With the negotiation deadline just ONE WEEK away, the WMU Administration is remaining firm in its claim that our university can’t afford robust raises for employees, and threatening to push us into “mediation,” a process that usually favors the employer. Here’s the Western Michigan University Admin’s negotiation strategy so far: blame employees—the faculty are greedy—and blame the Board of Trustees: “We’d love to give you decent increases, but the stingy BOT won’t permit it.” If you’re tired of years of excuses from elite administrators (and their anti-union, gun-for-hire attorneys) for why Western can no longer afford to properly compensate its own core employees, please get involved:

  • stop by Montague House TODAY, grab some posters/fliers, and we’ll provide you with some especially strategic suggestions about what to do with them (key locations will be changing daily)
  • join the WMU-AAUP Student Move-In welcome group tomorrow morning at 10 near the Valley II residence hall (we’ll share treats with students and post/distribute a tall stack of our newest fliers)
  • meet up for Bronco Bash this coming Tuesday (August 27, specific location/time TBA). The plan is for our mobile group to share treats, distribute more informational fliers, and tour the Administration building
  • attend our special outdoor all-member gathering (also open to allies, students, community members, and the press) this coming Wednesday (August 28) at noon. There will be a real-time negotiation update, more fliers, and a live reading—we got a new bullhorn!— of President Montgomery’s latest compensation agreement with our “impoverished” university
  • 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, to its employees, and to our students and their families (here’s an example of letter sent to each Board member from WMU-AAUP president, Cathryn Bailey)

Wear your WMU-AAUP t-shirt as you volunteer in the above ways. Don’t have one? Let us know and we’ll see if we can help with that. Reach out to staff@wmuaaup.net or to the Chapter Secretary or President with any questions.

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