about nontenure-track faculty's
right to organize. Check it out!
http://www.lansingstatejournal.com/article/20090207/NEWS06/902070320
Update For January, 2009 Happy New Year and Welcome Back! This month we hit the ground running, meeting with folk all over campus and adding two new staff people: Dan Kukuk and Ian Fulcher. Both bring experience from other union campaigns, including the recent successful U of MI Lecturer's Employee Organization (LEO) drive. With the help of several of the organizing committee members, we work toward daily conversation and membership goals. For those of you who have recently joined, our plan is to file for an election with the Michigan Employment Relations Commission in the near future. We are looking forward to an election in April. We are well on our way to meet this goal, having already satisfied the percent of members needed to file for an election. As many of you know, our goals are a bit higher than the required minimum: We want to talk to everyone in the nontenure-track pool and have a majority of support before we file. We have an event planned to help us with this goal. This Saturday, 1/31/09, we will be joined in our efforts by members from other Michigan higher education unions for a 'Solidarity Day.' The morning will start with breakfast and sharing the stories and experiences from different campaigns. Then teams will go out to do housecalls. If you want to participate in this fun event, please contact us at office@untf.org. Our organizing committee will continue to meet at the UNTF office on Thursdays from 5:15 to 6:45. We will be working on our campaign to talk to all nontenure-track faculty in the coming weeks. You can help by joining the organizing committee and talking to your co-workers. Please let us know if you are interested in helping out by replying to this e-mail or writing to office@untf.org! If you want to get involved in reaching out to your colleagues to help build this union call us at (517) 203-0880, or email us at office@untf.org.
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