Statewide bargaining scheme best,
says OSEA executive secretary
By JOHN KNOWLTON
Of the Emerald
When collective bargaining for
faculty members within the State
System of Higher Education does
come, the “most workable and
most efficient” form of
bargaining will be one that en
compasses all institutions in the
state system, a spokesman for
the Oregon State Employees
Association (OSEA) told faculty
members Tuesday.
Speaking to about 50 faculty
members at an informal noon
hour luncheon in the EMU, OSEA
Executive Secretary Tom
Enright said, ‘‘if collective
bargaining on any meaningful
matters is to come about it should
encompass all colleges in the
state.”
Enright said ‘‘nothing has
really happened” at Southern
Oregon College (SOC) where
faculty members recently
formed an independent
bargaining unit. “This indicates
the feeling that individual
campuses can’t effectively
bargain when the employees
bargain with the administration
of their particular college. What
they should be doing is
bargaining with the State System
of Higher Education as exem
plified by the Chancellor’s Of
fice,” said Enright.
The umbrella-like coverage
being pushed by some OSEA
members is in contrast to the
American Association of
University Professors’ (AAUP)
position on collective bargaining.
AAUP feels a campus-by-campus
bargaining process will insure
that faculty members will enjoy a
sort of local autonomy at their
own university.
Although Enright agreed that
“a local faculty unit could get
some things done” he maintained
that to be effective, the more
major issues involving collective
bargaining such as establishing
salary schedules have to be dealt
with on a statewide level.
“It’s just not in the cards,” he
said, referring to the possibility
of establishing salary schedules
at individual universities.
“Even if the state system went
all the way and said ‘yes’ to the
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Tom Enright
Photo by Trish Weisman
idea of separate salary schedules
for each university,” continued
Enright, “the Legislature would
say ‘no’.”
Following his talk Enright
answered questions from various
faculty rhembers. In response to
a question about the likelihood of
faculty members going on strike,
Enright said, “Under the new
legislation (HB 2263), the
chances will be rather remote
that any faculty will find it
necessary to strike.” He said HB
2263 establishes various criteria
that must be met before any
bargaining unit can go on strike.
“I expect that there will be an
awful lot of binding arbitration
though,” he said.
“What would happen if OSEA
bargained with the State Board
for everyone in the state system,
but after reaching an agreement,
the Legislature said no?”
Enright was asked.
He replied, “In bargaining for
the classified (non-academic)
employees last year, we handed
the Legislature a $54 million
package of salaries and benefits.
Our experience has been that if
the bargaining process is done in
good faith and results in a
reasonable package, the
Legislature will fund it.”
When asked why OSEA would
be a better bargaining agent than
any other faculty organization,
Enright said, “I don’t think it
would. We could make claims,
but so could other organizations.
The important thing,” he
stressed, “is the numbers and
resources. The only organization
being talked about in these terms
is OSEA.”
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