The University notified PSU-AAUP on May 8, 2017 of its intention to promulgate the new Copyright Ownership Policy. This was a public notice, and any member of the community can make comments about the policy. PSU-AAUP, as exclusive representative of the members of the AAUP bargaining unit, has the added duty to demand to bargain on new policies that fall within its scope of bargaining, and to challenge new policies that conflict with the CBA or repudiate established past practices that have been favorable to faculty.
We have issues with the policy. On May 15 PSU-AAUP submitted comments and this Demand to Bargain.
Our substantive issues with the policy are as follows:
- The matter is within the scope of bargaining and any new policy should be addendum to the CBA and incorporated in Article 20.
- We believe Separate Agreements for work for hire have to be more than an email exchange with copyright ownership is at stake.
- The intellectual property rights of Academic Professionals have been completely neglected. There is a population of Academic Professionals who create intellectual property. They have the same intellectual property interests as ranked faculty.
- The dispute resolution section would replace the contractual grievance procedure on intellectual property issues with an advisory committee composed mostly of administrators with the final decision resting with the University President. This is an unacceptable degradation of due process for faculty members.
- The revenue sharing section provides less money in royalties to faculty for PSU Copyrighted Materials created by faculty than at other AAUP institutions. Royalties is a mandatory subject of bargaining with AAUP and we received this as an initial proposal. We will counter with revenue sharing that is more friendly to faculty.
We have asked to begin scheduling dates to commence negotiations. I will report out as the issue progresses.