Push to Unionize

“Our working conditions are your learning conditions” said American Federation of Teaches Michigan organizer Jon Curtiss about the push by nontenure-track faculty at Michigan State University to unionize.

The group of about 1000 faculty members is pushing for job security over all else, but also hope to receive increases in base salaries, base raises, and health insurance coverage. These changes would put nontenure-track faculty at MSU on a level similar to that at the University of Michigan, which unionized its non-tenured faculty in 2003.

The push to unionize requires 30% of the affected group to sign union member cards.

At U of M, the unionization of nontenure-track faculty resulted in an increase of base salaries from the high $10,000 to the low-to-mid 20,000 with a potential 7% raise granted they pass a performance review.

Curtiss believes that an increase of salaries and benefits for nontenure-track faculty will not significantly increase costs for students. At U of M, nontenure-track faculty wages account for about 5 percent of the general university budget.