Daily Egyptian 10/19/11

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Faculty Senate encourages union settlements

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believe I can state for my colleagues that we all agree that we do need to ‌ resolve this matter not only in a fair and impartial manner, but also in an expeditious manner.

— Gerald Spittler Faculty Senate member

TARA KULASH Daily Egyptian Members of the Faculty Senate voted unanimously Tuesday to pass a resolution urging the administration and unions to come to contractual agreements. Senate member Jonathan Wiesen read the resolution, in which senate members urged the Faculty Association, the Association of Civil Service Employees, the Graduate Assistants United and Non-Tenure Track Faculty Association to resolve their differences in good faith because contract negotiations would be in the best interests of the university. “A prolonged impasse at the bargaining tables and a possible interruption to the semester will have unfortunate, immediate consequences, such as a disruption to our students’ progress toward graduation, and unfortunate long-term consequences, such as a disruption to our recruitment

STEVE MATZKER | DAILY EGYPTIAN

Faculty Senate member Allan Karnes, also associate dean and professor in the school of accountancy, speaks to the Faculty Senate Tuesday at the

Student Center’s Kaskaskia Room. The senate approved a resolution to urge the IEA/NEA unions and SIU administration to reach a prompt agreement.

and retention efforts,� the proposal stated. Faculty Senate President Bill Recktenwald said he was surprised there was not any debate on the resolution.

Wiesen said the resolution came out of the executive committee with almost complete unanimity. He said it was similar to a resolution in 2002

Recktenwald said he believes it to be a good sign the two sides are ready to negotiate since some faculty in the senate are also union members.

when the Faculty Senate wanted to stay neutral in bargaining negotiations. Please see SENATE | 7

Unions and administration make progress SARAH SCHNEIDER Daily Egyptian In the two weeks since the last of the four unions voted to authorize a strike at any time, union leaders and the administrators say there is progress toward contract negotiations. Graduate assistants, faculty and staff represented by Illinois Education Association unions have been without contracts since June 2010 when their previous contracts ended. From Sept. 27 to Oct. 5, dues-paying members of the unions voted and authorized a strike date to be set if no further progress was made towards a settlement. The vote was the last legal step toward a strike. Chancellor Rita Cheng said recent media accounts have said there has been a change in attitude during bargaining but she said she believes the bargaining teams have been dedicated throughout the process to find a solution. Faculty Association President Randy Hughes said both the association’s and the administration’s bargaining teams have met almost every day since the vote took place. Cheng said the change in frequency picked up around Sept. 1 when she said the administration was willing to meet every day. Hughes said there has been a change in

what happens at the bargaining table. “We thought for a long time very little was productive and I can’t say any progress has been made when it comes to the very key issues and concerns that are preventing 177)$ DSSURYHV VWULNH DXWKRUL]DWLRQ YRWH us to a settlement but we haven’t seen nearly October 5, 2011 )RXU XQLRQV ILOHV enough progress on those key concepts,� he 8QIDLU /DERU 3UDFWLFHV Four campus unions have been DJDLQVW said. “What we do have is more productive 177)$ UHDFK LPSDVVH without contracts since June 2010. 6,8 %RDUG March 10, 2011 and we have more narrowly isolated the issues RI 7UXVWHHV that need to be resolved.� )RXU XQLRQV June 6, 2011 )$ DSSURYHV VWULNH RSHUDWLQJ XQGHU He said issues of language in the Reduction )$ HQWHU PHGLDWLRQ DXWKRUL]DWLRQ YRWH LPSRVHG WHUPV RI &RQWUDFWV HQG March 2, 2011 September 28, 2011 in Force Item in the administration’s imposed ODVW EHVW ILQDO RIIHU June 30, 2010 April 4, 2011 terms put on the unions in April have been to present discussed further but the association wants a formal proposal. Cheng said there has been positive exchange to make sure language is clarified. “There have been different language proposals exchanged in the unfortunate September 27, 2011 January 2011 March 30, 2011 NTTFA $&6( DSSURYHV VWULNH $&6( *$8 177)$ situation should occur where we would have 1RQ 7HQXUH 7UDFN )DFXOW\ $VVRFLDWLRQ )$ UHDFK LPSDVVH DXWKRUL]DWLRQ YRWH HQWHU PHGLDWLRQ GAU to reduce force,� she said. September 30, 2011 March 7, 2011 *UDGXDWH $VVLVWDQWV 8QLWHG $&6( VWULNH LPSDVVH *$8 DSSURYHV VWULNH The Graduate Assistants United met with ACSE $VVRFLDWLRQ RI &LYLO 6HUYLFH (PSOR\HHV DXWKRUL]DWLRQ YRWH the administration Friday. GAU President Jim FA April 28, 2011 )DFXOW\ $VVRFLDWLRQ )RXU XQLRQV DQQRXQFH Podesva said he would not consider what the DQ LQWHQW WR VWULNH ZDV ILOHG bargaining team has offered to be progress, SABRINA IMUNDO | DAILY EGYPTIAN although there have been more discussions regarding health care. follow the guidelines, he said. care and so far we have seen the same thing as movement,� GAU has proposed that the university “We are trying to take some compliance towards the Podesva said. commit to the federal health care guidelines some common ground with affordable care act and that is but the university is under no obligation to the administration on health very encouraging but that is not Please see UNIONS | 7

Illinois Education Association union contract negotiations


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