By Joanna Nolasco

Amid recent contention regarding faculty-salary freezes, a faculty group at the UW has voted to initiate the first steps toward unionizing.

The American Association of University Professors (AAUP) UW chapter voted June 2 to form a committee responsible for inquiries and efforts toward faculty unionization.

“A lot of faculty are concerned that their voice is not being adequately heard in the running of the university,” said Janelle Taylor, AAUP president. “This is not narrowly about salaries, but salaries are one of a number of different issues. It’s more about process. It’s more about having a say.”

Since Gov. Gary Locke signed legislation in 2002 that enables faculty to unionize, four other Washington state public universities have formed faculty unions: Central Washington University, Eastern Washington University, Western Washington University and Evergreen State College.

The next step of the newly-formed committee will be to communicate with faculty across the UW campus about their particular concerns and how they could be addressed.

The establishment of a faculty union won’t be overnight, Taylor said.

“It’s a long haul,” she said. “You start slow and you start by basically listening to people all over the campus. … And then you work from there.”

I recommend that folks interested in progressive campus politics look at the Educational Justice blog.

Another good source is insidehighered.com

Faculties that are unionized have significantly higher percentages of courses taught by tenured or tenure-track faculty members, as opposed to adjuncts, according to research presented this week at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association. At the same time, colleges that are unionized tend to spend less per student on academic support services, the analysis found.