Talking Points for February 5, 2010 Town Hall Meeting, Linda King ...

Employee payments to the union
o Each states that union-represented employees must pay the union that represents them
either via union dues or “fair share.” AFT recently increased dues at WOU by 25% to
finance organizing drives at UO and OSU.
• Management rights
o Each lists rights that continue to belong exclusively to university management, such as
the rights to hire, promote, demote, transfer, suspend, discipline, discharge, test, direct
and schedule employees and to control the use of university property.
• Types of faculty and appointments
o Each describes various categories of fixed-term and tenure track faculty.
o Each outlines the process for faculty appointments, including appointments for summer
term.
• Assignment of duties/teaching load
o Most of the contracts include definitions of normal teaching loads with language that
allows the university to assign faculty work load based on institutional needs and goals.
• Salary
o Each describes salary steps and percentage increases, if any, for each category of
represented employees.
o The new contracts at PSU and SOU call for unpaid furloughs to achieve pay reductions.
At PSU reductions range from 1.15% for the lowest-paid faculty to 4.38% for the
highest-paid. At SOU, 4.6% is the maximum amount that a faculty member’s pay may
be reduced.
• Progressive sanctions/disciplinary procedure
o Each describes the steps through which disciplinary procedures are to progress.
o Each states that employees undergoing disciplinary action have the right to request
union representation.
o Two contracts list offenses for which union-represented faculty and professional staff
can be disciplined.
• Grievance and arbitration
o Each states that grievances may only be filed concerning alleged violations of the union
contract, and may not be filed over matters related to academic judgment.
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