LEO Lecturer Job Action Pledge

If you have been following bargaining, you will know that we have made good progress in a number of areas: the possibility of gaining PI status, improvements in benefits, increased job security and workload protections, strengthened Union rights, and others.

At the same time admin has dug in on some key areas: partial leaves (they don’t want lecturers to be able to take course load reductions), wanting to move notice dates into mid May (i.e. telling people whether they have work for the coming year), and, most notably, salary.

On annual raises, they are currently offering 5% in Ann Arbor, but only 2.25% plus an annual $500 lump sum payment for Flint and Dearborn. Almost equally bad is the very slow pace of salary negotiations for Flint and Dearborn; admin has moved only 0.25% in each of 4 counter proposals. They are also refusing to budge on longevity raises, starting pay, and our first and second review minima. We know the University can do far better than that.

So it is time to UP THE PRESSURE. Stewards and staff will be circulating a strike pledge for lecturers to sign in the coming days. You can also sign the pledge digitally. We, your Union Council, urge you to sign the strike pledge today. It is a crucial expression of our strength and our seriousness about the issues remaining on the table.

Note: a strike pledge is not a decision to strike. Instead, when we get enough signatures, the Union Council may decide to send out a strike authorization vote. A majority yes vote would give the UC the authority to call a strike, should we deem it necessary. The decision when and whether to do so is a strategic one, depending on how things are going at the table, so we cannot now predict now when or what kind of strike we would be planning.

If you have questions check out our FAQ or contact a LEO organizer.

Solidarity,

LEO Union Council