An official strike date has yet to be finalized despite announcements from the Wright State faculty union that the date had been set for Oct. 1. The planned strike date is tentative, according to Martin Kich, president of the Wright State chapter of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP-WSU).
The possibility of a strike is looming due to a proposed contract being negotiated between the union and WSU administration. Contract negotiations were initiated in Jan. 2017 and stalled indefinitely in March 2017. A fact-finding report is due Sept. 11, at which point both parties will vote to accept or reject the proposed contract. At this point, tentative agreements have been reached on about two-thirds of the articles within the contract, according to Kich.
The union does not expect the comprises in the report to be acceptable, according to Kich. “There doesn’t seem to be any incentive whatsoever” to accept them, he said.
“The administration’s refusal to compromise on a fairly large number of extreme proposals may give us no alternative but to strike,” the union’s strike platform reads.
In a campus-wide email, Wright State President Cheryl Schrader wrote that, “talk that a strike is imminent is still premature.” She said that “the university is working hard” to “avert a strike” by reaching an agreement with the faculty union.
The university hopes that the report will “satisfy both the university and AAUP-WSU,” Schrader wrote in the email. “The university remains optimistic that an agreement can be reached via the negotiation and fact finding.”
Schrader’s announcement follows statements from Director of Communications Seth Bauguess that university administration would not comment on the ongoing negotiations.
Before a strike can occur, both the union and administration must vote on the fact finder’s report. “If either side rejects it, then it is not enforced,” Kich said. The union would have to reject the contract with a three-fifth majority, at which administration would present its last, best offer. At that point, the union may reject the final offer and initiate a strike. The union would be required to give 10 days’ notice to the State Employee Relations Board and to WSU administration of its intent to strike, according to Kich.
“It will not engage in a public debate about the negotiations, but the university will continue to provide updates to its management team and the campus community when possible,” Schrader wrote in the campus-wide email. “The university is committed to maintaining the quality of its academic programs and preserving the opportunity it provides students to achieve their goals.”
