Lecturer Bargaining Update: Dearborn Bargaining Kickoff Recap for 11/10/2023
LEO Members heard from a variety of speakers during our lunchtime rally
Friday, November 10th, 2023
We met for our second bargaining session in Dearborn and continued to present our proposals to management. We also held our second kickoff event with allies and members. LEO Dearborn Campus Chair Margaret Mikula led the kickoff where we heard speeches from LEO member Aurora Harris, student leaders Sammi Caruso and Wasey Rehman, tenure-track ally Michael MacDonald, UAW 600 Financial Secretary Jay Makled, and LEO President Kirsten Herold. Our speakers discussed the incredible contributions that lecturers make, situated our fight within the larger labor movement, and committed to working with allies to secure our fair share.
We presented eleven more proposals that included additional provisions for the Inclusive Teaching Professional Development Fund, course banking, more clearly articulated and fair workload expectations, improved access to leaves, layoff/reduction/recall, performance evaluation, and diversity in hiring (Presentation Slide Show).
There was some discussion and acknowledgement that current contract language is not working as intended. One theme among our proposals is an attempt at systematizing and codifying best practices in certain units.
In the afternoon, Bryan Dadey gave a financial presentation of Dearborn’s fiscal situation. He stressed the downward trend of enrollment over the past decade, increasing expenses, and other challenges.
We asked clarifying questions that included the following:
Why has management had 8 recent hires in the past 6 months if enrollments are down?
If the demographic trends have predicted declining enrollments, why does the University continue to base its budget decisions on flat enrollment?
If things are so bad at Dearborn, why has leadership continued to turn down assistance from Ann Arbor?
Our Dearborn members presented an alternate view of the financial situation during the caucus which included a breakdown of the significant costs of top administrators as compared to lecturers.
There will be our third bargaining session and final kickoff event in Flint this Friday, November 17th. Show your support for our Bargaining Team, and show our collective strength by coming to these events and attending hybrid bargaining.
If you join bargaining on Zoom, make sure to change your profile picture and Zoom background.
Dues paying members have access to our Lecturer Slack Workspace where they can get live bargaining updates as well as participate in a myriad of different group conversations where questions get asked and answered and fun is had. Additionally you can check out our new LEO website bargaining page.
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LEO members and allies mingle in the caucus room before lunchtime.