Tag: officer

Thank you

Good morning TAUP members,

Thank you for your continued commitment to higher education. You have admirably navigated through another incredible semester. Many transitioned back to work on campus during uncertain times.

I want to especially thank Leanne Finnigan for her service during these extraordinary times. Leanne’s resignation from the organization requires that we find a new Vice President of Operations at TAUP. 

For nearly two years, Leanne committed countless hours of service to the union. Following the birth of her daughter, Leanne returned to work in the library determined to fight for better parental leave and childcare benefits for all Temple workers.

Leanne served on the TAUP/Faculty Senate Childcare Committee and the 2019 contract negotiating team.

Temple Professor Danielle Scherer has temporarily stepped up to fill Leanne’s shoes as Vice President of Operations until we can schedule an election for Leanne’s post. 

Danielle is a professor of political science and the assistant director of global studies here at Temple.

Please contact us, if you – or someone you know – would be interested in a leadership position at TAUP.  The union has future contract talks with the administration. Negotiations will impact the lives of thousands of workers and their families here at Temple. We need your help to make that happen.  

Sincerely,

Will Jordan
TAUP President

Vote for TAUP’s New Vice President! 

Because our Vice President, Jennie Shanker, has decided to pursue her research, teaching and other opportunities outside of Temple, we need to elect someone to serve the remainder of her term, which concludes 4/30/21.

Dues-paying members in good standing will shortly receive a ballot tied to their Temple email.  (The right to participate in electing officers is another good reason to join TAUP!)

If you do not receive a ballot in the next 48 hours and  believe that you should have, please contact TAUP.

Voting will close at noon on January 31st.

 

We have two candidates for Vice President:  Leanne Finnigan from Charles Library and Donald Wargo from Economics.  Their candidates’ statements are below. TAUP thanks them for standing for this very important office. 

Leanne Finnigan (Librarian on Regular Appointment, Charles Library) 

I have been a librarian at Temple University and a proud TAUP member since 2013. After the birth of my daughter in 2017, I returned from maternity leave determined to fight for better parental leave and childcare benefits on campus. TAUP leadership was proactive and endlessly supportive, hearing me out about librarians’ lack of paid parental leave and the need for better policies. I joined the TAUP/Faculty Senate Childcare Committee and was invited to serve on the recent contract negotiating team. As a member of the negotiating team, I helped secure modest gains for librarians around parental leave, but our work is far from done.

If elected Vice President of TAUP, I will build on the momentum and energy of the contract campaign. I want TAUP to plan for the future and think strategically about building our political power so that we can push for more. This will require growing our membership base and building the union’s capacity. It will require listening to and supporting women, LGBTQ+ people, and people of color within TAUP, and cultivating relationships with other bargaining units and members of the neighboring community. As Vice President I will fight for family-affirming policies such as campus-wide childcare benefits, adequate parental leave, and lactation support. I want to grow a union that is responsive, proactive, transparent, and accessible. I want all Temple faculty, adjuncts, librarians, and academic professionals to be heard and treated with the respect they deserve.

I have spoken about my experience as a single, working mother at a number of our rallies, and countless members have reached out to share similar struggles. Your stories inspire me to run for Vice President of TAUP. I would be honored to have your vote.

 

Donald Wargo (Associate Professor of Teaching/Instruction, Economics)

Hello. My name is Donald Wargo and I am running for Vice President of your union, the Temple Association of University Professionals (TAUP). I am an NTT and Associate Professor in the Department of Economics, College of Liberal Arts.

I have been active in TAUP for over 10 years. I am currently Assistant Treasurer of TAUP and on the Executive Board of TAUP. I am also Chair of the NTT Constituency Council. Further, I am a member of the Grievance Committee of TAUP.

Additionally, I was a member of the negotiating team for the renewal of the TAUP Contract in 2014 and was a member of the negotiating team for the renewal of the TAUP Contract that was just ratified in December, 2019.

Prior to teaching at Temple, I was an executive in the real estate business for thirty years and I was an owner of my own company for 15 of those years. I bring this management and negotiating experience to my work for TAUP.

My personal passion is achieving social justice and TAUP allows me the satisfaction of being able to work for the betterment of my fellow professionals. My intention, if elected Vice President, is to continue TAUPs policy of looking out for the interests of TT’s and Adjuncts, as well as my fellow NTTs.

I am very pleased that we were able to achieve a lot of progress in the TAUP Contract that the members just ratified. However, there is still more work to be done, both in the enforcement of the provisions in the ratified contract and in achieving new advances for the TAUP Collective Bargaining Unit.

If you elect me as Vice President of your union, I pledge to work with President Steve Newman and the TAUP Executive Council both on continuing the fight for TAUP’s current priorities and preparing for new priorities when our recently ratified contract will be up for renewal in October, 2023.

The current priorities that we won in the new contract which I will work to enforce are:

  • Enforcement of the provisions of the recently ratified contract. This includes new provisions for all our Collective Bargaining Unit, TT’s, NTT’s, Adjuncts, Librarians, and Academic Professionals.
  • Enforcement of the new Adjunct job security provisions.
  • Enforcement of the new NTT job security provisions.
  • Enforcement of NTT representation on Promotion, Merit and Sabbatical Committees.
  • Recruitment of additional TAUP members to enhance TAUP’s power.
  • Press Temple administration on additional hiring of Tenure Track professionals.
  • Enforcement of provisions for female and minority faculty at Temple.
  • Enhancement of an early response of TAUP to any of the difficulties of the members of our Collective Bargaining Unit so we can hopefully solve problems early.

      I ask you to vote for me as your TAUP Vice President and I promise to do my best to faithfully work for your benefit.

Electing a New TAUP Vice President

Our strength as a union comes from every faculty member, AP and Librarian actively participating in our quest to build an even better Temple. With Jennie Shanker stepping down from her role as TAUP VP, we now need to elect a new Vice President to serve out the remainder of her term, which ends April 30, 2021. We encourage anyone interested in serving as Vice-President, or in getting involved in any other way, to reach out. Our bylaws set a deadline of 60 days after the vacancy opens–in this case, January 2nd–to elect a replacement.  All members in good standing are eligible to serve. Only members in good standing are eligible to vote.

Here is the timeline and process:

–Nominations are open from now until January 20th.  Candidates can be self-nominated or nominated by others.  If you are self-nominating, please send an email declaring your intention to stand for election.  Those nominated by others will be asked if they are willing to stand. Nominations should be sent to taupaft@gmail.com.

–Nominees will send information about their rank, track, and college/school and a statement of no more than 400 words as to why they are seeking the office.

–The Nominations Committee will review the nominees to make sure that they are members in good standing.

–The list of candidates and their statements will be distributed to dues-paying members, along with a link to the ballot on January 23rd.

–The ballot will be open from January 23rd to noon, January 31st.  Voting will occur electronically, with links to the ballot sent through email.  Members wishing for paper ballots must request them by January 20th by sending the request to taupaft@gmail.com .

–Results will be announced on January 31st and the new VP will take office on February 1.

We again thank Jennie Shanker for her extraordinary service to TAUP, and we look forward to receiving a strong group of nominees for Vice President.