2010 Contract Negotiations

Saturday, August 28 2010

What is at Stake for EMU

As negotiations drag on, tensions invariably begin to escalate, and not surprisingly, all of us at Eastern begin to worry about public opinion. If you venture into the comments section of Ann Arbor.com, you can find a surprising amount of vitriol, sprinkled with little common sense. The reality is that the comment section is almost always dominated by vitriol and is not representative of the range of the community's views on labor/management strife.

Our reality is that EMU is in strong financial shape. The real conflict in this negotiation is over how to allocate the university's resources. Currently, the administration wants to burden the faculty with a drastic health care hit that represents a serious pay cut. Those earning below the median salary could endure an effective loss of over 5%. In another post we'll offer some concrete examples of how the hits would effect faculty in varying situations.

So if the administration is trying to divert resources away from the faculty - the group central to the university's core academic mission - where are these resources going? As you already know, EMU has the highest percentage of administrative compensation among our comparables , accompanied by the lowest percentage devoted to faculty. In a future post, we'll also show how tuition money earmarked for academics has been shifted to athletics - primarily football. The administration, with Board of Regents approval, has also borrowed money using risky and ill-advised interest rate swap deals, thereby participating in the kind of schemes that have brought Wall Street's shenanigans into ordinary peoples' lives. Additional misplacement of priorities include the highly inefficient EMU foundation, which has expenses of 83 cents for every dollar raised. (The last is not a typo: 83 cents on the dollar).

Despite these problems, Eastern remains in good shape financially. We believe that the reason why is that faculty, staff, the more capable ground-level administrators, and, of course, our students keep EMU together. In the last seven years alone, we have labored under the regimes of (including interims) five presidents, four provosts, and too many regents and deans to count. What endures are the long time faculty and staff who really make Eastern a learning-centered experience for our students. The traditional focus and strength of our university is academics. That is where administration priorities need to shift.

From your EMU-AAUP Negotiating Team

Press Release, 8-27-10

Friday, August 27 2010

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Eastern Michigan FACULTY: UNIVERSITY’S STATEMENTS MISLEADING
Faculty sets the record straight in contract negotiations

Ypsilanti, Mich., Aug. 27, 2010 – The EMU-AAUP (Eastern Michigan University chapter of the American Association of University Professors) is dispelling the myths spread by the university’s administration in a press release posted to the university’s website on Wednesday.

“We were disappointed to see the administration issuing a press release with so many incorrect statements,” said Susan Moeller, EMU-AAUP President. “We have been negotiating with the administration in good faith. Now is not the time for the administration to distribute statements that could mislead the students, their parents, our neighbors and the community at large.”

“We’re looking to deal in facts, not fiction,” said Moeller. “The Fact Finder's report of the last negotiations in 2006 found that the AAUP presentation and analysis of data was consistently more reliable than the administration's. We remain confident in our abilities and in our reasonable assessments.”

Myth #1:
EMU (The administration) is seeking a fair, competitive and economically sustainable contract for faculty.

Fact #1:
The administration is proposing a pay cut for faculty. EMU full professors’ salaries trail nearly all of their peers. They are not competitive. Our peer institutions are receiving 4 percent pay increases for the upcoming year. Administrative salaries at EMU, however, are the highest among comparable institutions.
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Myth #2:
According to the administration, health care costs have dramatically increased, creating a challenging economic environment.

Fact #2:
The administration’s data is misleading, as it includes all employee groups. In fact, faculty health care costs have increased an average of only 5% over the past five years.
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Myth #3:
The administration is seeking to have the faculty share in the success of increasing enrollment as a way to bolster the faculty’s salary.

Fact #3:
Enrollment is a metric beyond the faculty’s control, as numerous economic, social, and regional factors affect enrollment, and the faculty has no control over these factors. In addition, the administration proposes that faculty pay be tied to the state appropriation, another construct that the faculty has absolutely no control over. In fact, the proposed formula is unachievable in the 2nd year of the contract, and very unlikely to ever be reached.
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Myth #4:
The administration says the faculty is resisting efforts to increase its share of the health care burden.

Fact #4:
The faculty now contributes 14 percent of total health care costs of EMU, which is the national average for public sector employers, and has proposed increasing that amount in these current negotiations.
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Myth #5:
The administration’s most recent proposal calls for an increase of 1 percent effective Jan.1, 2011, another 1 percent in July 2011, and a 1-percent increase in July 2012.

Fact #5:
According to the most recent proposal presented to the faculty, the increases would be received as follows: 0 percent in September 2011, 1 percent in September 2011, and 1 percent in September 2012. The July dates are incorrect. The administration has also proposed a 1 percent increase in January, 2011 based on a formula linking student credit hours and state appropriation (see Myth 6 below).
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Myth #6:
The administration states its incentive package that is tied to enrollment growth is unique and innovative.

Fact #6:
No other university in the country ties faculty compensation to the state appropriation. We know of no other institution in the country that ties faculty compensation to student credit hours.
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Myth #7:
The administration states the average EMU faculty salary is more than $91,618.

Fact #7:
The current average EMU faculty salary is actually $73,000. The administration’s amount of $91,618 represents full-time faculty salary as well as pay from additional work, none of which is ever guaranteed.
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Myth #8:
The administration states that the university is facing increasing economic challenges due to dramatically higher health care costs and continued cuts in state aid.

Fact #8:
2010 has generated the highest total revenue in the history of the university. In recent years, the university has been so strong financially that it has allocated more than $1 million in extra funds to athletics and provided an average 8 percent increase in administrative salaries. This use of additional funds is contrary to supporting the university’s core academic mission.
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Myth #9:
The administration states that the university continues to add to the number of its faculty.

Fact #9:
The EMU-AAUP anticipates losing 40 faculty members in each of the next 2 years due to attrition. The EMU-AAUP has proposed that there be definitive targets for faculty hiring, but the administration has refused to even discuss this issue.
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Myth #10:
The administration states that health care costs rose more than 15 percent last year, from $15.7 million to $18.1 million.

Fact #10:
These numbers include all university employees, not just faculty. In fact, faculty healthcare costs are $8 million, and have increased only an average of $500,000 or 7.7% for the previous two years.
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Myth #11:
The union’s salary proposal… is simply unrealistic in today’s economic environment.

Fact #11:
The EMU-AAUP has proven that its salary proposal is easily affordable. Faculty costs account for only 25 percent of total university expenses, and they are not the main driver in terms of tuition increases. What is driving tuition increases are continued increases in administrative costs and continued exorbitant expenses devoted to athletics.

To schedule an interview with Susan Moeller, please contact Leslie Pardo, 248-855-6777 (office) or 248-563-7213 (cell); or Robyn Gorell, 248-855-6777 (office) or 248-229-3669 (cell).

As a member of the National Association of American University Professors and a member of the Collective Bargaining Congress, the EMU-AAUP chapter strives to protect the faculty’s right to academic freedom and ensure faculty governance exists and is upheld at Eastern Michigan University.

Press Release, 8-25-10

Wednesday, August 25 2010

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Leslie Pardo, 248-855-6777, 248-563-7213 cell

Robyn Gorell, 248-855-6777, 248-229-3669 cell

EASTERN MICHIGAN UNIVERSITY ADMINISTRATION PROPOSES PAY CUT FOR FACULTY

Current contract ends Aug. 31

Ypsilanti, Mich., Aug. 25, 2010 – In the final countdown to the current contract expiring at midnight on Aug. 31, the administration of Eastern Michigan University now has proposed to the EMU-AAUP (the Eastern Michigan Chapter of the American Association of University Professors) a three-year contract that greatly increases health care costs and represents an overall pay cut for faculty. The EMU-AAUP is the bargaining agent for the full-time tenure track faculty at Eastern Michigan University.

Linda Kinczkowski, Bob Jones, Suzanne Gray, Donna Selman, Charles Cunningham