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MSU non-tenure track faculty vote for union |
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Friday, 29 May 2009 15:35 |
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FROM AFT-MICHIGAN:
East Lansing, MI. Non-Tenure-Track faculty at Michigan State University voted by a two-to-one margin today for union representation, giving themselves the right to negotiate job security, salary, and other conditions of employment with the university administration.
The vote, 240 in favor, 113 against, certifies the Union of Nontenure-track Faculty (UNTF) as a collective bargaining agent affiliated with AFT Michigan, AFL-CIO. Eligible to vote were approximately 600 part-time and full-time nontenure-track faculty on the university's East Lansing Campus. Ballots were mailed May 6 and counted today by the Michigan Employment Relations Commission (MERC).
Employed on year-to-year contracts, many faculty members supported unionization because of poor job security. "Having increased security allows us to invest more in the university—and the students," Said Stephen Thomas, who teaches Biology on the East Lansing campus.
Other cited more general issues. "What matters most to me is having a voice," said Naoko Wake, a visiting assistant professor in the Lyman Briggs college "Now we will be real citizens of the university community."
The campaign is part of a national trend of nontenure-track organizing. Recent successful campaigns in Michigan have taken place at the University of Michigan, Wayne State University, and Henry Ford Community College. Next month, part-time faculty at Western Michigan University will also vote for union representation.
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