Trick or Treat!
posted by Melba Tomeo at 6:04 PM
This blog was created so that students, community members, and SRU faculty can keep on top of what is happening as the faculty union's contract nears its end. Most importantly, the APSCUF Strike Preparation and Negotiations Committees want to provide answers to questions people might have about what they need to know, what they need to do, and how they can help as we get closer to the possibility of a strike if negotiations are not successful.
6 Comments:
Did you know that we are pretty sure APSCUF faculty gave out almost 3872 gum eyeballs with messages attached this past Thursday and Friday, October 26th and 27th?
Yes, the messages were corny (Eye've got a message for you--APSCUF's (the faculty union)contract is running out, Keep your eye on what's happening with negotiations between the union that represents your professors and the State System, Look out! Your professors in APSCUF (the faculty union) are negotiating a new contract with the State System). According to reports, a good time was had by all.
Along with the gum eyeballs, students were treated to a bibbit of information about negotiations and provided with the SRU APSCUF website address and the blog address.
i LOVE Dr. B!
It was cool that you gave us gum, but do you think students really know what APSCUF is? Could you explain to us what it is all about?
Hello Anonymous--That's what the campaign was all about--letting students (and the larger community) know what APSCUF is all about, and what APSCUF stands for. As the small orange piece of paper attached to the eyeball gum said, APSCUF is the faculty union. The SRU APSCUF website has a FAQs page that explains more about the faculty union and about what is happening right now with the union and the State System. We are also doing other things to publicize the union and the faculty that are members (almost all faculty on the SRU campus are members, by the way) like the "Faces of APSCUF"
campaign. Four posters appeared around campus last week that
include photos of professors who are members of the union. And six more will be released in the coming weeks. We've got some more things planned for this semester (so keep your eyes peeled) so hopefully, as time passes, more and more people will be clear about
what APSCUF is. Thanks for your question. If you have anymore, blog
away. Regards, Sharon Sykora
Why do university faculty need to be in a union?
Answer: Let me see if I can at least begin to answer your question. I'm hoping that other faculty members will weigh in with their opinions on this one as well.
On an abstract level I believe that unionization is a good thing because there is power in numbers. One person, in coversation with management, might be able to obtain something for him or herself but this does
nothing for the cause of equality overall. History has shown that unionization has paid off in terms of better salaries and benefits for workers, whatever the
industry. I believe that fair wages (and good benefits) for one's work should be assured and unions have played, and continue to play, an enormous role in
making sure that that happens. In a democratic society fostering economic fairness is essential if people are to be expected to engage in the world around them.
Unions make that happen.
On a personal level, I know what it is like to be a faculty member at a university where there is no
union. I recall a yearly closed door meeting with the Dean of Academic Affairs where he and I would negotiate my salary and benefits for the year. It was
a truly unpleasant experience. I felt lost. It was a very disconcerting experience. I had no idea what I could or couldn't ask for--I had no idea what was
going on with other faculty members who were just like
me, in terms of education, length of service and so on. I didn't know if I was being treated fairly or not. I believe that collective bargaining is the solution to the problem I faced way back then.
On a practical level, the faculty at Slippery Rock and at the other SSHE schools need to be unionized because it directly benefits students. Students benefit in
that they can be assured that the professors at the front of the classroom have been properly and
rigorously trained and have been evaluated and judged by their peers to be worthy of teaching. Who would want administrators to decide that someone was worthy
of being in the classroom (especially when the last
time those administrators were in any classroom in a teaching capacity might have be 20 years ago)?
Students benefit, as well, because with a unionized faculty professors are more likely to settle into a job for a long period of time because they have a
better sense of what exactly will be expected of them
performance-wise (in the classroom and outside of it).
Experienced faculty are a good thing for students. While practice can't necessarily make perfect, it can certainly make better!
Students also benefit in that with a faculty union there is an organized and concerned group of people who will fight against management and for students
when management makes bad decisions that affect students adversely. For example, we all know that class sizes at Slippery Rock and across the State
System have been rising. It is the faculty union that has been arguing against this, and arguing instead that class sizes need to be smaller because research
clearly indicates that this is good educational practice. As well, it is the unionized faculty who can provide personal anecdotes to support the position
that smaller classes are better for students. It would be difficult for students, even if successfully represented by their student government associations,
to even engage the administration in a discussion of class size because administrators know that students come and go, while faculty are here to stay. So
faculty are on front line in working to ensure that students at Slippery Rock are getting a quality
education.
I've rattled on long enough. Would anyone else like to weigh in on this topic?
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