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Furloughs Revisited
by HarveyWolff 
The issue of furloughs, like a bad penny, has come around again. Early in September of this academic year we received a request from the attorney for the Board of Trustees to negotiate about the issue of furloughs. Our contract only mentions furloughs, albeit in the guise of layoffs, in Article 19 (tenure/tenure track) on financial exigency. We responded to this request by indicating that we would want to invoke the process in that article which called for the creation of a joint committee to examine the financial crises that would be the occasion of furloughs. They responded that the situation was not a financial crisis as envisioned in the article, but they nevertheless wanted to discuss furloughs. After the furor of the bonuses and the discovery that due to increased enrollment there was no immediate need for furloughs, things died down. In the meantime the President created a committee consisting overwhelmingly of administrators to report on a furlough plan. As of this writing, we do not know the details of the plan.
In early February, our attorney received another communication from their attorney that the Board was again interested in negotiating about furloughs. The UT-AAUP Executive Board met to discuss a response. The response approved by the UT-AAUP Board is indicated in the letter below.
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The Labor Movement, the movement that fought for the eight hour day, the 40 hour week and vacations to become a reality in the American workplace, has officially arrived at the University after 100 years of it being a non-union workplace.
Well, almost.
The fledgling University chapter of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) achieved their first milestone, getting 58 percent of the full-time faculty to sign cards stating that they wish to have a vote on union representation. In this election, all full-time faculty, tenured, tenure track and non tenure track will be able to cast a vote for or against certification of the union.
This topic fairly lit up the faculty discussion board in the latter part of 2008, and then it died down. From e-mails I have received, I assume it is setting the FDB on fire again. One of the problems with organizing a group of so-called smart people like the faculty is that sometimes, when it comes to basic issues, their massive intellect does not lend itself well...
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