At University of Oregon
Administration appeals faculty union filing to ERB
B Y STEFAN OSTRACH
Special Correspondent
EUGENE — A union organizing
effort by a majority of faculty em-
ployed by the University of Oregon
(UO) has been delayed.
Just four minutes before a 5 p.m.
deadline on April 4, lawyers represent-
ing UO’s administration filed objec-
tions with the state Employment Rela-
tions Board (ERB). United Academ-
ics of the University of Oregon (UA-
UO), a joint effort by the American
Federation of Teachers (AFT) and the
American Association of University
Professors (AAUP), had previously
turned in 1,100 cards signed by a ma-
jority of teaching staff seeking to join
together in a single bargaining unit.
UO has 1,912 faculty members.
Under card check provisions of
Oregon’s public sector labor law, if
ERB finds the bargaining unit to be ap-
propriate, it will certify the union and
order the UO administration to bar-
gain.
The administration’s objections
would gut the union campaign. It wants
to exclude from the bargaining unit
tenure-related faculty; adjunct and af-
filiate faculty; postdoctoral scholars; re-
search associates and fellows; emeritus
and other retired faculty; visiting or
guest faculty; and faculty of graduate
and professional degree programs. Fur-
ther, it wants to expand the definition of
...Ryan-Wyden Medicare plan
(From Page 1)
low Democrats, who say it’s still a
voucher system.
Wyden insists that the new plan isn’t
a voucher. “A voucher is like a glorified
coupon, and it never keeps up with
costs,” he explained to the NOLC Ex-
ecutive Board. “Unlike vouchers, pre-
mium support is variable, it rises with
health care costs.”
APRIL 20, 2012
Wyden said premium support pay-
ments would be pegged to the actual
cost of health care in a given area, de-
termined by an annual competitive bid-
ding process.
Last month, Ryan unveiled the
House Republicans’ 2013 budget pro-
posal, which includes in it the Ryan-
Wyden Medicare plan.
“I oppose it, sight unseen,” Wyden
told the NOLC Executive Board.
a supervisor to include all principal in-
vestigators, department heads, directors
of centers and institutes, and all faculty
who work with graduate fellows.
In a statement posted on their web-
site, UA-UO wrote: “They seem intent
on limiting the right of faculty to be
part of a union… These objections in-
clude most faculty at the UO.”
The objections are suspect because
the Oregon University System already
negotiates with an AFT local at Port-
land State that is similar to the broad
one sought by the UO academics.
Last minute objections are often
used as a tactic by employers to stall
organizing campaigns because it gives
them more time to undermine the
drive. ERB has scheduled hearings on
the administration’s objections for
May 5-7, which will be seven weeks
after the cards were submitted. Addi-
tional days of hearings may be needed
before a recommended order is issued.
That order can be appealed to the full
ERB and to the courts.
After initially pledging to remain
neutral, UO administrators spent
$25,000 for a consultant to prepare a
web page expressing common anti-
union themes. More recently, acting
UO President Robert Berdahl told UA-
NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
UO leaders that he was going to op-
pose the union. “Regardless of the out-
come of the ERB proceedings, the uni-
versity’s goal remains the same: to
maintain a strong relationship with
those who contribute to the university
in all its endeavors — especially in its
core mission of teaching, research and
public service,” Berdahl said in a pre-
pared statement.
Tina Boscha, an organizer and UO
composition instructor, told the Eugene
Register Guard: “We are all part of the
university mission, whether tenure
track or nontenure track or research. It’s
all about research and instruction and
educating Oregon’s citizens.
“We are confident that they (ERB)
will eventually rule that this bargaining
unit is appropriate.”
Texas Hold’em card tournament draws 61
players, raises $3,027 for Doernbecher
Unions for Kids raised $3,027 at its
inaugural Texas Hold‘em card tourna-
ment April 14 at the Sheet Metal Work-
ers Local 16 union hall in Portland.
The poker tournament is a spin-off
of the annual Motorcycle Poker Run
and motorcycle raffle sponsored by
Unions for Kids, a 501(c3) non-profit
founded 10 years ago by union mem-
bers to raise money for Doernbecher
Children’s Hospital. To date, more than
$271,000 has been donated.
John Candioto, business manager of
Local 16, coordinated the Texas
hold’em event. Sixty-one players par-
ticipated and 13 businesses and/or union
locals sponsored tables.
Top four finishers were Doug Haase,
Joe Harris, Jonathan Moss, and Chris
Sewall. Each received a Visa gift card.
“I can’t thank enough everyone who
helped out,” Candioto said. “I’m so
jacked at the amount raised in the first
year. I’m getting started now for next
year’s event.”
Tickets are still being sold for a
chance to win a new Harley — a 2012
Heritage Softail Classic. Tickets are $10
each, with only 5,000 sold. The draw-
ing will be held at 4 p.m., June 9, fol-
lowing the motorcycle poker run.
For more information, call Lee Dun-
can at 503-260-5905 or go on line to
lee@unionsforkids.org.
PAGE 5