Myths About Faculty Unions – Campus Faculty Association

Campus Faculty Association pushes for union to protect academic freedom

Published in the Daily Illini on 9/25/14 Posted: Thursday, September 25, 2014 12:45 am | Updated: 1:42 am, Thu Sep 25, 2014. By Eric Fries | Contributing writer | The Campus Faculty Association believes the creation of unions will help protect University faculty members’ academic freedom. Some members believe that unionization could have helped resolveContinue reading “Campus Faculty Association pushes for union to protect academic freedom”

Featured publication of the week: Faculty Union Basics

How would a faculty union form at the University of Illinois? Our publication Faculty Union Basics explains the key points. Tenured/tenure-track faculty and non-tenure track faculty must form separate bargaining units (Section 3) – and of course a majority is required in each bargaining unit in order for that unit to gain legal recognition. Section 2 discussesContinue reading “Featured publication of the week: Faculty Union Basics”

College of Engineering Executive Committee is Confused: CFA sets the Record Straight

Earlier this week, the Executive Committee of the College of Engineering sent a memo to all engineering faculty, retailing some of the administration’s misleading and confusing pronouncements on faculty unionization. (The CoE ExComm’s statements appear to be drawn directly from a confusing communication the Provost’s office circulated back in 2011.) CFA sent an email messageContinue reading “College of Engineering Executive Committee is Confused: CFA sets the Record Straight”

AAUP demolishes anti-union opinion piece from Chronicle of Higher Education

The Chronicle of Higher Education recently published an anti-union opinion piece by Professor Nicholas Burbules (U of Illinois), titled “How Unions Weaken Shared Governance.” Ernst Benjamin, former General Secretary and currently Senior Consultant to the American Association of University Professors (AAUP), responded yesterday with a hard-hitting critique that draws on his 40-plus years of senateContinue reading “AAUP demolishes anti-union opinion piece from Chronicle of Higher Education”

Myths About Faculty Unions: #6

“We don’t need a union: we have shared governance.” “Shared governance” means that faculty, students, and administration shape decisions affecting the educational and research missions of the university. Shared governance gives faculty the major and definitive role in academic decision making at the level of the department and school, and in the Academic Senate. WhileContinue reading “Myths About Faculty Unions: #6”

Myths About Faculty Unions: #5

“Dues will be excessive, and unpredictable from year to year.” Not true. We will be setting our own dues by majority vote. Union dues don’t change until members vote to increase (or decrease) them. Dues vary from union to union. Some unions assess themselves a flat rate, in others dues are a percentage of salary.Continue reading “Myths About Faculty Unions: #5”

Myths About Faculty Unions: #4

“Union advocates aren’t interested in excellence. They would destroy our merit based system and make everyone equal.” The CFA is interested in excellence. That’s why we talk about class size, the growth of insecure adjunct jobs, allocation of faculty lines and research money, faculty salaries and benefits, and health and safety. In our conversations aroundContinue reading “Myths About Faculty Unions: #4”

Myths About Faculty Unions: Myth #3

“If we have a faculty union, our ‘stars’ will leave!” It is unlikely that our star professors will leave if we form a union. Faculty leave UIUC for a range of reasons. In the last few years, many have taken early retirement out of fear of diminished retirement benefits. Other reasons include salaries that areContinue reading “Myths About Faculty Unions: Myth #3”

Myths About Faculty Unions: Myth #2

“If we have a faculty union, we’ll lose status…. ” This myth is based on the belief that only service and industrial workers have unions, and so unionization must not be relevant to college professors. In fact, as universities are being run more like large corporations, faculties around the country are taking a new lookContinue reading “Myths About Faculty Unions: Myth #2”

Myths About Faculty Unions, #1

In this series, the Campus Faculty Association takes apart some of the most common myths about unions and collective bargaining at universities. Many of these old chestnuts have been around for a century about unions in general. We’re hearing them now on our campus as tenure track and non-tenure track faculty are discussing what collective bargainingContinue reading “Myths About Faculty Unions, #1”