Articles by newsletter

An Anti-labor Labor Secretary?

All of the doubts about how serious Donald Trump was about his populist appeals to U.S. workers have been confirmed by the selection of Andrew Puzder to be Secretary of Labor. Puzder is a prime example of the Trump administration’s pattern of appointing people directly opposed to the missions of their departments to cabinet positions. Puzder, the CEO of CKE Restaurants, which owns the Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s fast food chains, has been one of the most vocal opponents of workers’ rights throughout the Obama Administration. The avid fan of Ayn Rand has opposed paid sick leave requirements, the Affordable…


A New Political Landscape

Some of you may be asking yourself, “What can I, as a faculty member and union member, do now that everything is fucked?” The new presidential administration promises an all-out assault on higher education, public spending, and labor. We are headed into perilous times for sure, but there is a lot that we can do here in Oregon. As a bargaining unit representing 1800 people, UA is positioned to play an important role in the politics of this state. Together with our allies at other campuses and in other unions, there is an extraordinary amount we can accomplish. The State…


Betsy DeVos: a Michigander’s Warning

When Michiganders hear the name DeVos, a shiver runs down our collective spine. The DeVos family, including heir to the Amway fortune Dick DeVos and his wife Betsy, current nominee to the Secretary of Education position in Trump’s cabinet, have long been notorious in the Mitten State for using their money (and there’s a lot of it) to put pressure on Michigan politicians. The DeVoses and their money were behind Michigan’s “Right to Work” laws pushed through in December 2012. Described by Mother Jones in a 2014 expose as one of the “founding families of the modern conservative movement,” and…


UA’s LGBTQ* Caucus

The LGBTQ* Caucus is up and running! Some 25 faculty attended an initial meeting last spring at McMenamin’s 19th Street Café. Discussion was wide-ranging and enthusiastic. A common refrain was that there is definitely a need for such a group right now, not only in order to bring greater attention at UO to LGBTQ* concerns but also to mobilize and support faculty in the LGBTQ* community on campus. The caucus will focus on workplace issues of particular relevance to LGBTQ* faculty and will also offer social opportunities for getting together as a group, ways to combat the isolation that some…


Grievance and Contract Administration This Year

The Grievance and Contract Administration Committee (GCAC), here to help you when you have questions about your rights under the Collective Bargaining Agreement or University policy, has had a busy start to the year. Our committee, made up of UA members from six units on campus, supported 24 faculty members during the fall term to resolve workplace conflicts. To give you an idea of what kinds of conflicts we can help you resolve, the cases from this fall ranged from access to UO childcare, improper promotions reviews, workload disputes, definitions of research productivity, discrimination complaints and accusations of research misconduct. In the…