Strength in solidarity

a message from WMU-AAUP Chief Negotiator Andrew Hennlich and WMU-AAUP President Cathryn Bailey

After a grueling fight extending a month beyond the negotiation deadline, the WMU-AAUP Executive Committee has approved a complete tentative agreement (TA) on the 2024-26 Contract reopener of Articles 32 and 33. Critical details have been provided directly to members to help prepare for an upcoming ratification vote. While the WMU-AAUP did not get everything proposed, the overall results are very good. It is evident that members’ powerful demonstrations of solidarity have had impacts both on these negotiations, and, we anticipate, on future negotiations and WMU labor dynamics in general. The fact that our entire contract—including both of these Articles—will be up for renegotiation in less than two years from now may serve as helpful context as you consider where we’ve landed now.

For additional context about the unusual nature of the fight we’ve been engaged in during this incredibly challenging “wage reopener,” please see the post linked here and that was separately sent by email to the full membership on Sept. 9. In short, after the negotiation deadline passed on August 30th, the WMU Administration no longer had any clear obligation to provide the faculty with a salary raise. As Article 49 of the WMU/WMU-AAUP Agreement states, the Administration could simply choose to implement its last official offer once negotiations continued past the August 30th deadline (subject to continued bargaining by both sides), but, again, had no obligation to do so. As we had previously noted, this helps explain why they were so willing to drag their feet about salary raises as the deadline approached.

In short, after that deadline passed, and with the Administration’s generally dismissive attitude to faculty concerns consistently on display, the threat loomed that the faculty might get no raise at all. Indeed, we are confident that it is only due to intense pressure from WMU-AAUP members and allies that the Administration has now agreed to a higher number than its previous last official offer (as of August 30), even if this higher figure is still not as high as we would like. Indeed, if the Administration had felt it could get away with agreeing to no raise at all, we don’t doubt that that is what they would have done. In any case, the salary increase figure in this approved tentative agreement is as follows: A total increase of 7.25%, that is, 4% in 2024-25 (retroactively applied), and 3.25% in 2025-26, with an additional one-time lump-sum-payment of $1000 in 2025-26.

Although the WMU-AAUP did not get everything we had proposed, and that the faculty deserve, we have taken some strong steps forward. For one thing, some revised negotiation approaches, including the Chapter’s use of a healthcare analyst, has helped empower the WMU-AAUP in ways that should impact future negotiations and labor relations more generally. In addition, the historically impressive turnout of members and allies at rallies and demonstrations has sent a clear message of strength and determination that will be felt well into the future and in multiple arenas. While WMU employees have many remaining fights to reclaim and restore our university’s academic heart, the energy and solidarity of the past few months will propel us forward.

Following WMU-AAUP procedures, the next steps regarding negotiations are as follows:

-The WMU-AAUP will present the tentative agreements on Article 32 and 33 and will field questions from members at the 11 October all-member Chapter meeting. 

-In the days following the October 11 meeting, the full tentative agreement will be put to a ratification vote of the full membership.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A negotiation message from WMU-AAUP President Cathryn Bailey and Vice President Christopher Nagle

As we shared in a previous message, it appears that the Western Michigan University Administration may have intended all along to stonewall under the guise of “ongoing negotiations” in order to force the faculty into accepting a lowball compensation offer. In short, while the Administration has gone through the motions of negotiating on compensation—and continues to do so—the Administration’s lackluster efforts at compromise suggest a plan to force the faculty into accepting a skimpy increase or risk getting no raise at all. 

As a reminder that, this summer the WMU-AAUP has been focused, not on its entire contract with Western, but, rather, a “reopener” of compensation and healthcare. This means that the contract as a whole remains in force while these two critical articles are renegotiated. While the process more or less functioned with healthcare negotiations—due to open enrollment deadlines, the Administration was eager to get a tentative agreement in place—they seem to feel no such urgency about across-the-board raises. And, as per Article 49 of the WMU/WMU-AAUP Agreement, the Administration may simply choose to implement its last offer if negotiations continue past the deadline, although this is subject to continued bargaining by both sides.

As of now, the Administration’s last offer was, roughly, three percent in each year, representing just 1/4 of one percent increase over their initial offer of 2.75. Why has the Administration barely budged from its low number? One explanation is that they have been planning all along to simply force a low salary onto employees, i.e, their final best offer. Consequently, rather than making an effort to compromise, they have been going through the motions of salary negotiation but failing to budge. 

At the same time, the WMU-AAUP proposal has gone from 11.25/11.25 (with additional annual research supplements), to 8/8, and we have urged the Administration to provide a genuine counteroffer. Crucially, however, while the Administration “may” implement that last offer—a 3/3 they have emphasized the fact that they need not do so. One potential result is that employees could get no raise at all if the WMU-AAUP refuses formally agree to a lowball raise that many of our members have identified as unacceptable. If this process were to continue to unfold, then the Administration would likely attempt to the blame the faculty union for refusing to agree to that lowball offer.

Concern grows when one further considers that the Administration has refused to make itself reasonably available to negotiate at key times. They were not available to negotiate on the crucial last day (August 30) and now seem to be settling on occasional availability. In addition, the process of “negotiation” is one in which our team—including an attorney whom we must pay by the hour—is mostly left to languish in a conference room all day while the Administration authorizes the mediator to reiterate its position to us from time to time. While maintaining this shallow performance of negotiations may not be a big deal for WMU—they seem untroubled at spending hundreds of thousands of dollars —perhaps millions—on an anti-union attorney—this wasteful process is, as they know, a hardship for the WMU-AAUP. This is because of attorney fees and because our team members are busy faculty members and not administrative bureaucrats. 

We reiterate this message to you now because we will not be surprised if the Administration begins to suggest that the faculty union is to blame for the Administration’s failure to implement that “last offer” raise while it continues to engage in its unconvincing performance of negotiating. If so, please keep in mind that they are willfully refusing to provide the faculty with meaningful compensation increases despite the fact that they Western can afford it and that faculty deserve it. Please further note that nothing prohibits the Administration from providing you with that minimal “last offer” 3/3 increase while negotiations continue. In fact, each day that goes by that you see no such increase on your paycheck is cause for concern. Does President Montgomery plan to hold even this small compensation increase hostage by threatening us with a zero increase?

As you consider all this, please also keep in mind that the Administration’s manipulative, disingenuous “negotiating” strategy only works if they continue to believe they can get away with ignoring employee dissatisfaction and solidarity. To that end, the Chapter will continue to help focus the faculty’s ongoing determination to restore investment in Western’s academic mission. See below for ongoing suggestions about how you can participate.

How you can get involved:

• plan to attend our rally at the next WMU Board of Trustees meeting on Thursday, Sept. 26th at the Student Center (scheduled to begin at noon). Wear your WMU-AAUP t-shirt if you have one or a black shirt if you don’t
• subscribe to the official WMU-AAUP blog to be notified by email of new posts, and be sure to review past posts; partly due to concerns about reliance on the Administration’s email system, it is important that we have multiple ways of providing information to members and allies
• stop by Montague House, grab some posters/fliers, and we’ll provide you with some suggestions about what to do with them; order a WMU-AAUP t-shirt today so you’re ready to participate in ongoing actions 
• reach out to members of the Board of Trustees, and to local and state elected officials, and ask for their support in our efforts to get WMU to renew its commitment to its academic mission; here’s an example of letter sent to each Board member from WMU-AAUP president, Cathryn Bailey 
• follow the WMU-AAUP on Facebook and Twitter (X) and share our posts widely; again, having multiple methods of quickly connecting with members and allies has become increasingly important 
• stand ready to participate in ongoing actions, and be sure to share WMU-AAUP communications with colleagues to ensure that this ongoing matter remains on their radar 

 

While the most dramatic story unfolding at Western Michigan University may be the ongoing negotiation battle between professors and the Administration—with the possibility of a strike and Vote of No Confidence still on the table—the context for the recent and ongoing unrest is actually much broader. After many years of what is coming to be known as a “disinvestment by the Administration in its core mission,” employees from across campus have shown up in force at protest rallies. As the president of WMU’s Chapter of the American Association of University Professors, Cathryn Bailey, put it: “Yes, my colleagues are battling for meaningful salary increases for professors, but this is also part of a larger fight to get Western to start investing in teaching and learning again. We’re advocating for ourselves, but also for our students’ education and the value of their WMU degrees.” 

Against this backdrop, it may not be surprising that the “disinvestment” problem is being felt all over campus and in various ways. For example, graduate student Mel Robins (not his real name) shares that when he got his acceptance letter from Western Michigan University, he was thrilled. “I’d turned down much better financial packages from other schools because some of the best faculty in my field were at Western,” he says. Unfortunately, although Robins has loved working with his professors and student cohort, he quickly discovered chronic logistical challenges associated with his role as a teaching assistant, including shifting assignments, untenable teaching loads, and problems related to money owed to him by WMU, all of which were attributed by the Administration to its supposedly shrinking budget. “TAU (WMU’s Teaching Assistants Union) has been great, but I just can’t get over how uninterested the Administration seems to be in attracting and keeping its graduate students.”

According to TAU President Thomas Fisher, as negative as Robins’ experience has been, there’s been an even more worrisome reality unfolding behind the scenes at Western, what Fisher refers to as the Administration’s “fundamental and growing disrespect for its labor unions.” As Fisher puts it, “I’m talking about really basic things here: Administrators who treat employees like underlings or enemies [including at the negotiation table]” and “a knee jerk desire to escalate conflict rather than course correct when we point out contract violations.” Although Fisher is now one of WMU’s longest serving TAU presidents, he did not arrive in Kalamazoo planning to be a union activist graduate student. “The more I’ve seen of the Administration’s disinvestment in academics and its increasingly brazen disregard for its employee unions—including student workers—the more active and determined I have become,” he says. 

As the Administration’s apparent anti-unionism has escalated, Western’s three academic unions, all now united under the powerful AFT umbrella (American Federation of Teachers), have been closely collaborating, both to diagnose and address the problem. Among the causes and symptoms they’re pointing to has been President Montgomery’s and Provost Vasquez Heilig’s commitment to use a notoriously anti-union, aggressive law firm to “deal with” its academic employees, including at the negotiation table. “We used to have an actual office of Academic Labor Relations on campus,” explains Tim Bober, president of WMU-PIO (Professional Instructors Organization). “It wasn’t perfect by any means, but at least there was someone there who understood academic values and didn’t just immediately try to beat us into submission.” And while, as a chronically underpaid, highly experienced WMU instructor, Bober has many concerns about the Administration’s priorities, its naked disdain for its own employees has taken a toll on him. “Basically, they treat us like we’re nothing,” he says. 

All three of Western’s academic labor presidents point to WMU’s once-robust ALR (Academic Labor Relations) office to help explain the university’s burgeoning labor crisis. Now entering a second academic year led by an interim director for whom this is just one administrative gig among many, that office has become more of an obstacle than a place to resolve disputes. Bailey notes the “fundamental shift” that occurred when the Administration hired an external attorney a few years ago to direct its ALR office rather than appoint a faculty member as had always been the case. “Suddenly, we were forced to deal with aggressive professional attorneys right off the bat, with no reliable mechanism to resolve the kinds of issues that are just bound to come up on any campus.” As a result, Bailey explains, the WMU-AAUP has been forced to file a record number of grievances and arbitrations. “President Montgomery apparently has no limit when it comes to the student tuition dollars he’s willing to spend on anti-union attorneys,” Bailey says, estimating that “we may now be talking millions of dollars. And it’s obvious that the Administration is trying to force us to choose between protecting employees’ rights and expensive litigation.” 

As compensation negotiations between WMU-AAUP employees and the Administration proceed past last Friday’s negotiation deadline, Bailey is not optimistic about the Administration’s willingness to make meaningful compromises at the table. “The WMU-AAUP’s team has already made significant compromises in its proposals, she explains, “while President Montgomery’s team has only come up by minuscule fractions after endless stonewalling and foot dragging.” At the same time, she says, she is “heartened” by the determination of colleagues in multiple employee groups urging the WMU-AAUP to continue fighting for as long as it takes.

“The fact that employees are increasingly willing to disrupt campus to draw attention to this problem tells you how urgent we think it is,” says Fisher. He adds somberly that “WMU’s reputation as a great place to learn and work can’t possibly survive if things continue as they have.”

a negotiation message from WMU-AAUP president, Dr. Cathryn Bailey and vice president, Dr. Christopher Nagle

With wage-reopener negotiations between the Western Michigan University Administration and the WMU-American Association of University Professors now continuing on past the Friday deadline*, there’s another element to the compensation story that deserves attention. Because it lacks the drama of radically eroded salary figures, and because its impact is cumulative, this aspect of the university’s whittling away of employee income threatens to get lost in the shuffle. 

But there is no better time to talk about the hidden, growing costs of simply doing one’s job as a professor—a trend rationalized at Western by its supposed “responsibility-centered,” SRM budget model—than during negotiations, and as the Western Administration implies that the faculty are greedy and out of touch. Many of us, however, are well aware that, when we are under-resourced—starved of supplies, travel funds, work space, equipment, and more—it effectively reduces our take-home pay and often negatively impacts students.

Here are a just a few examples: 

⁃ the erosion and erratic supply of professional travel funds: professors, quite simply, need to travel to attend conferences, perform research, collaborate with other faculty, and the like. For most, this is necessary both to earn promotion and tenure, to develop students as scholars, and to remain competent in our fields and classrooms. 

Nonetheless, although Western markets itself as a research-intensive university, it has spent tens of thousands of dollars this past year alone on legal fees to ensure that it has no concrete financial obligation in this area. This is, to be clear, merely one area in which WMU has been disinvesting in its research mission, but it is high on the list of nickel-and-diming, with numerous faculty reporting that they now pay out of pocket or have been forced to stop engaging in these baseline professional activities. 

⁃ the chipping away at reimbursements for other sorts of professional travel, for example, between WMU regional sites for professional purposes related to teaching, research, or service. Increasingly, faculty are being told they must personally pay for fuel to teach a course at a satellite WMU campus or to come to Kalamazoo even to perform assigned work or service, including that which is necessary to directly support students. 

⁃ a refusal by the university to supply necessary “work tools” in a reasonable fashion. To take one example, there have now been a number of reported cases where faculty have been expected to pay for their own work laptops or monitors because the equipment they had been assigned broke or wore out. In one case, a faculty member was stripped of network access—which she needed to teach her classes and communicate with students— when she failed to return a loaner machine on time after the university insisted that she pay for a new machine out of pocket. 

In addition, there are reports of faculty being expected to buy lab supplies, safety wear, photocopies, awards for students, software, studio art space, and, with the near decimation of the library’s budget—access to journals and databases and books. One faculty member reported borrowing from a friend at Grand Valley State—not a research-intensive school, by the way—because our own research-intensive university claimed it couldn’t afford databases or books.

Again, these are just a few examples of how professional expenses are being shifted onto faculty. An ancillary expense has been that WMU’s disinvestment in students, both graduate and undergraduate, has created a situation in which employees across the university feel compelled to step up to fill in critical financial gaps. For example, our campus now abounds with stories of employees—in various employee groups—who have provided books, lodging, meals, and even emergency tuition payments for desperate students. 

The fact that Western Michigan University has permanent charity opportunities for employees to fund students’ basic needs points to a normalization of the fact that the university now effectively expects employees to shore up such deficits. While faculty love our students, and such generosity is to be lauded and supported—indeed, we both participate— the institutional reliance on them further shifts the financial burden of supporting students from the university and onto employees. What does it say about Western Michigan University that it chooses to spend millions on its elite administrators, Division I football, fancy new buildings, and corporate attorneys and consultants, but accepts that food scarcity will be a basic condition for many of its students, both graduate and undergraduate?

We are perhaps all used to this sort of thing with respect to public school teachers, where radical political forces have long suggested that it is a favor to them to pay them at all—let alone to supply them with the supplies and continuing education they need to do their jobs—but this tendency has also been spilling over into higher education. And if third grade teachers can be painted as uppity for daring to request raises and money to buy glue sticks, of course it will be easy enough to portray university professors as selfish elitists. 

Neither characterization is accurate, of course, but with the bully pulpit of institutional authority, communications, and PR smoke-screens to support them, the WMU Administration seems committed to justifying its “starvation-as-management” approach, according to which cutting away at expenditures is desirable regardless of the impact on key services or Western’s academic reputation. And while this chronic disinvestment in Western’s core mission is unlikely to make the news, it helps explain why so many employees are so frustrated and willing to fight on for as long as necessary.

*see Article 49, page 136 of the current WMU/WMU-AAUP Agreement

Got an experience to share about how professional expenses have been shifted onto you at Western? Reach out to staff@wmuaaup.net, or to the WMU-AAUP president or vice president.

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The Western Michigan University Administration’s recent, unprecedented abuse of its campus-wide email system is a classic, anti-union propaganda effort to divide and pit employee groups against one another. In a series of campus-wide emails—full of false and misleading claims about the university’s own faculty members—the Administration has painted itself as generous and benevolent during tense compensation negotiations (deadline tomorrow). It is WMU’s faculty who are greedy and entitled, the messages suggest, providing manipulated self-serving numbers to “prove” its case. 

What’s going on here? President Montgomery knows that if he can get employees to bicker with, and even attack, one another, we’ll stop focusing on him. The result of his campaign so far? A few appalling, vicious anonymous emails to WMU-AAUP leaders, and some willful destruction of union fliers at the WMU-AAUP headquarters. But another result, one surely not intended by our labor scholar president, has been a flood of solidarity from Western employees all across campus. Indeed, each of our recent, wildly successful demonstrations has included folks from no fewer than FOUR Western Michigan University employee groups, some appearing in public with us despite their fear of retaliation.

Again, President Edward Montgomery is a labor scholar, and he knows better than most that “United We Bargain, Divided We Beg.” Not surprisingly, he would rather have employees focused on one another rather than his own exorbitant compensation, weird financial priorities, and lack of vision for our beloved university. Does the fact that his propaganda seems to be leading to attacks on his own faculty—putting students too in the firing line—make any difference to him? Is the Western Administration—with its private anti-union lawyer riding shotgun for the president—so committed to beating its professors into submission that it will destroy our campus climate in the process? 

Oh, and if you want a look at some data provided by an actual qualified, external analyst of academic financial data rather than the Administration’s propaganda machine, here you go. And for more detailed rebuttals of the Administration’s false and misleading propaganda, see here and here. Please share this message far and wide. Remember, Western’s president has the might of the university’s communication system (and ample coffers) at his fingertips, while we must rely on our member and allies. And while we are working with our attorney to build an Unfair Labor Practices complaint against the Administration regarding these actions, we do still need to ensure that employees’ voices are not drowned out by management.

What can you do?

• Stop by Montague House to pick up fliers and posters in support of our ongoing visibility campaign
• Reach out to members of WMU’s Board of Trustees—President Montgomery reports to them—and urge them to fix this now!
• subscribe to this blog, share this post, and keep abreast of ongoing communications from our leadership, including this recent interview with our president
• order a WMU-AAUP t-shirt today and wear it to show your solidarity for all the frontline Western Michigan University employees who actually do the work that makes WMU work!