Archives

February 7, 2017

Organizing for Democracy and Strength

Welcome to the new UA newsletter’s organizing column! This will be a space to share news about our organizing progress, tips on how to organize among each other and strengthen our union, and news that bears on how we go about organizing our union. For this first entry, I would like to talk about how we organize as a union, and how it is the bedrock of our strength. Organizing is the lifeblood of a union. Our ability to advocate for better working conditions for ourselves and learning conditions for our students is built on our ability to band together…

February 7, 2017

SB-196 Supporting Health Benefits for Adjunct Instructors

According to the 2015-15 Annual Report on the Economic Status of the Profession, released by the American Association of University Professors, part-time adjunct instructors now comprise over forty percent of all faculty appointments in the US (and this does not include graduate student employees or full time non-tenure track faculty, which takes the percentage up to just over 70). Due to their part-time status, most of these adjuncts are not eligible for the kinds of benefits available to their full time colleagues. In terms of pay, studies show that part-time non-tenure track faculty earn between 22 and 40 percent less,…

January 31, 2017

Statement of Support for International Students, Faculty, and Staff

United Academics supports the University of Oregon President Michael Schill’s statement on global engagement and international scholars. We join him in supporting the international faculty, students, and staff in the UO community affected by President Trump’s Executive Order banning the entry of all persons from Libya, Sudan, Somalia, Syria, Iran, Iraq, and Yemen. UA, along with President Schill, supports students affected by the policies of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) and Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents (DAPA) in line with the strong statements in favor of sanctuary policies approved by the university administration and the faculty…

January 31, 2017

Treasurer’s Report

We want to have a transparent union. The budget, financial statements, and audit reports are all posted on the UAUO website at http://uauoregon.org/documents/budget/. Each year we hire an accounting firm to do an audit of our financial statements and accounting procedures. The most recent report notes: Management is responsible for the selection and use of appropriate accounting policies. The significant accounting policies used by United Academics of the University of Oregon are described in Note 1 to the financial statements. No new accounting policies were adopted and the application of existing policies was not changed during fiscal year 2015-2016. We…

January 31, 2017

MLK Day March in Eugene

United Academics was represented by many faculty at the Eugene-Springfield NAACP March for MLK, Jr. Day on January 16, 2017. The theme was “Standing United,” and participants met near UO’s PK Park and marched to the Shedd Institute in downtown Eugene. A highlight of the program at the Shedd was Congressman Peter DeFazio, who told a standing-room crowd that he was standing by his friend, Congressman and civil rights leader John Lewis (D-GA) in the week leading up to Donald Trump’s inauguration. Also on the agenda were a number of local community leaders like NAACP President Eric Richardson and UO…

January 31, 2017

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…

January 31, 2017

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…

January 31, 2017

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…

January 31, 2017

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…

January 31, 2017

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…