Category: eBulletins

TAUP Digest 2/11-2/15: Negotiations Update, Membership Meeting, Happy Hours, and Giving Back

Negotiations Update

We continue to talk with the administration about the process of negotiations and look to begin open bargaining sessions by the end of this month.  Our data and research team, contract campaign team, and organizing committee are all hard at work and welcome your participation!  Contact TAUP if you are interested!

Tenure Track (Feb. 13) and Non-Tenure Track (Feb 28) Happy Hours!

This semester, each of the TAUP Constituency Councils will be holding a happy hour event at a conveniently located venue.  It’s a great opportunity to get together with colleagues from across the University, ask questions about TAUP, meet the people who represent your constituency in the union, discuss issues that you’d like them to know about, or just have a nice time chatting with some very interesting people. Everyone in the TAUP bargaining unit is welcome, whether you’re a dues paying member or not, and the first drink is on us!

Tenured/Tenure Track Faculty Happy Hour:

Wednesday, February 13th from 4-6pm

Draught Horse Pub and Grill

1431 Cecil B. Moore Ave, Philadelphia, PA 19121

Non-Tenure Track (NTT) Happy Hour:

Thursday, February 28th from 5-7pm

Draught Horse Pub and Grill

1431 Cecil B. Moore Ave, Philadelphia, PA 19121

 

General Membership Meeting

The next General Membership Meeting will be on February 15th from 2-4 p.m. in Paley Library’s Lecture Hall. Come join us to receive an update on negotiations. The TAUP members involved in the work toward negotiations are eager to listen to your questions and feedback.   RSVP to the  TAUP Office.

TAUP and Temple Student Government Give Back

The Art Hochner Travel Award, Scholarship for Children of Members, and the FAST Fund for students in need, TSG Ignite a Movement Scholarship

As we reported last September, TAUP is dedicated to helping students in our community gain access to education and our faculty to develop professionally.  Along with the FAST Fund, established by TAUP member Sara Goldrick-Rab (Education and Sociology), which has helped over 10 students in bad financial straits stay in school, and our scholarship for children of members, we have this year awarded our first two Art Hochner Travel Awards to defray travel to conferences for full-time non-tenure track and adjunct faculty, who typically do not have access to funding from their departments.

Among the inaugural recipients was Dr. Isabelle Chang, an assistant professor (teaching/instruction) in Psychology; she will be presenting  “It all adds up: A comparison of eighth-graders’ mathematics achievement around the world” at the Society for Research on Educational Effectiveness (SREE) in Washington, D.C. next month.

The second awardee is Dr. Adam Vidiksis, assistant professor (teaching/instruction) in Music Technology and Director of the Boyer Electroacoustic Ensemble Project (BEEP).  He presented one of his compositions at the International Computer Music Conference in Daegu, South Korea in August of 2018.  Their work and photos of the teams they led can be found here.  One gratifying element of both projects is that they included Temple students, showing the crucial relationship between teaching, research, and creative activity.  The application process for this coming year can be found here; applications will be due at the end of September.

Finally, we want to call your attention to a scholarship that Temple Student Government (TSG) is establishing.  Called the Ignite a Movement Scholarship, it will provide $5,000 to a housing- and/or food-insecure student.  More information can be found here.  We urge you to donate to the FAST Fund, Ignite a Movement, or both!

Volunteer for Phone Banking

Learn how to have efficient and effective organizing conversations with your colleagues, and then put that knowledge to work by making phone calls to faculty, academic staff, and librarians. We’ll be finding out which workplace issues matter most to our colleagues, and asking them to join our union! Fridays through February and March from 12-3pm in Anderson 1138. RSVP here.

TAUP Digest: Negotiations, Happy Hour, Adjunct Dues Deductions, Student Debt Clinics, Dept. Organizers, General Membership Meeting

Negotiations Update

Last Tuesday, we had a productive meeting with the administration on open bargaining and finding a location for negotiations; discussions are ongoing.  Our Research and Data Team and Table Team are hard at work, and our Contract Campaign Team will be getting into gear soon. If you want to join your colleagues in this important work, please contact TAUP.

Adjunct Dues Deduction

We have been informed by the administration that dues deduction for adjuncts for this term will not begin until our March paychecks.  Dues will be deducted for the semester in 2 or 3 equal amounts. Please let us know if you have any questions.


Tenured/Tenure Track Faculty Happy Hour

Each of our constituency councils is holding happy hours this semester! Whether you are a TAUP member or not, if you are part of the tenured or tenure-track faculty, please join your TT Constituency Council for a happy hour (or two) at the Draught Horse on Wednesday, February 13th from 5-8pm. The first drink is on us,  so please RSVP here!

Register for a Student Debt Clinic

On the weekend before classes started, TAUP offered a training for individuals to learn how to run student debt clinics. Eleven people completed the training, and we’re eager to start running clinics.

Many of the faculty, librarians and academic professionals TAUP represents carry student debt. If you’ve got debt and would like to know more about the potential options for loan repayment and loan forgiveness, it may benefit you to attend one of our 90- minute clinics. Please sign up on our contact form here, and let us know your general availability so we can identify the best time to schedule. By being on our contact list, you’ll be in the loop when we run clinics.

 

Department Organizer Structure

Successful organizing and mobilization are never one-person enterprises. In order to keep everyone  TAUP represents informed and engaged, our union needs help from a network of active members who answer questions and provide information for members: the Department Organizers. Department Organizers (DOs) don’t just sign petitions and attend rallies–they enlist and motivate their colleagues to do the same. TAUP represents more than 2,400 faculty, librarians and academic professionals, and it’s the DO’s job to keep a network of 10 colleagues connected to their union. That way, whether it’s bargaining for a contract, showing solidarity with fellow unions, or celebrating victories, TAUP members can respond quickly and effectively.

Being a DO is a volunteer, non-elected position, and an opportunity for any member who is drawn to union work. If you are interested in becoming a DO, we offer monthly trainings  and will support you in this important role in TAUP! If you are interested, please contact the TAUP office.

Department Organizer Trainings:

Monday February 4th 11-12:30pm

Tuesday February 19th 4-6pm

 

General Membership Meeting

We will be meeting on February 15th from 2-4 p.m. in the large meeting space in the basement of Paley Library to give you an update on negotiations and listen to your questions and feedback.   RSVP to the TAUP Office.

 

TAUP Digest for the Week of 1/21-1/27

In Honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

As we celebrate Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., TAUP wishes all of you a meaningful day, fired by the passion and genius for justice that marked the life of Dr. King and all who worked by his side.

Dr. King was assassinated while in Memphis, supporting the sanitation workers, who were members of AFSCME Local 1733.  Dr. King’s life and death remind us that struggles for justice intersect and remind us how urgent those struggles remain.

As we continue to prepare for negotiations, Dr. King is on our minds.  Article 3 of the TAUP contract, which bars discrimination in our union and at Temple, and Article 4, which affirms Affirmative Action, are on our minds on this day, as are your responses to these issues that we received in the bargaining survey.  TAUP will continue to honor Dr. King’s legacy by fighting for justice however and wherever we can, for our members and the wider campus community.

 

Negotiations Update:  Working Teams and Open Bargaining

Four teams have been assembled: the Table team, Research and Data team, Contract Campaign team, and Organizing team, in preparation for negotiations this semester. If you are interested in helping in this effort, we would be happy to have you aboard.  Just contact the TAUP office.

As we mentioned in our last e-bulletin, we are committed to open negotiations on campus in order to make the process more transparent.  We will be meeting this week with the administration to discuss their concerns about this approach. In open bargaining, members of the bargaining unit can attend negotiation sessions. There are ground rules for those who are visiting to ensure productive discussions. The Table Team benefits by having bargaining unit members in the room, who can be consulted during breaks.

Temple has engaged in open negotiations in the past, though not with TAUP.  The nurse’s union, PASNAP, is currently at the table with Temple in open bargaining; the administration should agree to the same process with TAUP. We feel that the transparency and the expertise that will be available to us through open negotiations will lead to a stronger contract for everyone in our union. We’ll keep you updated as we meet with the administration to discuss this further.

 

The L. A. Teachers’ Strike

Last week, the 32,000 members of the United Teachers of Los Angeles went out on strike for better wages, smaller class sizes, more school nurses and counselors, and an emphasis on community schools rather than charters.  TAUP stands in solidarity with them, and if you are interested in helping these teachers and their allies fight for the future of public education, here are two things you can do: 1) Contribute to the strike fund. 2) Support the strike on social media.

 

Long-Term Care Insurance  

We have been sending out email reminders about a new benefit we are offering to our members, Long-Term Care Insurance.  We are running workshops next week and open enrollment starts January 25th. If you are interested, call 215.901.7905 or Click Here.