Month: November 2017

Tuition Benefits at Other Universities:  Moving Forward

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As you may know, the current TAUP contract, which now expires October 15, 2019, includes a side letter which commits Temple’s administration to respond to proposals on tuition benefits at other universities put forth jointly by the Faculty Senate and TAUP.  This benefit would be of great value to our members and to Temple in recruiting and retaining talented faculty, librarians, and academic professionals.  So we are assembling a new committee to continue the work that was done in 2015, which included an inquiry into Tuition Exchange and other potential models and a discussion on how to survey members.  

 If you’re interested in serving on the committee, here’s what to expect:


  • The Committee will meet once a month for 60-90 minutes, perhaps more frequently if necessary; but we are more likely to do our work individually and in small groups.

  • Members will be expected to do research and engage in productive conversations on the particular elements of the proposal that interest them most.

  • The Committee will formulate and distribute a survey by the end of January and analyze the results by the end of February.

  • The Committee will put forth proposals to the Administration by the end of the Spring 2018 semester.

If you are interested in participating and are a dues-paying member of TAUP, please contact Steve Newman, President of TAUP (stevenewman1970@gmail.com); if you are interested but aren’t a dues-paying member, please contact Michael Sachs, President of the Faculty Senate (msachs@temple.edu).

Campus Equity – It’s Not Just for Adjuncts

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Tomorrow is National Campus Equity Week’s (CEW) Day of Action. Though historically the focus of CEW has been on the working conditions of contingent campus workers, it’s time for us all to recognize that contingency has created hardships and unfair conditions for campus workers across the board.

CEW has grown out of the movement to create more equitable conditions for adjunct and non-tenure track faculty. Its origins can be traced to activists from California community colleges who organized events in 1999, resulting in the formation of the Coalition for Contingent and Adjunct Labor (COCAL). In 2013, COCAL coordinated CEW in the US and Fair Employment Week (FEW) in Canada. It now also engages with organizations and activists in Mexico. Though we experience the wrongs we face personally, they are connected to larger trends internationally.    

TAUP will be out on campus at 13th and Polett Walk, near Founder’s Garden tomorrow engaging in discussions about equity across all job categories in offices, departments, schools and services throughout the University. Help us give out treats for Halloween, pick up a Campus Equity button or sticker, and engage with students, staff and faculty in conversations about equity across campus.  

Watch our social media (@TAUPAFT on Facebook, and @TAUP on Twitter) for posts from campus throughout the day.

Your Vote Needed on Amendments to the  AFT-Pennsylvania Constitution!

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Dear Members of TAUP,

 

TAUP is affiliated at the state level with the American Federation of Teachers Pennsylvania (AFTPA), which represents 36,000 members, including teachers and school-related personnel, health care professionals, higher education faculty members and state employees.  AFTPA provides TAUP with valuable resources, training, and advice.

 

After the 2017 Biennial conference, the Executive Committee voted to move forward two amendments on electing Vice Presidents of the AFTPA.   Vice Presidents play an important role in the AFTPA, serving on the Executive Council that oversees the statewide union’s finances  and other business, including its biennial convention.   You can find the AFTPA Constitution and Bylaws here.

 

●      The first amendment lowers the number of members that larger local chapters need to elect Vice Presidents of AFTPA.

 

●        The second amendment deals specifically with higher education.  At this year’s Biennial Convention, local affiliates were informed that Higher Education would no longer be considered a “region” of its own, entitled to elect its own Vice President.  Its locals, if not large enough to elect their own Vice Presidents, would thus vote as part of geographical regions along with K-12 and other affiliates.  The amendment seeks to reverse this decision by re-affirming  “Colleges and Higher Education” as its own region.

 

The Executive Committee of TAUP recommends voting “yes” on both amendments. The first would make it more likely that TAUP would be eligible to elect its own Vice President to AFTPA, thereby giving us more of a voice.  The second rightly acknowledges that there is a community of interest among colleges and universities.  That community of interest would be diluted if higher ed locals under the threshold for having their own Vice President had to vote with all of the K-12 locals in their geographical region.

 

The more votes we pass on to the AFTPA, the stronger our voice!

 

 Your ballot is here.  Please take a moment to cast your vote now. The deadline for doing so will be October 13th at noon.