AAUP Executive Board meeting, Wednesday March 4, 2015
3:00-5:00 pm
UW Club, University of Washington Seattle
AAUP board minutes
Attendance:
Executive committee members present:
Rob Wood, Atmospheric Sciences, President
Dan Jacoby, UW Bothell Interdisciplinary, Vice-president
Bert Stover, Environmental Health & Family Medicine, Treasurer
At large board members present:
Janelle Taylor, Anthropology
Jay Johnson, School of Environmental and Forest Sciences, emeritus
Diane Morrison, School of Social Work
Duane Storti, Mechanical Engineering
Bruce Kochis, UW Bothell
Kari Lerum, UW Bothell
Jane Koenig, School of Public Health emeritus
Jack Lee, Mathematics
Ann Mescher, Mechanical Engineering
Guests:
Michael Laslett, SEIU 925 organizing director
Paul Dillion, SEIU 925 data manager
Devin Kelly, SEIU 925 researcher
Matt Bellinger, UAW 4121
Toni Ferro, UAW 4121
Not present:
Dan Luchtel, School of Public Health
Christoph Giebel, Jackson School of International Studies, and History
Amy Hagopian, Public Health, Secretary
Libi Sundermann, UW Tacoma
Agenda:
1. Announcements, review of minutes/action items [Rob]
a. Ira Kalet passing
b. Faculty salary policy
c. AAUP national awards
2. Michael Laslett discuss probe progress
3. Faculty Survey discussion - review the survey and share any additional concerns with the
board.
4. David Parsons update about UAW4121 bargaining
5. Standing items AAUP representation at upcoming Regents meetings
Jan 8 – missed
Feb 12- Christoph Giebel
Mar 12 – Dan Jacoby
Apr 9 – Amy Hagopian
May 14 – Rob Wood
June 11 – Kari Lerum
July 9
Aug 13
Sept 10 – Janelle Taylor
Oct 8 (Tacoma) – Libi Sundermann
Dec 10
Bridges Center for Labor Studies Worker Memorial Day (April 29, 2015)
An EB member needed for planning committee. AAUP UW chapter has sponsored and
participated in the annual Worker Memorial Day organized by the Bridges Center for Labor
Studies, held 11:30 in the HUB (4/29/15). This recognizes the fallen workers in King County
with a ceremony and some presentations about the importance of worker safety. It is a quite
moving experience, and informative too. For the last couple of years Rob has served on the
organizing committee, a friendly group who meet a few times to plan the event. It is a good
opportunity to meet a progressive group of students, union representatives, and other faculty and
to show our support for the labor movement in general.
Please let Rob know if you would be willing to help.
Organizing Probe update
SEIU reported on the faculty interviews. A high proportion of faculty support organizing so far,
even considering that 53 of 70 interviews were not from the AAUP list. Still, there is no
assumption that the interviews are representative of the faculty as a whole. So far other unions
(AAUP, AFT, NEA…) have not stepped forward to participate. Several key issues were
discussed and an approach for identifying the most important issues was put forward. Many
questions came up about how a union would interface with faculty around shared governance,
negotiating, salary policy, tenure, inter-departmental conflicts, administration views, and
timeline.
Faculty survey
The proposed draft faculty survey was reviewed and several suggestions were made to improve
it. The current question addressing UW representation in Olympia needs to be reworked or
dropped. Do you feel U.W. administration is effectively advocating for higher education funding in the state
legislature? Results from this question were a point of contention last year. Bert will compile the
changes and consult with EB before distributing to the faculty.
UAW 4121 bargaining experience
David presented the TA/RA union’s process of preparing for contract negotiations with
administration and their experience developing issues and strategies. Many subcommittees
addressed different issues and worked on the language for bringing to negotiations. Health
insurance was a sticking point with administration cutting benefits without a discussion with the
negotiating team. They also have childcare as a priority issue. The parent union support includes
supplying experienced negotiators, legal consultants, and strategists to facilitate the process is
very valuable.
Next meeting March 25, 3 pm in Atmospheric Sciences 406 (building ATG).
Topics: Vote on SEIU question, review board expansion, plan topic of annual meeting.