Faculty Fight Back:

Building a Faculty Union at BGSU

Amy FryLibraries Fight Back!

ALA 2011 Annual Conference27 June 2011

Librarian rank # Institutions Percent

Professorial (Assistant, Associate and Full Professor)

33 27.7

Other ranks (Parallel or Librarian) with tenure 28 23.5

Other ranks without tenure 13 10.9

Non-faculty 45 37.8

Total 119 100

Librarians with faculty status at U.S. research libraries

Source: Mary Bolin, “Librarian Status at US Research Universities: Extending the Typology.” Journal of

Academic Librarianship 34.5 (2008): 416-424.

Governance at U.S. academic institutions

Source: Rachel Applegate, “Who Benefits? Unionization and Academic Libraries and Librarians.”

Library Quarterly 79.4 (2009): 443-463.

Type PrivatePublic

NonunionizedPublic

Unionized Total

ARL 29 47 19 95

Doctoral non-ARL 53 69 24 146

Masters 273 165 79 517

Baccalaureate 386 47 19 452

Associates 61 435 198 694

Total 802 763 339 1904

Ohio public universities Collective bargaining?

Librarians as faculty?

University of Akron X X

Bowling Green State University X X

University of Cincinnati X X

Cleveland State University X

Kent State University X

Miami University X

The Ohio State University X

Ohio University

Shawnee State University

University of Toledo X X

Wright State University X

Youngstown State University

Sources: AAUP, NCES, institutional websites, and the 2008-09 Ohio Universities Faculty Salary Survey (The Ohio State University, February 2009).

Librarians as represented faculty at Ohio public universities

First BGSU Librarian Ethyl Blum with her staff in 1932. Source: BGSU Centennial Memories.

BGSU Unionization Timeline1978 Faculty consider collective bargaining and complete signature card campaignJan. 1979 Vote for collective bargaining fails1992 Faculty reconsider collective bargainingFeb. 1994 Vote for collective bargaining failsJun. 2008 Faculty gather to discuss grievances; possibility of unionization again raisedJun. 2008 Faculty present then-provost Cheryl Baugher with petitionJul. 2008 Faculty Senate and administration meet to discuss grievancesOct. 2008 AAUP forum for faculty held on BGSU campusDec. 2008 Provost Baugher resignsSpring 2009 BGSU-FA begins signature card campaignApr. 2009 Faculty Senate committee releases Faculty Welfare report showing BGSU lags behind in-state peer

institutions in terms of salary, benefits, etc.Fall 2009 BGSU-FA sponsors presentations on healthcare, finances and shared governance for facultyJan. 2010 Over half of eligible faculty have signed cards in support of representation under the BGSU-FAOct. 2010 Vote on collective bargaining passesNov. 2010 Volunteer Steering Committee formed; most colleges (including the library) represented.

Bargaining research committees formed and begin research.Dec. 2010 Board of Trustees significantly alters Academic CharterFeb. 2011 Librarians meet with Steve Aby, faculty librarian at the unionized University of Akron, to discuss

shared governance issuesFeb. 2011 BGSU-FA Constitution ratified by membershipMar. 2011 SB5 passes Ohio House & Senate and is signed into lawMar. 2011 BGSU-FA holds teach-in about SB5May 2011 Bargaining Council holds initial meetingJun. 2011 Bargaining Council passes first bargaining proposals

Jun 15, 2011: Proposed first day of contract negotiations (rejected by administration)

BGSU signature card.

Dr. Geoff Howes, then Vice President of the BGSU-FA, signing a card in 2009.

Vote for Unionization (October 2010)

Vote was 391-293 in favor of unionization, with over 80% of eligible faculty voting.

Bargaining Research Subcommittees:• Benefits• Family (spousal accommodations, family/medical leave, flexible tenure clocks)• Governance (academic freedom regarding curricular issues, new program

development, graduate education)• Grievance (discrimination, wrongful termination)• Non-tenure-track faculty• Salary

Bargaining Council:Charge: to determine the professional preferences of the Full Members and formulate the draft bargaining proposals.

Composition: The Bargaining Council consists of the voting members of the Executive Committee and elected representatives of the eight colleges. Each of these will have one representative on the Bargaining Council. Colleges with forty or more full members may have one additional representative for each forty full members.

Academic Charter Changes (December 2010)

Example of changes made to the BGSU Academic Charter by the Board of Trustees, issued December 10, 2010. This is a page from Section IV.C (“Faculty Senate Authority Responsibilities and Functions”): “Policies and Standards Framing Authority of the Senate.”

Protest against Senate Bill 5Columbus, Ohio, March 1, 2011

Photo by Sean Welton

Protest against Senate Bill 5Delaware, Ohio, March 12, 2011

Photo by the Ohio AFL-CIO

SB5 Teach-In at BGSU (March 2011)

Left: Flyer showing BGSU rally against SB5.

Below: Ethnic Studies Professor Emily Lutensky speaking about recent anti-union legislation and labor protests in Wisconsin.

Librarian issues leading to unionization

• Furloughs (2009-2010): instituted without faculty input; affected library but not regular teaching faculty

• Elimination of 10-month contract option for librarians (2009)

• Start date for compensation changes for librarians moved from July (start of fiscal year/new contract year) to September (2009)

Embracing the Future, Together