Announcements:
Come to Public Hearing on the Fight for PSU's Future! Invite Your Legislator!
Thurs, April 3, 7 - 9 pm, PSU's Native Center
Invite your Legislator, Neighbor, Board Member, Reporter…
Panel of Legislators & Faith Leaders to Hear Testimony, Create Public Report
Big Turnout for Spring Break Strike Training - More Trainings Planned
Sign up: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1LHbMVE3tEoWfUoc_tD8keYoeHwGjGklc62qH0mSWm68/viewform
Caucus Meetings to Talk Bargaining, Strike Prep, Questions
AP Caucus: Tues, April 8, Noon to 1, SMSU 327
Fixed-Term / Research Faculty Caucus: Weds, April 9, Noon to 1, SMSU 327
Tenure-Related Faculty Caucus: Weds, April 9, 3:30 to 5 pm, SMSU 327
Community Supporters Meeting - PSU-AAUP Members Invited to Help!
Next meeting: Tues, April 1, 5:30 pm in SMSU1, SEIU/PSUFA Office
NEWS:
Divide and Conquer: The Good, The Bad & the Stunningly Ugly!
GOOD NEWS: Eight hundred people participating in a Strike Authorization Vote, 94% voting to authorize, changed the dynamic at the table.
After stonewalling for 11 months, the Admin is starting to move, telling the students that they have heard their concerns! (that the students have been expressing forever…)
Good Move #1: more pay for people earning the least: bring the minimum salaries for Fixed Term Faculty and AP ranks up to $40,000 a year.
45 Instructors, 28 Research Assistants (most on soft money), 21 Program Administrator Ones and 17 Adviser/Counselor Ones would benefit.
Current salaries are too low. Some single parents are working a second job to support their families, despite holding graduate degrees.
The Bargaining Team happily incorporated this shift into its current proposal.
Caveat: Surprise! This offer is not as good as the SPIN
From your PSU-AAUP Bargaining Team Number Cruncher, David Hansen:
- Increases are proposed for mid-year, so only half as much as they appear,
- Nobody would get increases as large as advertised, because different components wouldn't all add together at their maximum value,
- The combined total value of increases to people now earning less than $40k is less than the individual salaries of any of the 12 highest paid administrators!
Good Move #2: Partway toward our proposal to mimic contract arrangements for Fixed-term Faculty at U of O.
The Admin shifted from a 6 year wait for "seniority" (which creates eligibility for a multi-year contact) to 5 years and then 4 years, as we propose. Admin is now willing to live with 75% of fixed-term faculty members with seniority on two-year contracts - which is what "multi-year contract" means at PSU.
BAD NEWS: The Admin Offer Still
- Guts Protections for the P & T Guidelines and Unwritten Work Policies
- Fails to Provide an Advancement Path for APs
- Leaves Too Many Fixed-term Faculty in Short-Term Contracts
- Rejects Better Planning for Academic Quality
- Fails to Keep 90% of us whole with respect to inflation, for academic year
- Allows all Summer Session Budget and Pay Cuts
- Refuses Bigger Promotion Raises
- Etc, Etc, Etc
STUNNINGLY UGLY!
Divide and Conquer: Admin proposals are calculated to appeal to part of the bargaining unit while hanging the rest out to dry - we can't let that work!
Ongoing SPIN, and likely to get worse: Why offer us a decent contract when you spend $1million a year on Communications salaries, ready to spin:
- making increases appear much larger: 2% mid-year equals 1% over the year
(while inflation in PDX is nearly 3%)
- claiming the PSU-AAUP increased its financial demands, when we REDUCED them, eliminating an ask for the early retirement incentive available last year, and coming down in our proposal on summer pay.
- smearing the PSU-AAUP bargaining team - volunteers with full-time jobs and obligations to students and units - as not willing to meet night and day, now Admin is finally interested after a bazillion hours of bargaining.
Not to mention Pres Wiewel ready to tell the Faculty Senate that the single biggest cause of anxiety for students going to SHAC is the impending strike? One of the SHAC counselors attending strike training on Thursday said that was ABSOLUTELY NOT TRUE, that students were there for all the usual worries: money, grades, their futures....
Bullying Tactics at the Table: Admin has brought in Brian Caufield, an Oregon University System lawyer and a real class act. His expertise seems to be blustering legal threats, yelling, cursing, talking over people so that you can't be heard and using insulting forms of address. Needless to say, he's really helpful! Not to mention a great example for our students at the table, and great communicator of the deep respect we're all feeling for our work and contributions to PSU…..or maybe not...
Mary King, on behalf of the PSU-AAUP Bargaining Team:
Gina Greco, David Hansen, Bob Liebman, Anh Ly, Ron Narode, Leanne Serbulo and Phil Lesch, ex officio