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April 02, 2008, 12:26 PM ET
Do the Right Thing, Irvin
crossposted from howtheuniversityworks.com
I posted yesterday on the campaign of 900-member United Part-Time Faculty at Wayne State, an AFT affiliate, to win job security for faculty serving contingently. Like workers in most fields, they believe that serving part-time doesn’t exempt faculty from workplace due process, seniority, and continuing appointment.
I wrote my letter to WSU president Irvin Reid and copied the union as below: April 2, 2008 To: president@wayne.edu, uptf@aftmichigan.org Subject: End Permatemping Now
Hi, Irvin. I understand you’re having a little trouble with your 900 permanently temporary faculty. The thing to do here is follow the lead of John Sexton and Bob Kerrey of NYU and the New School, who made quick deals with the 4,000 faculty represented by Academics Come Together (ACT-UAW Local 7902) — deals that made the faculty and students happy, didn’t bankrupt the school, and kept “the business of education” rolling on smoothly.
The folks of UPTF have quite wisely made job security the core of their project. It sounds to me like they’re pretty serious, as they should be. And as I read the political atmosphere these days, I think their position is going to end up sounding pretty reasonable to most folks — including journalists, who for the past five years have experienced a whole lot of permatemping themselves.
If I were you, I’d give some thought to doing the right thing here. It didn’t hurt the careers of Sexton or Kerrey. I would guess this isn’t the right time to play the pugnacious executive and get booed in every stadium and auditorium you enter for the next several years. In solidarity with UPTF, Marc Bousquet.
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