When President Lori Stewart Gonzalez suggested that there may be pay raises for faculty in her State of the University Address pending budget constraints, those remarks spurred a response from employees spearheading unionization efforts.
Better pay and concern about benefit premiums were two issues that inspired United Academics of Ohio University (UAOU) to begin organizing a union earlier this year.
Gonzalez said the University would hold all employee benefit premiums flat for the next two years to place more money in the pockets of faculty and staff. She also said that changes in compensation were not off the table, provided the University can achieve its benchmarks.
“I know you want more in terms of real change to compensation, including higher annual raises, more opportunities for promotion or professional growth and recognition for exemplary performance,” Gonzalez said during Thursday’s speech. “The question really isn’t if we’ll make those changes, but how we will make them and when we can, recognizing budget constraints.”
Responding to Gonzalez’s speech, UAOU Spokesman John O’Keefe said, “This didn’t happen without the pressure that we’ve been putting on the university administration: this is the result of the unionization campaign. We’ll see the extent to which compensation is adjusted: we have yet to see significant results from the long-touted faculty compensation study. The most effective way to raise faculty wages and improve benefits it to have a negotiation through collective bargaining, where faculty will set down with administrators and negotiate wage increases — and the way to do that is to vote for a union.”
Seventy percent of the faculty has endorsed forming a union to address demands for better pay and an equitable teaching workload. In April, a crowd of Ohio University faculty marched around College Green in a show of support for unionization.
When UAOU announced its plans to form a union, the university said it agreed to some terms but disagreed on others, specifically classification about who would be represented by the union and exclude faculty within the College of Health Sciences and Professions (CHSP) and Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine (HCOM).
OU faculty filed a union election request on March 8 with Ohio’s State Employment Relations Board (SERB). Since that filing, OU’s administration filed its response on May 9 with the State Labor Board regarding UAOU’s request for a faculty union election and suggested that the union and administration appear closer to an agreement.
O’Keefe provided an update as to where unionization efforts are. For now, negotiations between Cutler Hall and UAOU remain ongoing.
“We are continuing to be active as negotiations have continued — we are in talks about who will be included as eligible to vote in the election.”
O’Keefe shared an email with the Messenger that was recently sent to union supporters, which is published below.
UAOU and representatives for OU met with the State Employment Relations Board Administrative Law Judge on Wednesday (Oct. 9) for a status conference.
The remaining issues discussed were about CHSP Sciences/HCOM as part of our unit and clarity on multiple appointments and directors. Here’s a quick breakdown:
OU is to provide a list of excluded directors by October 15.Hearing dates set for January 15 and 16, 2025.Pre-hearing preparations will be needed, particularly an exhibits and witness list. Keep an eye out on future messaging!There is a follow-up information and faculty Q&A planned with Steve on October 28 to resolve outstanding issues before hearings. This will also involve faculty.The hearing will clearly define the bargaining unit and we are hoping for no more delays. We are looking forward to taking this next step towards our time to vote!
OU and Ohio State University are the only public institutions of higher learning in the state that are not unionized.
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