The Governor and the Ohio Senate want to deny you a voice through collective bargaining, but now is not the time to be silent. Attached, please find five ways you can fight Senate Bill 5. It’s not a done deal yet!
Wednesday, 23 February, 7:30pm
Olscamp 117
See you there!
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BGSU-FA Headquarters
126 N. Main Street, Bowling Green, OH 43402
Office Phone: 419-353-2940
AAUP:
TO WRITE OR CALL: BGSUFACULTYASSOCIATION@GMAIL.COM / (419) 353-2940.
Join the BGSU Faculty Association, and you can help to set the direction of the official union of full-time faculty at BGSU. In the coming weeks, we will take the following steps:
* Drafting, revision, and ratification of the BGSU-FA Constitution.
* Election of officers, in keeping with that Constitution.
* Preliminary work toward our first collective bargaining effort, including the impaneling of our first bargaining team.
Only dues-paying members of the BGSU-FA will have a vote in these important matters, so we urge you to get involved today.
Membership is easy and affordable, with tiered levels of payment based on salary. Payment plans are available.
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Choose one of these two easy ways to join the AAUP:
1) PAY IN MONTHLY INSTALLMENTS: Click on this link to SUPPORT THE ORGANIZATION THAT SUPPORTS YOU. (AAUP & BGSU-FA membership forms, include voided check.)
2) PAY INSTANTLY BY CREDIT CARD: To Access the AAUP membership form from the AAUP site, click here.
ALSO, CONTRIBUTE TO THE BGSU-FA LOCAL AND ENTER A RAFFLE: To contribute separately to the BGSU-FA and enter to win an Amazon Kindle, click here.
Colleagues from across BGSU’s campuses and colleges have asked a number of important questions about the BGSU-FA and collective bargaining in general. Watch this spot for answers to these questions.
The BGSU-FA is a chapter of the American Association of University Professors. To become a member of the BGSU-FA, one simply joins the AAUP. People join at different times, so their memberships expire at different times. So the membership number fluctuates from day to day and week to week, but includes colleagues from across the campuses and colleges. Won’t you consider joining (http://www.aaup.org/AAUP/involved/join/)? Beyond the paid membership, we have been joined by dozens of volunteers for office visits, envelope stuffing and the myriad activities that have gone into our drive for collective bargaining. You don’t have to pay dues to work for a better BGSU.
In our efforts we have been joined by friends and colleagues from campuses in Michigan and Ohio, as well as from the AAUP. In our most recent newsletter, for example, Howard Bunsis of Eastern Michigan University’s AAUP chapter offers an analysis of their recently negotiated contract. We’ve also been joined on campus by colleagues from Kent State, the University of Akron, Wright State and others. You may have also seen the friendly faces of Jenn, Pat and Kira from the AAUP. The hard work, good advice and optimistic attitudes of all of these supporters have made this campaign a joy.
It is impossible to answer hypothetical questions about future decisions that will have to be made by the BGSU-FA. We offer the basic principles by which those decisions will be made. The BGSU-FA is a democratic, membership-driven organization. Decisions about dues rates and what we will bargain for in our first contract will be made after the leadership determines what the membership and all faculty want. Determining this could include but not be limited to surveys of all faculty, discussions at open meetings, and informal conversations among the membership and leadership of the BGSU-FA. We would also point out that if hard budget times return, we would be willing to negotiate solutions. As things stand now, non-tenure track faculty have been terminated, furloughs have been imposed and salary freezes mandated — all without faculty having a voice. Also, our FAQ Document (http://bgsu-fa.org/wp/?page_id=21) does a splendid job answering questions such as:
How will salaries be determined under collective bargaining?
Will there still be merit pay under collective bargaining?
Do all faculty pay union dues, even if they don’t join the BGSU-FA?
Regarding dues, as with any organization that wishes to be successful, the BGSU-FA does and will charge membership dues. Faculty who vote for collective bargaining want an organization that can do it well and effectively. Like all vibrant faculty unions, the BGSU-FA will need the support of its constituents, including financial support. We’d like to have the capacity, including financial, to work together with the BGSU administration in the Statehouse when matters affecting our university are being addressed by our governor and legislature. We’d like to have the capacity, including financial, to assist the leadership of our Faculty Senate to go to governance training workshops and conferences to increase their skills and knowledge of university governance. We’ll need financial resources to enforce the contract negotiated between the faculty and the administration, including the grievance procedure.