Temporary faculty vote overwhelmingly for union representation
After a yearlong battle, adjunct faculty has gained the right to bargain with the Central Michigan University administration.
Members of the Union of Teaching Faculty voted by a margin greater than 3 to 1 for union representation Friday.
“It was a long road,” said Dan Kukuk, organizer for the American Federation of Teachers Michigan. “We had some major obstacles, but we’re excited now.”
The Michigan Employment Relations Commission sent ballots to UTF members at the end of July. Ballots were due Thursday.
Members could vote yes or no for union representation or to have representation from the Michigan Education Association, Kukuk said.
AFT Michigan has represented UTF in collective bargaining with administration since November 2009.
“We expect the state to certify the results shortly,” said Steve Smith, director of public relations.
Once they are approved, Smith said UTF will put in a request to bargain and it will take one to three weeks to approve, negotiations will begin after that.
CMU administration requested to limit membership on UTF’s bargaining unit by making only adjunct faculty who teach a certain number of credit hours eligible for voting.
Several figures were presented to UTF, but none appealed to the group, Kukuk said. Currently, any adjunct faculty teaching at least one three credit hour course was able to vote and be part of the bargaining unit.
Mary Ann Freling, an adjunct English instructor for 20 years, is looking forward to working side by side with CMU administration.
“It was a lot of hard work and it paid off,” she said. “We’re hoping to get bargaining going by this fall.”
Job security, health insurance, salary and several other conditions of employment will be negotiated during bargaining, Freling said.
Several adjunct faculty with more than ten years of experience have a semester-to-semester contract with CMU, Kukuk said.
“The (members) really want to work for more stability and job security,” Kukuk said.
