Early this semester the tenure track faculty at Central Michigan University went on strike. This came after months of unsuccessful negotiations with the university to draft a new contract.
The previous contract expired in July and negotiations had been in place since April. It was announced Dec. 2 that a tentative agreement had finally been reached.
Treasurer for Eastern Michigan University’s faculty American Association of University Professors, Howard Bunsis, spoke with several colleagues at CMU and said he supports their cause.
“They feel, as we feel here, that the university has not been committed to the core academic mission,” he said. “It’s not putting enough resources into the classroom. That’s what they were standing up for at Central Michigan.
We supported them for standing up for that. That’s what we want our administration to do as well, to really be devoted to the core academic mission, as opposed to administrative costs.”
Eastern’s faculty contracts expire Aug. 31, 2012. Bunsis said the gains of CMU faculty might influence contract negotiations next summer.
“They’re a comparable institution to ours so whatever raises they achieve, whatever they’re doing, I think it’s a factor in what we’re doing,” he said. “There are differences. We’re a different institution, but things are similar as well. So it’s hard to know how that’s going to play out.”
President Susan Martin did not express any concerns for the imminent negotiations.
“I’m going into my fourth year here and I’m very pleased to say that we’ve had a successful outcome in all of our contract negotiations that have come up since I’ve been here, including the faculty contracts,” Martin said.
“I think we’re trying to work hard together to have a timetable and a plan that again will get us a successful conclusion this summer.”
Bunsis said Martin has only presided over one faculty contract negotiation and claimed it was more contentious than Martin’s comments indicate.
“She has been president for one negotiation,” Bunsis. “It was very bitter. It was a difficult negotiation. We’ve always had difficult contract negotiations historically. Since 1974 there have been about five faculty strikes out of eleven negotiations.”
One of the strikes he referred to was as recent as 2006. These strikes in part result from longstanding tension between the faculty and the administration.
“The relationship between the faculty and the administration here is not where it needs to be,” he said.
“It’s a longstanding difficulty through various presidents of the union and the administration. It’s not where I would like it to be and we have to figure out a way to make it better. We don’t want a work stoppage. That’s the last thing we want. We want to have solid negotiations that go smoothly. We want a solid contract that both sides can agree to.”
Despite these hurdles, Bunsis said both sides ultimately want what’s best for the university. With that solidarity, he hopes a reasonable and fair contract will be drafted in time for classes next fall.
“I think the people who care about the university will eventually come down to a great agreement,” he said. “That’s what I’m hoping happens. Even in the darkest hours of Aug. 29 and 30, I will feel the same way that we can get to an agreement. That’s what I want.”
Martin expressed similar sentiments.
“It really does matter that our employees are happy,” she said.
“I know the faculty love Eastern and our students. I’m very hopeful that we’ll continue to have the kind of hard work that we’ve put in together to get to a mutual agreement that we all can live with and will bring this university forward.”
