| FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE APRIL 29, 2003 UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN NON-TENURE-TRACK FACULTY VOTE YES FOR UNION Contact: LEO Office 734-995-1813 Detroit, MI. Non-Tenure-Track faculty at the University of Michigan voted overwhelmingly today for union representation, giving themselves the right to negotiate job security, salary, and other conditions of employment with the university administration. The vote, 631 in favor, 135 against, certifies the Lecturers' Employee Organization (LEO) as a collective bargaining agent affiliated with the Michigan Federation of Teachers & School Related Personnel, AFT, AFL-CIO. Eligible to vote were approximately 1,300 part-time and full-time lecturers, adjunct faculty, and visiting faculty on the university's three campuses: Ann Arbor, Flint, and Dearborn. Ballots were mailed April 10 and counted today by the Michigan Employment Relations Commission (MERC). Employed on year-to-year contracts, many faculty members supported unionization because of poor job security. "Many of us worry every year about getting re-appointed. Without a union to represent us, it's hard, if not impossible, to make the University listen to our concerns," Said Margaretha Sudarsih, who teaches Indonesian on the Ann Arbor campus. Other cited more general issues. "What matters most to me is respect," said Jim Anderson, a lecturer in English at UM-Flint. " It is hardly a mark of respect to pay us what the university pays us. 'You can take it or leave it,' we are told. Well, the union gives us another choice." Sometimes called "the dirty little secret of higher education," non-tenure-track faculty sometimes work part-time at multiple universities to cobble together a living. While they teach up to a third of undergraduate courses, their full-time salaries drop as low as $20,000 per year and they frequently work without health insurance. "No longer will I feel invisible at the University; I really feel like I am part of the community now. This is good for our morale as much as for any material gains we may achieve," said Sheryl Edwards, who teaches Political Science at UM-Dearborn. The campaign is part of a national trend of non-tenure-track organizing. "With this victory, we take a major step in the organization of so-called contingent faculty in Michigan and the nation. Organizing higher education workers into democratic unions is critical to the future of academic freedom, the quality of education, and the fate of the American labor movement," said Ian Robinson, a lecturer in Sociology and member of the union organizing committee on the Ann Arbor campus. # # # |