Political Action

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Dear Colleagues:

Welcome to the 8th issue of Union News.  As usual we’ve got interesting stories about, for example, the proposed retirees’ health insurance changes and the non-tenure track organizing going on around Boston.

Salary Raises

I remind you that you’ll get the last negotiated raise for this contract in January 2014.   You’ll get an average of a 1.75% salary increase; 0.50% is across the board and 1.25% is merit.

Negotiating Parking & Transportation

By Jennifer Berkshire, Newsletter Editor

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Adjunct faculty members at Tufts University recently voted to unionize, becoming part of Adjunct Action, a new adjunct organizing initiative backed by SEIU. The Tufts faculty are part of a growing adjunct uprising around the country and right here in the Boston area. Adjuncts say that unionizing represents their best hope of improving wages, benefits and working conditions.

Interview with Gillian Mason, conducted by Jennifer Berkshire, newsletter editor

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Tell us about Scholars for Social Justice—what does the group do?

Scholars for Social Justice is a group of academics who are invested in social justice and are interested in fighting corporatization both inside and outside of the university. We’ve currently got just over 300 members and they come from all over the state from Amherst to Boston. We try to amplify their voices and connect them to opportunities for activism on issues that matter most to them.

By Lorenzo Nencioli, Membership Coordinator, UMass Faculty Staff Union

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On Tuesday, March 5th, hundreds of students, faculty, and staff from around the state, including a large contingent from UMass Boston, gathered at the State House for the Public Higher Education Advocacy Day. Their goal was simple: tell their legislators to support Governor Patrick’s proposal to increase public higher education spending by $152 million in 2014.

By Al Leisinger, Mathematics, NTT Grievance Officer

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In November, more than 25,000 people demonstrated across Haiti as part of a national teachers strike. Demands of the strike included:

• A minimum salary for teachers and the payment of all back salary due to teachers

• An increase in the number of public schools throughout the country so that all Haitian children can go to school free of charge

• A vaccination campaign against cholera to be conducted in every school and university in order to eradicate cholera from Haiti