CMU union leaders support Ferris State faculty in dispute with university
Union leaders at Central Michigan University support Ferris State University’s Faculty Association after the union filed an unfair labor practice charge alleging FSU’s Board of Trustees violated state labor when it did not pass its contract offer.
According to an article on Michigan Education Association’s website, the Ferris FA filed the charge with the Michigan Employment Relations Commission after the university rejected a tentative agreement for a new five-year contract. Ninety-six percent of the faculty ratified a tentative agreement put forth by representatives of the university board and the union, but the university board rejected the contract Feb. 22.
CMU Graduate Student Union President Michelle Campbell said in an email Tuesday the GSU is "dismayed" Ferris State University did not ratify the tentative agreement.
"The faculty at Ferris is at the end of a harrowing journey of fighting for a fair and equitable working environment at their place of employment," she said. "We are saddened that Ferris State is apparently more concerned with legislators in Lansing than they are with the welfare of their faculty."
Campbell said the GSU believes Ferris State University is "stalling on doing the right thing for their faculty, because they are afraid of retaliation from Lansing politicians."
Representatives of either negotiating party must support the agreement when it is being ratified, and rejecting the agreement is a violation of state labor law, according to the MEA.
The Ferris FA’s current contract is set to expire June 30.
CMU Faculty Association President Laura Frey said in an email Friday she supports FSU's Faculty Association and its efforts on behalf of their faculty.
As for the possibility of a similar situation at CMU, Frey said the CMU FA is not in the same situation as the Ferris FA.
The Ferris FA and administration were in the process of bargaining, while the CMU FA is in the middle of its 2011-14 contract.
“They were positioned to agree to a contract prior to the deadline for the new Michigan RTW legislation,” she said.
According to the MEA, Ferris State University President David L. Eisler wrote in a letter to faculty and staff the contract extension “could have been a good thing for your university.”
“A number of lawmakers were quoted in the media as favoring reduced funding or other sanctions of some kind for universities that signed contracts or agreements delaying the impact of right-to-work,” Eisler said. “When these discussions began, I saw the possibility of reaching a five-year agreement providing good terms, consistency and predictability for faculty. Unfortunately, because of the political developments, we were unable to extend the union security clause.”
The CMU GSU began bargaining Feb. 15 with the university for a new three-year contract. Once the GSU and the university reach a tentative agreement, the GSU expects the university will ratify it, Campbell said.
She said CMU has made it clear that even if the GSU and university were to reach a tentative agreement before the right-to-work law is implemented March 28, CMU's stance is that the tentative agreement would not take effect until after.
The GSU and university are not close to reaching a tentative agreement at this time and do not expect to reach one before the right-to-work law takes effect, according to Campbell.
"Because of these two reasons, we expect that once a tentative agreement is achieved, the university will ratify the tentative agreement that both parties will have invested a significant amount of time and energy reaching," she said.
