NLRB issues another complaint against @EWUChicago

…we call for a letter writing campaign & your support for United Adjunct Association at EWU and Curtis Keyes, our Chicago board member, chapter organizer and determined organizer... blogged about here for his determined struggle, first to organize EWU adjunct faculty and since then to gain EWU's acceptance of the union. Yet again, EWU is trying to get NRLB rulings to recognize the union and not place continual obstacles in their way. Here's the latest, NRLB complaint (attached below). Curtis writes, 

Dear Sisters and Brothers,

You'll find the latest NLRB complaint against East-West University in the attachment. We go back to Labor Board court on Feb 4. The East-West struggle is truly a battle for contingent faculty rights. I'm doing my best to hold on and keep fighting. Happy 2013 to all!

Bro. Curtis

EWU News

from Curtis Keyes, August 24, 2010, Chicago IL 

Colleagues,

GREAT NEWS!

The National Labor Relations Board has decided to uphold our Unfair Labor Practice (ULP) claim that East-West University violated our federally-protected rights to organize an adjunct faculty union. This decision is a major and SIGNIFICANT victory for all of us who have given so much to the institution!! It will be felt for many years to come! The Labor Board has given EWU about one week to settle the ULP under the following terms:

• Erma Faire-Doeing, Ken Peterson and I will be fully compensated for summer classes that we were scheduled to teach but were taken away from us by the administration. 
• EWU will go back to the hiring procedures that it used during the 2010 Spring Quarter. 
• This means that the firings related to our union organizing will be rescinded. 
• While the pay raises announced by the administration for the 2010 Fall Quarter will remain intact, the University will not promise any "future benefits" to the part-time faculty as part of an effort to undermine support for the union. 

The fact that the employer took this action of giving raises in response to the "threat" of bringing in a union is a big victory for all of us since we have not had a raise since 2004. This is just the beginning. Even with the raises, we are still the lowest paid adjunct faculty in the Chicagoland area; once we have a union, we can continue to negotiate for greater improvements than what we are currently receiving.

If EWU does not accept the terms of this settlement, the Labor Board will issue a formal complaint and prosecute EWU for violating the law. The ULP trial will not only be very expensive for the University, but it will also generate a good deal of negative publicity that EWU can ill afford.

UAFA Rush Hour Picket Protest @ EWU

#EWUadjuncts Thursday, July 22, 4-6PM, 816 South Michigan Avenue, university main 
entrance. For more information, please contact: EWUAdjuncts@gmail.com

click to view larger version

Just when you thought it was safe to go in the water again

Jaws! Chancellor and Provost Jaws of EWU, that is. 

 

First they mass fire adjuncts (or not  rehire or abrogate summer contracts ~ same diff. You're still out on the curb with no work no money and a hole in your pocket. What's next? File a legitimate claim for unemployment compensation. Guess what? Here come the Jaws twins, swimming in circles around the water treading adjuncts blocking claims. 


United Adjuncts write for our support and help, 

EWU Chicago Protest. Tues July 13

   

JOIN THE UNITED ADJUNCT FACULTY ASSOCIATION

 East-West University (EWU), Chicago

DEMONSTRATION

PICKETING AGAINST UNFAIR LABOR ACTIONS 

by EWU Chancellor Khan and Provost Jain.

Support our Protest Demonstration on Tuesday, July 13^th

11AM-1PM @ 816 S. Michigan Avenue, in front of the EWU main entrance

EWU Notes & Updates

EWU's United Adjuncts will demonstrate again by the Michigan Avenue entrance and want to get a big crowd. We'll keep you posted. If you would like to support United Adjuncts by attending this demonstration, please contact ewuadjuncts@gmail.com.     In the meantime, UAFA (United Adjunct Faculty Association) urges all adjuncts with abrogated summer contracts to apply for unemployment compensation as soon as possible.  Bring the letter informing you that the University considered you no longer employed by the University to the unemployment office as proof that you have been laid off. More unemployment information is available on the NFM Unemployment Initiative web page United Adjuncts are organizing with the Illinois NEA. Nevertheless, those concerned adjunct issues nationally have suggested that the AFT Convention now in session issue a statement censuring EWU for its labor practices ~ and discussed at length. Indeed, where is it written in stone that one higher ed union cannot go on public record disapproving of how an institution being organized by another higher ed union? If cross-union support is not S.O.P., it should be. The AAUP issued a statement (although I have not heard of further action such as official AAUP censure).

NFM press release re EWU Adjuncts

Have you written on behalf of the EWU adjuncts yet? Whether or not you have, feel free to make use of the following NFM press release addressing East-West University's recent mass abrogation of adjunct summer contracts. Join us in denouncing and deploring) ~ blog, tweet, forward, distribute to mailing lists, send to college press and local newspapers, social media, etc.

So far, EWU vs adjuncts has not picked up much traction in mainstream or local media. We'd like to see that change. Do whatever you can think of to get the word out. Don't forget to cc ewuadjuncts@gmail.com. For your convience, EWU contact information page with email, snail, telephone and fax, and another with links to Chicago newspapers

---

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: June 28, 2010 (download pdf)

Akron, Ohio – New Faculty Majority: The National Coalition for Adjunct & Contingent Equity faxed a letter today to East-West University Chancellor, Dr. Mohammad Wasiullah Kahn, condemning the Chicago area university's mass firing of its adjunct faculty and urging him to restore their contracts. This letter was also copied to U.S. Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis and U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan.

East-West University is a private university which this month faced the prospect of faculty unionization after the Illinois Education Association (IEA) filed a petition seeking an election to represent part-time faculty. In an unprecedented act of union-busting, East-West University announced that it would not hire any contingent faculty for the summer term, effectively making them ineligible to participate in the election. The university also announced that prior to being rehired in the fall, contingent faculty members would be required to interview with the Chancellor. New Faculty Majority calls this abominable action for what it is: a clear attempt to squelch free speech and to retaliate against those who contributed to the unionization effort.

The University's claims that its decisions are based on factors unrelated to the union drive are disingenuous at best and a clear pretext for union-busting at worst. On even the most casual review they suggest the possibility of illegal activity. NFM calls on Illinois lawmakers and the Departments of Labor and Education to investigate the University's actions in order to protect the rights of its faculty and to send a strong message to other higher education institutions that such actions will not be tolerated.

In its letter, NFM reminds the Chancellor that efforts to secure collective bargaining efforts are fully protected under Section 7 of the National Labor Relations Act as "concerted activity for mutual aid and protection" (29 U.S.C. 157). NFM also points out that this principle is recognized universally, including by the Unitied Nations in its Universal Declaration of Human Rights: "Everyone has the right to form and to join trade unions for the protection of his interests" (Article 23.4).

Over seventy percent of the faculty at East-West University are on contingent appointments. This classification means that they are part-time or adjunct faculty whose employment depends entirely upon such factors as enrollment, funding, and, in the absence of collective bargaining, arbitrary decisions by administrators, thus jeopardizing their academic freedom and making them particularly vulnerable to this sort of retaliatory action. This is a growing trend on American college and university campuses, where institutions of higher education have become increasingly reliant on overworked and underpaid contingent faculty.

New Faculty Majority has emerged as an advocacy group working on behalf of adjunct and contingent faculty on American college and university campuses with membership in nearly every state in the country. As a coalition that includes union members and nonmembers, NFM is working with all organizations and individuals committed to improving the quality of American higher education by treating all of its faculty with dignity and fairness.

Contacts:

Maria Maisto, President maria.maisto@newfacultymajority.info

Matt Williams, Vice President matt.williams@newfacultymajority.info

Ph: (202) 580-8341

www.newfacultymajority.org

Emergency Chicago COCAL Update: EWU

Here's more about trouble on the Loop and an impassioned but spot on admonition not to let this one slide. Joe Berry writes, 

Please find below the message just sent to the Chicago COCAL list. Send your protests to the administrators listed and pass this message on, especially to anyone you know in the Chicago area who might come to the picket, but also to people who can send protests or statements of support. Also forward to organizations for statements of support. More information will be forthcoming.

more about the neighborhood

Friends, Colleagues and Fellow-workers, (please forward this message to all relevant lists ASAP)

Emergency Picket TOMORROW, Monday, June 21

Adjunct faculty at East-West University in downtown Chicago are planning a picket line to protest the non-rehiring of several (including the leader of the United Adjunct Faculty Association, IEA/NEA) faculty for both summer and fall terms. All but one of these are people who recently signed union authorization cards calling for a Labor Board election. 

As the press release (to be posted separately) and the Inside Higher Ed story make clear, the administration is trying to forestall unionization by essentially firing the entire faculty then hiring them back selectively after personal one-on-one interviews with the Chancellor. This is happening at a school with a mostly African-American and other minorities faculty and student body and where the vast majority of students are on Federal financial aid.

Please come out to the picket TOMORROW morning if at all possible and support our brave adjunct colleagues in this private college. Take a sick day if you have to, but come and bring others. If this tactic of firing a whole faculty to avoid unionization is allowed to stand, it could threaten all future organizing and even existing unions. If you ever wanted to do something concrete for the contingent faculty movement, this is the time!

JOIN THE PICKET LINE IN SUPPORT OF BETTER WORKING CONDITIONS

THE UNITED ADJUNCT FACULTY ASSOCIATION AT EAST-WEST UNIVERSITY (EWU) AND FORMER ADJUNCT FACULTY WHO HAVE BEEN FIRED

PICKET PROTEST AGAINST UNFAIR TREATMENT OF ADJUNCT FACULTY AT EWU

DATE: MONDAY, JUNE 21, 2010

LOCATION: 816 SOUTH MICHIGAN AVENUE

TIME: 8-9:45AM

Email or fax protests to: (please copy all protests and and send statements of support to ewuadjuncts@gmail.com)

• Chancellor Dr. Mohammad Wasiullah Khan, chancellor@eastwest.edu
• Provost Dr. Madhu Jain, madhu@eastwest.edu
• Surface mail address: 816 South Michigan Avenue, Chicago, Illinois 60605. Telephone, 312-939-0111. Fax: 312-939-0083

Good news, wired/weird news, bad news

East Michigan success, Minnesota frustration, California dreaming and serious speed bumps on Chicago's South Loop. 

Apropos the last, here is the latest from EWU (presumably Chicago, not to be confused with the Bangladesh for-profit, not yet anyway), forwarded by Joe Berry for posting to the public and blogged at the Adjunct Voice. 

The United Adjunct Faculty Association (UAFA) at

East-West University (EWU) withdrew its petition to vote for a union. 

In a letter addressed one day before EWU administration received the National Labor Relations Board collective bargaining petition notice for adjuncts, Chancellor M. Wasiullah Khan informed all department chairs, full-time faculty, part-time faculty and staff that "no contract will be renewed this year effective the forthcoming summer session and the academic year beginning with Fall quarter 2010." The letter went on to point out that no department chair, full-time faculty, part-time faculty or staff member would be hired back "without first meeting with the Chancellor." 

As an adjunct at EWU, I have never ever witnessed such blatant disrespect and disregard for the many hard working people who care deeply about their job. The primary reason for the petition withdrawal is based on the administration's attorney argument that no adjunct would be an employee at East-West during the summer so the petition for collective bargaining was no valid. UAFA members are not deterred. It will regroup and re-file the petition at the start of fall 2010. For more information and words of support, please send to

EWUadjuncts@gmail.com. 

In Solidarity, EWU Adjuncts

Please write the EWU adjuncts and let them know you support them. If you are also of a mind to write administration as well, here's the East West University contact page. With only 18 full time faculty listed, the university must be even more ad/con dependent than the now standard 70-73%

Since, as far as I know, EWU Adjuncts don't have a home of their own on the web. there are welcome to camp out right here ~  and I bet with Raye too.