The faculty of the fourth-largest university in Michigan went on strike Sunday night, hours before classes were scheduled to start this morning.
Central Michigan University, located in Mount Pleasant, Mich., is the latest victim of Gov. Rick Snyder and the Republican Legislature’s vicious education cuts. The contract negotiations also have been subject to an inflexible administration and board of trustees, who — despite a more than $200 million university surplus — have refused to give employees a modest pay increase.
The Detroit Free Press reported:
The strike was being closely watched by universities across the state because it could foreshadow next year, when faculty contracts at several other Michigan universities -- including Wayne State University and Oakland University -- are set to expire. The last faculty strike in Michigan was in 2009 at OU.
At CMU, the first salvo was fired about 8 p.m. Sunday by the 600-plus members of the faculty union, when they went out on strike, about 12 hours before classes were to start.
"This take-it-or-leave-it attitude is what we've faced all along," said Faculty Association President Laura Frey in a statement. "We've filed unfair labor practice charges against the university citing their refusal to bargain in good faith. This is why the faculty is not where they really want to be -- with their students."
Frey said, "In the past, we have always been able to reach a settlement, but it seems that this new administration isn't looking to work with faculty to settle a contract. Unfortunately, students end up being negatively impacted."
It didn't take administrators long to fire back. Shortly after 9:15 p.m., administrators sent out news releases announcing they would be filing a court injunction this morning, seeking a stop to what they called an illegal work stoppage.
"The impact of the (Faculty Association's) action places an unfair burden on students who want to graduate in a timely fashion, pursue graduate school or launch successful careers," the administration said in its statement.
"CMU remains committed to working with the FA toward a contract that is fair and equitable to all parties. CMU and the FA have both petitioned for fact finding, which is the appropriate process to follow in coming to terms on a collective-bargaining agreement."
The administration said it offered a 0% pay increase this year and needed concessions in benefits to help make up for state aid lost when Gov. Rick Snyder and the Legislature cut all university aid by 15%.
The administration’s position is unsympathetic for a number of reasons. Even despite state education cuts, CMU is hardly an impoverished institution. In 2010, Central Michigan Life, the school’s student-run newspaper, reported CMU had unrestricted reserves totaling $228.3 million. The university has said the deal with the Faculty Association would cost $10 million over three years, which is less than 1.5 percent of the school’s reserves per year (assuming, unrealistically, the reserves were to stay steady).
While the bargaining continued and the fact finding was taking place, the university failed to extend the faculty contract beyond June 30. Fact finding can take up to 60 days, according to the Detroit Free Press. This irresponsible decision by the university automatically put the school year at risk for 28,389 students.
Perhaps this is the most telling piece of information: The Faculty Association offered to take no salary increase if tuition remained steady. Given the school’s financial reserves and the brutal economic climate in Michigan, this would have been a newsworthy agreement on the part of school and faculty, and a remarkable gesture to CMU’s students. Instead, tuition went up 3.5 percent.
1:13 PM PT: From woodtv.com: "An Isabella Circuit Court judge has issued an ex parte order instructing Central Michigan University faculty to return to work and refrain from participating in 'any concerted work stoppage effort.'
"This is in response to an injunction filed by the university on Monday morning. A hearing on the injunction is scheduled for 9 a.m. on Friday."