02/08/22 Union Updates: SOM, SETs, Education Labor United

Dear colleagues,

Faculty and academic staff in the School of Medicine saw today that the administration is tabling any discussion about changing tenured research faculty salary structures for at least a year. This temporary reprieve is a positive development, and it is due to the efforts of all of those in the School of Medicine—and on main campus—who spoke up over the last three months.

While this is a piece of good news, preliminary results of the morale survey of faculty and academic staff in the SoM indicate that there continue to be widespread concerns with the leadership of the School. We expect to receive full results of the survey around February 22, and will share them when they come in.

KNOW YOUR CONTRACT

We have posted an unofficial copy of the new contract here. Now that it has been in place for a few months, it is a good time to review what’s in it. Please let us know what topics and questions you would like to see covered in a general info session or special topics session: Submit questions here.

STUDENT EVALUATIONS OF TEACHING (SET)

Many, if not most, faculty are dissatisfied with the existing SET instrument and its usage in Selective Salary and for promotion. Despite the use of only 3 questions from the SET and the bias inherent in the instrument, the use of SETs for promotion will become increasingly relevant for Teaching Faculty as they are evaluated for service and teaching. Members of the joint union/admin (2N) committees reviewing the SET seek your feedback: Share your thoughts here.

EQUITY ADJUSTMENT REQUESTS

We are excited that the university is committing funds toward salary equity adjustments for the next three years. Please see the Letter of Agreement for specifics. If you have questions about how to request an equity adjustment, contact your Council Rep or email Michelle Fecteau at mfecteau@aaupaft.org.

SELECTIVE SALARY COMMITTEES THIS YEAR

Questions have arisen regarding the work of salary committees this spring, since we did not receive a selective salary increase this year (we received a bonus instead). Please note that selective salary recommendations in 2022 will count toward an increase. Because we skipped a year, the work of this year’s committees is even more important. It was the 2021 selective salary scores that did not count toward a merit increase. As a reminder, annual reports should consist of “a summary of the last three (3) years of the [faculty or academic staff] member’s activities.” We know that some salary committees put more weight on the most recent year. In 2022, committees are encouraged to focus on the full window, as stated in our Collective Bargaining Agreement, in recognition of the fact that this year’s selective salary increase will be the first one in two years.

HIGHER EDUCATION LABOR UNITED

Join me in signing up to participate in the Higher Education Labor United Winter 2022 Summit. During this Summit, we will collectively create an action plan to transform the U.S. higher education system so that it secures our nation’s democratic future, serves as a vehicle for addressing inequities, and is led by workers, students, and communities. The summit will take place over February 23, 24, 26, and 27 on Zoom, with a detailed schedule to come soon. Registration is now open to all members of the higher education labor community.

In solidarity,

Danielle Aubert

Take action to protect your job security and support our bargaining team

The Contract Negotiations Action Team asks you to sign a petition to tell the WSU administration that you support job security for all bargaining unit members. The administration is resisting extending job security to some members of our bargaining unit (lecturers, researchers and clinical faculty) and proposing to erode the tenure protections guaranteed to tenured and tenure-track faculty under our current contract. We have already taken collective action to protest the mass “non-renewals” of lecturers in several campus units, and we need to take action again to protect all faculty and academic staff members moving forward. If you haven’t done so already, watch the moving video from the Lecturer’s Steering Committee to learn how disruptive non-renewals are to the lives and livelihoods of our colleagues who primarily serve as teaching faculty, as well as to the students and departments who rely on them.

Sign the petition today to tell the administration that we will not accept attacks on tenure or ESS and we will fight for guaranteed job security for lecturers and clinical and research faculty. Once a majority (51%) of our membership has signed the petition, we will make the signatories public and deliver the petition to the administration.

We believe an injury to one is an injury to all, and we will not make trade-offs on fundamental job protections. Security in Solidarity!

07/27/20 Governor O'Brien's Response to President Wilson-Demand to Bargain

Dear Colleagues:

The following is Governor Sandra Hughes O'Brien's message to President Wilson regarding the Demand to Bargain and the situation with the Clinical Faculty in the School of Medicine.

============================================================

Date: 07/27/2020 11:39 AM

Subject: Re: Demand to Bargain -- School of Medicine Clinical Faculty

Roy, what in the world is going on? By my calculations, this is the 3rd time I've asked why your Dean is moving forward with this plan. My requests have been met with silence. The governing board has not been advised as to the strategy behind this move, despite requests. This is totally unacceptable. Perhaps my prior requests were unclear; so I'll make this quite plain...What is the purpose or strategy of a move like this? 

A Dean of a college or school has neither the power nor authority to unilaterally change the faculty salaries of an entire school/college by purposefully sidestepping the Union; ignoring the negotiated collective bargaining agreement; and deliberately concealing his intentions from the governing board. I sincerely hope that your Dean is not trying to sidestep the Union and the Board concerning faculty salaries. Schweitzer was not hired to undermine University policy and process. Violating University policies and process and attempting to sidestep or undermine our rules and regulations around the salaries of our faculty would be the surest way for a dean to find himself on the bad side of the Board and that never ends well.

Schweitzer trying to force this unilateral move makes me think that you're trying to balance the university's books on the backs of our revenue-generating clinical faculty. But I wouldn't know, because you've not kept us informed.

No compensation documents should be sent to any of our represented faculty without a negotiation with the Union under the Collective Bargaining Agreement followed by approval of any compenstaion action by the Board. No faculty member should feel obligated to sign any document that has not been transparently negotiated with the Union on their behalf under the Collective Bargaining Agreement and then submitted to the Board for approval.

Non-transparency does not work. You need to fix this now.

Thank you!
Sandy
Sandy Hughes O'Brien, Esq.

==========================
Charlie
--

Charles J. Parrish

President, AAUP-AFT, Local 6075, WSU Chapter

Vice President-at-Large, AFT Michigan

President, AAUP Michigan Conference

Member-at-Large, National Council, AAUP

5057 Woodward Avenue, Suite 3301

Detroit, MI 48202

313.577.1750

07/27/20 Demand to Bargain -- School of Medicine Clinical Faculty

Good Morning, Boris:

Attached please find a Demand to Bargain regarding Clinical Faculty in the School of Medicine.

Please contact me regarding this matter.

Sincerely,

Charlie

--

Charles J. ParrishPresident, AAUP-AFT, Local 6075, WSU ChapterVice President-at-Large, AFT MichiganPresident, AAUP Michigan ConferenceMember-at-Large, National Council, AAUP5057 Woodward Avenue, Suite 3301Detroit, MI 48202313.577.1750

07/08/20 Relations with the WSU Administration in the Context of Covid-19

This is to keep you informed of the progress of the efforts to meet the challenges of the COVID-19 crisis by the University. The Union leadership is still at the beginnings of a conversation with the Administration over the financial response to the crisis. It is as yet unknown how many students will register and pay the tuition that provides almost two-thirds of the University’s general fund during the current fiscal year. We will keep you informed as the discussions progress.

I want to commend the Administration for initiating the formation of the Restart Committee and its various subcommittees to address the University’s response to the various dimensions of the crisis we collectively face in our institution. The work of the Committee and its subcommittees has been for the most part sensible and helpful to meeting the challenges faced by the University in these difficult times. However, the process of forming the committees raised some important issues.

Representation on Restart Committees. Unfortunately, it was a struggle to get representation of the Faculty and Academic Staff in the membership of the Restart Committee and its subcommittees. The chief manner in which we have a voice in the operation of the University is through the organizations in which we elect our own leaders: our Academic Senate and our Union. In short, our instruments of academic governance and of our representatives who negotiate our terms and conditions of employment. The divergence between the interests of administrators, who have increasingly come to dominate colleges and universities and those of the people who actually deliver the services that justify their existence has become increasingly obvious. A recent book by Benjamin Ginsberg, The Fall of the Faculty: The Rise of the All-Administrative University and Why It Matters (Oxford University Press, 2011) is but one useful example of many examinations of this phenomenon. It is ironic that intellectuals wage their wars with the ever-burgeoning assemblages of higher education administrators by writing down their ideas. They often assume that their arguments, if made forcefully enough, will win the day. Their opponents, the administrators, for the most part, wage these wars of ideas by ignoring them and working every day to accumulate power memorandum by memorandum.

President Wilson Insists on His Right to Choose Senate Representatives. The COVID-19 crisis provided the grounds for yet another skirmish between these forces at WSU. The first impulse of President Wilson was to appoint members of these Restart Committees without consulting either the Senate or the Union. He maintained to the Senate President that he could appoint representatives of the Senate instead of them being appointed by the Senate itself. In the initial appointments of administrators to the Committees, those who held retreat positions on the Faculty were identified by an asterisk as Faculty representatives when memberships on these groups were initially published on the University’s website. For example, the Dean of CLAS, as with other such administrators, were identified as Faculty members.

Following protests by the Academic Senate, President Wilson added representatives chosen by the Senate and the Union with one significant exception. The President of the Senate was designated by the Senate Policy Committee for membership in the Finance Restart Subcommittee. President Wilson refused to appoint her to it. The struggle to get President Wilson to recognize the right of the Senate to appoint its own representatives to University committees continues.

For example, the President is in the process of establishing a “Social Justice Action Committee.” In a memorandum to the Senate President he stated: “Faculty representation will be important and I am requesting that you and the Policy Committee of the Academic Senate provide me with fifteen names of potential faculty from which I can select five to be on the various subcommittees.” It is clear that he is committed to the patronizing principle that the Senate cannot be trusted to designate its own representatives. On the five committees that make up the Social Justice Action Committee (no central committee was named), roughly half of those named as members are administrators, there were five unnamed Academic Senate slots on four committees and four student slots on one committee. The AAUP-AFT was not asked for names for appointment to any of the committees.

The charge to the committees from President Wilson is: “(1) examining internal policies, procedures, and practices to identify and eliminate bias throughout the Wayne State University campus that may disproportionately disadvantage historically marginalized peoples, and (2) recommend specific actions for consideration of immediate, short term, medium term, and long term implementation to advance social justice and equity for historically marginalized peoples at Wayne State University.”

Social Justice and Race at WSU. In establishing the Social Justice Committee, the President does not ask that it focus on the University’s obligation to the city of Detroit within which it lives. I would hope that the Committee would examine the issue of what we could do to raise the number of our Black graduates. President Wilson and his senior administrators have been celebrating the increased percentage of Black students graduating from the University. I have suggested that the effusive self-congratulations should be tempered by the fact that during his Administration, the number of Black students at the University has declined dramatically, and there are no policies in place to address this issue. When President Wilson came to Wayne State in 2013, we graduated 527 Black students. This year, we graduated 473 Black students, 10 percent fewer. My communication, slightly revised, to the Board of Governors that deals with this issue is attached. Also attached is a copy of Governor Sandra Hughes O’Brien comments published in Deadline Detroit on this same subject. The pertinent question is what should be the social justice action responsibilities to the community of a university situated in the heart of a city with a population that is 80 percent Black, with half of its children below the poverty level. Why is Wayne State’s Administration committed to a program that touts a higher graduation percentage based on a falling number of Black graduates and a dwindling number of Black students?

Conclusion. It would be much better for the University if President Wilson was a leader who welcomed criticism and was not resistant to the kind of vigorous debate that would be involved in a strong system of shared governance that is envisioned in the Annotated Code of the Board of Governors that states: “… [the] Senate has authority and responsibility for the formulation and review of educational policy affecting the University as a whole.” (2.26.04) Important questions, such as that of social justice and race, should be topics for robust debate within the Senate and between an independent Senate and President Wilson and his administrators. That would be good for the University.

Sincerely,

Charlie
--

Charles J. Parrish
President, AAUP-AFT, Local 6075, WSU Chapter
Vice President-at-Large, AFT Michigan
President, AAUP Michigan Conference
Member-at-Large, National Council, AAUP
5057 Woodward Avenue, Suite 3301
Detroit, MI 48202
313.577.1750

06/25/20 Status of Negotiations

Dear Colleagues: 

The Union is continuing the Impact Bargaining that began in March with the Administration. The most recent issues relate to whether or not the Faculty and Academic Staff will make concessions in their salary and benefits, in response to the request to do so, voluntarily, by the University in the current COVID-19 crisis. As in any negotiation, each side wishes to make the best possible argument. The Administration is likely to try to keep the focus on the General Fund, as it has tried to do in meetings with the Academic Senate Budget Committee and in the Finance Subcommittee of the Restart Committee. The Administration has recognized that if there are concessions to be made by the Faculty and Academic Staff, they must seek the agreement of the Union.

The Administration’s position, based on presentations to the Academic Senate and others, has emphasized that there should be concessions by our members in order to avoid cuts in various units. The Administration has already sent instructions that units must submit plans as to how to absorb projected five and ten percent budget cuts. Doing this before we have a clear understanding of what the revenue will be for the coming year creates a climate, whether intended or not, that pressures our members to consider supporting individual or department level “voluntary” concessions in some form. It is contrary to the Collective Bargaining Agreement for individual administrators, individual Union members, or internal academic governance committees, to agree to “voluntary” changes in terms of employment of bargaining unit members. It is critical for all to understand that regardless of well-meaning intentions to help, or because of basic communitarian values on their part, it is the exclusive role of the Union to negotiate changes in wages, hours, or working conditions for the members of our bargaining unit.

The Union’s position in these discussions is based on several factors:

During the time that President M. Roy Wilson has been in office, the number of managerial administrators has grown from 453 to 539, a 19% increase. The number of tenured and tenure-track Faculty fell over that time from 1143 to 899, a 21% decline. The non-tenure-track Faculty (Clinicians and Lecturers, mostly) increased slightly from 713 in 2013, to 730 in 2018. Lecturers within this group increased from about 173 to 217. The question of how to cut administrative costs will have an important role in the discussions.

The increase in the ranks of full-time contingent Faculty has been accompanied by a significant decrease in job security for this same group through non-renewals, and limiting term renewals to single year appointments. One of the important items that will be on the discussion agenda will be securing greater job security for Clinicians and Lecturers.

The financial discussions will not be limited only to examining the General Fund for possible solutions, but will be conducted within the context of all of the assets of the University that might be brought to bear during this crisis period.

We are prioritizing our responses to proposals for concessions, if any, to limiting the long term effects on the incomes of our members. We are particularly concerned with protecting the salaries of those in our lower income levels.

Each side has named a team of representatives in these negotiations. The Administration team is led by Associate Provost for Academic Personnel, Boris Baltes. He is joined by Ms. Rebecca Cook, Interim Vice President for Finance, and Ms. Carolyn Hafner, Interim Vice President for Human Relations. The Union team is led by Ricardo Villarosa, Esq., Chief Negotiator. Professor Deborah Ellis, Union Vice President-Elect and Paul Beavers, Union Treasurer, Chair of the Academic Senate Budget Committee, and the Union’s representative on the Finance Subcommittee of the Restart Committee, complete the Union team. The first meeting is on Friday, June 26th.

We will provide periodic updates on the progress of the talks, and will be asking members to ratify whatever proposal is agreed upon by the two sides.

In solidarity,

Charlie Parrish, President

Ricardo Villarosa, Esq., Chief Negotiator

--

Charles J. Parrish

President, AAUP-AFT, Local 6075, WSU Chapter

Vice President-at-Large, AFT Michigan

President, AAUP Michigan Conference

Member-at-Large, National Council, AAUP

5057 Woodward Avenue, Suite 3301

Detroit, MI 48202

313.577.1750

04/20/20 Union Update to Bargaining Unit

Dear Colleagues,

In our last update, we shared Administrators may wish to adopt.

As we complete the Winter term, and move into the Spring/Summer and Fall terms, we face a new environment of rapid change bringing increasing levels of uncertainty. We will need to maintain a continuing strength and mutual support as a Union. This will be more critical than ever. Below is a brief summary of our ongoing negotiations with the Administration related to COVID-19 since our last update:

1. Student Evaluation of Teaching (SET)
Faculty have been notified that they have options, including opting out or waiving scores after receiving them. Exercising the waiver results in deletion of the scores for that class from the data set.

 

2. Tenure/ESS Clock
The Provost’s Office has been asking the Union for a clock stoppage for those Faculty or Academic Staff requesting such an accommodation due to COVID-19 related issues.

3. Academic Staff work-at-home
An abrupt shift to working from home created challenges for many Academic Staff related to expectations of schedule availability, hours, and productivity. While the negotiations with representatives from the Administration have been generally amicable, there were several areas that needed further clarification that have been resolved.

 

4. Remote Instruction
Challenges related to expectations, resources, and capacity needed to shift to remote instruction from campus classrooms continue to be an area of concern for our Faculty members. With the need to engage in contingency planning for the Fall semester, we continue to negotiate with the Administration.

 

5. Parking Fee Deductions
As of April 1, parking payroll deductions have been suspended. Some of our members requested cancellation of their semester parking agreements prior to the pause in deductions. Although parking policy for reinstatement includes a 30-day delay, our Union Council Parking Committee reported that the issue is being resolved for any member who submitted the cancellation request.

 

6. Return to Campus
This week, the Administration began forming a committee to plan the return to campus operations. The Union has a representative on that committee. However, we have made it clear to the Administration that mere representation on a larger committee is not a replacement for direct negotiations for matters that are mandatory subjects of bargaining.

 

7. UPDATED HR COVID-19 Page: Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) and the expanded Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA)
Earlier we reported on an expansion of our Special Needs time available to use for child care during this time of school and daycare closures. As of April 1, the FFCRA and expanded FMLA provide an alternative that some members may wish to use. As there are several possible options to address a need for leave time related to child care, please contact our team to discuss the best options.

While conditions are changing quickly, we will work to provide updates on issues that will affect our members. Please continue to send inquiries and examples of issues that need to be addressed as you experience them personally or learn about them from other members. Many of the clarifications and updates to the evolving policies and practices being negotiated with the Administration are matters that our members have brought to our attention. We will monitor your messages and continue responding as promptly as possible to any inquiries that we receive.

In Solidarity,

Charlie Parrish, President
Ricardo Villarosa, Chief Negotiator
Michelle Fecteau, Executive Director

02/28/19 ASSC "Selective Salary and Annual Review" worhshop video

on YouTube

Union Prevails to Stop Reductions in Short-Term Disability/Were You Affected?

read about the short-term disability grievance and the Arbitrator's ruling here

02/22/18 ASSC "What's Up With HR?"

Please join the Academic Staff Steering Committee (ASSC) for a panel discussion to learn more about the role of Human Resources and the role of the Associate Provost for Academic Personnel. We are looking forward to sharing how the AAUP-AFT, Local 6075, WSU Chapter, interacts with both.

We kindly ask that you submit questions ahead of time, and the program facilitator will pose the questions to our panel. Email questions in advance to Cynthia Merritt, at fm7081@wayne.edu, by Friday, February 16, 2018.

This event will be held on Thursday, February 22nd, from 12:00 p.m.- 1:30 p.m., in the Community Room of the Undergraduate Library.

Please be sure to register in advance using the following link: https://academica.aws.wayne.edu/vub?destination_url=https://www.eaa.wayne.edu/event_new/session_registration.cfm%3Feid%3D1901%26sid%3D25645.

Settlement of Article XXIV Grievance

and its signed copies (PDF) of "Final LOA Faculty Mentoring" and "Final MOU" are posted on the web site.

Wayne State faculty file grievance against School of Medicine

"In a letter to members, Parrish described several examples of professors who have received job performance letters:"

• One professor was given a substantial raise for research by his unit's salary committee in each of the past two years.

• Another has published nearly 20 articles in the last three years. He was granted tenure in 2014 and in 2016 received a letter from the dean.

• A third professor, when asked the last time he met with his chair to discuss his work, said it was in 2012.

more at Crain's Detroit (google search for full article)

Dental Benefits Update

 

Specifically:

3. Dental Insurance

Previously, there was no contribution for our bargaining-unit members for dental insurance. Beginning this year, there will be a 5% contribution to dental insurance, increasing to 20% in 2016. The 5% ANNUAL contribution amounts are as follows: single coverage -- $19.80; two- person -- $38.54; and family -- $70.07. 

Download the PDF of the Preliminary Outline of the Terms of the Tentative Agreement.

Message from President Charles Parrish:

Dear Colleagues:

The increase in the contributions for dental coverage has surprised everyone, except for those few who consulted the Collective Bargaining Agreement that we negotiated in 2013.  Under Article XII, Compensation, the following language was adopted:

E. Dental Insurance

"The University shall provide dental care coverage as presently described in the University’s dental care contract with Delta Dental of Michigan to eligible enrolled members of the bargaining unit. Members of the bargaining unit who participate in this plan shall be required to make a contribution equal to five percent (5%) of the premium rate for the coverage selected effective immediately upon ratification. Effective March 20, 2016, members of the bargaining unit who participate in this plan shall be required to make a contribution equal to twenty percent (20%) of the premium rate for the coverage selected. Beginning January 1, 2000, the annual cap on benefits will be one thousand five hundred dollars ($1,500)."

This was negotiated by our team and the University's team as part of the Final Settlement (2/26/13), which included the 2.5% salary increase for each year of the Agreement through 2021.  The Final Settlement Summary, which was distributed prior to the contract vote, is attached for your convenience, and also on the website .

The increase is not insignificant, but in the context of the overall settlement, the leadership of the Union thought it to be a reasonable compromise in view of the favorable overall settlement.

A comparison to costs of dental coverage at our sibling institutions is enlightening, if not much of a justification for a surprise increase.  For example, at UMich, the monthly contribution for their highest level of dental coverage is 50% of the total premium rate, which for a 2-adult family with children comes to $71.98 monthly/$35.99 twice monthly.

We apologize for not better preparing the members of the bargaining unit for the increase that takes place on 3/20/2016.

In Solidarity,

Charlie

-- 

Charles J. Parrish

President, AAUP-AFT, Local 6075, WSU Chapter

Vice President-at-Large, AFT Michigan

President, AAUP Michigan Conference

Member-at-Large, National Council, AAUP

5057 Woodward Avenue, Suite 3301

Detroit, MI  48202

313.577.1750

Report calls for tighter rein on UW System faculty tenure

"The report, which critics called a thinly researched political attack, is timed to an upcoming regents vote March 10 on a new tenure policy. The policy is needed because existing tenure policy was shifted from state statute to the Board of Regents by the state Legislature...

The institute is a think tank financially supported by the conservative Bradley Foundation."

More via Milwaukee-Wisconsin Journal Sentinel and the Trouble With Tenure report.

Financial Crisis in The School of Medicine

Dear Colleague:

The attached memorandum has been sent to all members the WSU AAUP-AFT. It spells out the fiscal problems faced by the School of Medicine and  discusses the role of the Union in response to it. All members of the faculty and academic staff should know that any Administration measure taken in the School of Medicine could have implications for the rest of the University. Any questions can be directed to me at: c.j.parrish@wayne.edu; or charlesjparrish1@gmail.com.

You should be assured that the Union is studying the situation and is committed to the protection of faculty and academic staff rights as the situation moves forward. Be sure to pay attention to the section on the "Duty of Fair Representation."

In solidarity,

Charlie Parrish

--

​​

Charles J. Parrish

Professor, Political Science

President, WSU AAUP-AFT Local 6075

Vice President At-Large, AFT Michigan

President, AAUP Michigan

5057 Woodward Ave., Suite 3301

Wayne State University

Detroit, MI 48202

(313) 577-8160 (Office)

View / download here: 

02/04/16 Academic Forum "Contractual Rights"

video recording is now available on YouTube