UO UNION EFFORT
HITS RESISTANCE
The UO neither supports nor opposes the efforts of its
faculty to unionize, a spokesperson says. It just objects to the
all-encompassing and overlapping categories of tenured
professors, tenure-track professors, adjunct instructors, faculty
of graduate and professional degree programs, emeritus
faculty, postdoctoral scholars, research associates and fellows,
visiting faculty and supervisory employees as parts of the
same union.
United Academics of the University of Oregon (UAUO)
submitted signed union authorization cards (a card is a vote to
form a union) to the Oregon Employment Relations Board
March 13, and UO filed a petition objecting to the proposed
union April 4. The petition states that the various types of
faculty “lack a sufficient community of interest with the
proposed unit.”
Regina Psaki, a UO professor of romance languages, says
she thinks the issue isn’t about what the UO believes is or isn’t
a community interest. “I don’t think they think we have the
right or prerogative to decide to have a union at all, given the
nature of their list,” she says.
“They basically dismissed the entire proposal and claimed
that none of the various types of employees included in the
bargaining unit are eligible,” agrees English professor Gordon
Sayre.
“We have almost everything in common,” Psaki says.
“Despite the fact that we have different job descriptions, our
interests are so overwhelmingly similar that we belong in the
same union.” Psaki says that all the faculty have the interest of
keeping the academic core strong through the instructional and
research mission of the university, and part of that is keeping
professors from leaving for better working conditions.
Sayre stresses that those faculty working conditions are
COMMISH RACE:
GREEN OR NOT SO GREEN
As the May primary lurks closer and closer, campaign
money and endorsements are piling up in the county
commissioner race for South Eugene. The Pete Sorenson vs.
Andy Stahl contest seems a bit of a liberal against liberal,
green against green match-up, but race-watchers say it’s
more clearcut than that.
“They both have their merits; I think Sorenson’s are
better,” says Andy Kerr of The Larch Company, who
recently weighed in on the race in an op-ed in the R-G. Kerr
is a consultant for various environmental organizations
across the West, including Oregon Wild.
Representing the Oregon Wild Conservation Leaders
Fund PAC, Chandra LeGue says “For Lane County residents
who care about what kind of place we leave for our kids and
grandkids, Sorenson is clearly the better choice.”
Both LeGue and Kerr point to Stahl’s support of the
controversial DeFazio forest plan that would log on 1.5
million acres of public forests to generate money for Oregon
counties. “Sorenson instead supports working to find
alternative funding sources that do not sacrifice our public
natural resources,” LeGue says.
Stahl says he supports the DeFazio plan if it were to be
modified. He emphasizes his work to save the spotted owl.
“Stahl did a lot,” Kerr says, “There’s no one hero here, a
lot of people worked very hard on the spotted owl.” He says
ironically the DeFazio plan would undo much of the work
that Stahl did. He calls the plan, which stemmed from a
timber trust plan Stahl authored, a political, not biological
plan.
Stahl points to past disagreements with environmental
8 APRIL 19, 2012
EUGENE WEEKLY
learning conditions for students. He says policies that assign
non-tenure-track faculty more students than they can teach or
grade means performance will suffer. “We need to emphasize
that students can get a better learning experience if their
instructors and faculty have better working conditions,” he
says.
Jim Salt, who teaches sociology at LCC, says the faculty in
its union hasn’t had significant problems incorporating
different types of staff into its union. Lane Community
College Education Association includes full- and part-time
contracted faculty plus professionals such as librarians and
counselors who teach but devote more hours to other work.
LCCEA president Salt says that management often tries to
divide different sectors of the work force by creating artificial
differences or exaggerating minor differences, but faculty has
more in common than not. “You’re all doing very similar
work, you have similar issues being negotiated in the
contract,” he says.
One way that the UO’s proposed union is considering
preventing any real conflicts of interest is by having the
tenure-related and non-tenure-related groups caucus and then
reach consensus on major issues. “I think the advantage of that
setup is that it resolves questions that some people have posed
about whether the tenure-related faculty would dominate the
leadership of the union because they are more used to
performing service functions or whether the non-tenure-track
faculty would dominate union because there more of them,”
Sayre says.
When the union organizing process began, the UO pledged
to remain neutral, and UO spokesperson Julie Brown says that
despite the petition against the proposed union there has been
no change from that position. “While we neither supported nor
opposed union organizing efforts, we now have a responsibility
to all the constituents we serve to advocate before the
Employment Relations Board for a bargaining unit that is
consistent with the university’s mission and core objectives,”
Brown says in an email to EW.
The ERB will hear the UO’s petition challinging the union
beginning at 9 am three days, May 7-9, in the ERB offices in
Salem.
“I think we might have a long fight and court battle to
come,” predicts Sayre. — Shannon Finnell
groups over how to save old growth and the spotted owl. “If
I had listened to the Sierra Club then, our old-growth forest
would not be protected today,” he says. He adds, “Get the
picture? I lead, I don’t follow.”
LeGue says the Oregon Wild PAC endorses Sorenson
because “Pete has consistently worked for and spoken out
in favor of environment protection, and has been willing to
take heat from powerful special interest groups in the
process.”
Sorenson has also recently garnered the endorsement of
the LCC educators union, which normally does not issue an
endorsement. The union’s legislative PAC told union
members in an email: “After reviewing all the candidates
we thought that Pete would best represent the interests of
LCC faculty. As you may know, Pete served for several
years on the LCC Board of Education and advocated for
faculty in the past as a board member.”
Sorenson’s campaign donations have included several
unions, members of land use watchdog group Landwatch
Lane County and local attorney and EW co-owner Art
Johnson.
Stahl says, “You’ve seen my campaign finance filings.
Friends and family. Nothing from ‘special interest’ groups;
nothing from corporations.” Stahl’s father, UO professor
Frank Stahl, has loaned the campaign $10,000 and
Randal O’Toole, a fellow of the libertarian and
Koch Bros.-affiliated Cato Institute has donated
$500 to the Stahl campaign. O’Toole has been an
opponent of mass transit and government land-
use planning, but Stahl points out O’Toole won
two prestigious environmental awards in
Oregon for his work on reforming the Forest
Service. The awards were in 1978 and 1981.
— Camilla Mortensen
EARTH DAY HOO HAA
AND MUCH MORE
Earth Day was first observed in 1970. Forty-two years
later it’s still going strong and the Earth still needs saving.
Here in Eugene and the surrounding area, a lot’s going on
to commemorate the occasion. How do you decide what to
do? It won’t be easy, but here’s a roundup of some local
happenings going on for Earth Day 2012. For more events,
see our Calendar.
Saturday, April 21, at EWEB’s Rivers Edge Plaza is the
utility’s annual Earth Day extravaganza. Mayor Kitty
Piercy will be on hand and speakers will address issues
such as sustainability in the region. Inside the EWEB
boardroom, attendees will be able to view films and
documentaries about the natural world and future
challenges to preserving ecosystems. Some 40 booths will
be set up ranging from “Ask a Master Gardener” to
sustainable landscaping, and there will be a plant sale. See
www.earthdayoregon.com/events.html
If you want to get out of town (we suggest taking the
bus) then head down to Cottage Grove, paint those animal
masks and find that furry costume you wore for Halloween
one year, because this year is the fifth annual “All Species
Parade” down Main Street in Cottage Grove Saturday.
Started in 2008, the event supports animals around the
globe by dressing up as them and marching through town.
A downtown fair kicks off at noon Saturday at the Grove’s
All-America Park. The parade will begin at 2 pm with a
dose of dancing.
Nothing says Earth Day for kids like science! On
Sunday, the Science Factory will have free admission to
the Exhibit Hall and Exploration Dome. There will be
earth-friendly activities with exhibit guides and a viewing
of “Dynamic Earth.” See www.sciencefactory.org
Also on Sunday from noon to 5 pm is the Whiteaker
Bike Fest, an all-out love-fest for everything you can
possibly do with a bicycle. Starting at Scobert Park, at 4th
and Blair, bike polo is the main event, but there will also
be a dance revolving around bicycle partners. Earth-lovin’
tunes are said to be welcome and local musicians will play.
PETE SORENSON
WWW.EUGENEWEEKLY.COM