Solidarity

October 17, 2019

Faculty Responsibility during a GE Strike

Dear Colleagues, As you know, the rumblings of an impending GE strike are growing louder, and questions have been raised about the expectations and obligations for faculty should that happen. Before any decisions are made about the University’s “Academic Continuity Plan,” I would like to share some thoughts to inform our discussions. To start, let me underline some of the information we shared with you in an August 27 e-mail. Some administrators incorrectly assume that faculty will cover for striking GEs. This is not necessarily so. Our collective bargaining agreement (CBA) requires faculty to “consult” about how work performed by a…

October 7, 2019

It’s Not About the Massages

The UO Administration has been spreading the rumor around campus that the GTFF is about to go out on strike because they love their free massages. This is bullshit.Before I became UAUO’s Executive Director in 2014, I spent 10 years working for the GTFF. So I know their contract, their health insurance program, and what is important to graduate employees on our campus.I hope you won’t mind a little history. In roughly 1999, the members of the GTFF fought to have a real, employment-based health insurance plan. They were able to get the administration to agree to pay for a…

October 3, 2019

How to Create Effective and Accessible PowerPoint Presentations

An ally of United Academics has designed a PowerPoint template and instructions for creating effective, accessible presentations. These slides have a small union “bug” on the footer which indicate that the presentation was made by union—in particular United Academics—labor.

May 22, 2019

Actions this week

 Events happening this week. We encourage you to participate! 1) UA t-shirts: We have new t-shirts at the union office. We are taking donations to help cover their cost (they cost UA about $11 each). Swing by, pick one up, and show your solidarity to campus! 2) Rally at the board of trustees.  Wear your new UA t-shirt! DON’T BALANCE THE BUDGET ON OUR BACKS! Meet us at the Ford Alumni Center to take over the Board of Trustees meeting! Members of LERC, GTFF, SEIU, UAUO, and ASUO will sign up to speak to the BOT about the proposed cut to…

April 26, 2019

United Academics’ Values

The members of UA are proud to work at a comprehensive RI university that aspires to maintain its history of being a great educational institution in the face of years of declining investment in higher education. As the educators and researchers who are responsible for our core educational mission, we are committed to prioritizing student success and maintaining access and support for all qualified students, including domestic and international students, four-year undergraduates, transfer students, and graduate students. Budgets are an expression of values: we are dismayed that nowhere in his statement of budget reduction values does President Schill mention a…

March 11, 2019

Follow-Up on Wright State Strike

On January 22nd, the majority of Bargaining Unit Faculty represented by AAUP-WSU made the choice to go on strike. Not for higher wages but for the protection of the academic mission of the university and our right to negotiate over our terms and conditions of employment. We stood strong for 20 days as the administration drug their feet to the bargaining table. Our  #solidarity prevailed.  The end result? A much stronger contract than the one the administration imposed on January 4th with restored protections and the preservation of our legal rights. We call this a win, but it comes at a price.  Collectively…

September 25, 2018

General Membership Meetings

United Academics will be bargaining out next Collective Bargaining Agreement in the 2019 academics year. We will be using the 2018-19 academic year to formulate bargaining planks. General Membership Meetings are a great opportunity to meet with other faculty and talk about what is and is not working at the University of Oregon, and to help inform bargaining conversations. 2018-19 General Membership Meeting Dates Thursday, September 27, 2018, from 5-7 in Gerlinger Lounge Thursday, January 10, 2019 Thursday, April 4, 2019

September 24, 2018

Update from the BVWU

Community support has been critical to our successive wins these last several months, and without you behind us at every step, Burgerville Workers Union would not have been able to accomplish all that we have. Since we filed for elections with the NLRB and won with overwhelming majorities at 2 locations this spring, we’ve been engaged in negotiations with Burgerville for our first contract. Negotiations have been tough as Burgerville has met even our simplest proposals with resistance, but we’re more determined than ever to continue putting pressure on the company to do right by their workers. While Burgerville promised…

April 18, 2018

LERC’s Labor Research Colloquium Series

Lecture Series Sponsored by the UO Labor Education & Research Center Spring 2018 February 28th, 2018 • 4 – 5 pm Eileen Otis, Associate Professor, Sociology. Walmart in China: How are Chinese workers confronting the world’s largest company? April 18th, 2018 • 4 – 5 Lola Loustaunau, PhD student, Sociology. Organizing multiethnic, multilingual workers with insecure legal status: challenges and lessons from an intensive campaign in the Portland food industry. May 16th, 2018 • 4 – 5 Bob Bussel, LERC Director and Professor, History. Anti-racist union education in the post-WWII era: learning from history how working people’s art and education…

February 15, 2018

Amicus brief supports sanctuary jurisdictions

The AAUP joined this week with other groups, including members of the California Community College System, in filing an amicus brief in support of a permanent injunction against a Trump administration executive order that sought to strip federal funding from “sanctuary jurisdictions.” The lawsuit resulting in the injunction was filed by the city of San Francisco. The AAUP’s interest in the case stems from the potential application of the executive order to colleges and universities. Such an extension would negatively impact colleges’ and universities’ ability to carry out their public mission and their interests in developing a diverse student body. Allowing the…