a letter to the Western Michigan University Board of Trustees from WMU-AAUP president, Dr. Cathryn Bailey

Dear WMU Trustee,

I’m reaching out again about salary/healthcare negotiations between the Western Administration and the faculty because I want to make sure you’re aware of how tense the situation is becoming. Not only my faculty colleagues, but employees from across campus, are urging the faculty union, the WMU-AAUP, to “stay strong,” and that is what we will do. Whether they are custodians, advisors, landscapers, teaching assistants, part-time instructors, or professors, many of my Western colleagues believe that WMU’s chronic trend of lowballing employees—with an insulting anti-union attorney now routinely speaking for them—symbolizes its ongoing disregard for, and disinvestment in, our university’s core mission.

It is because the faculty take our responsibility to students (and their families) so seriously that we plan to ramp up actions on campus in the coming days. My colleagues’ enthusiasm has been further stoked by a campus-wide message sent by the WMU Admin rationalizing another low compensation offer after years of precipitously falling wages. If you haven’t seen that message, I hope you’ll give it a look, especially since the Administration’s negotiation team is attributing its low salary offer to you. In short, the WMU-AAUP has been told that it is the WMU Board of Trustees—and President Montgomery— who refuse to consider robust raises for employees. The WMU negotiation team would like to do better by the faculty, they tell us, but, alas, the President and the BOT has instructed them to hold the line at 2.75%, a number that, given the context, faculty find insulting.

Whether it is actually true that the BOT has provided such instruction, I cannot say, but, regardless, I would ask you to consider the full context of the situation in which WMU employees have become increasingly frustrated and impatient. Much of our documentation and messaging can be found on our blog, and I am also available to talk with you if you think that would be helpful. To be clear, not only are WMU employees willing to show up strategically in the coming days—at what should be a time of unmitigated excitement and celebration on campus—but we will continue to do so, if, as seems to be the case, the Administration plans to stand by its low offer.

In closing, I want to be clear that all employees understand that Western has the power to insult and lowball employees. This is obvious as it has been happening for years. And we all get that, in some ways, the Administration is more powerful than employees and students. But in all of the ways that ultimately matter, of course, it is actually frontline employees, and students and their families, that hold the real power. And just as the mood of the country has shifted to one of hope and determination, so too has that of WMU employees. In short, we want to restore Western’s reputation as a great place to learn and to work, and we hope you will be our allies in that cause.

Respectfully, Cathryn

If you too would like to reach out to members of the Board of Trustees, they are listed here.

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