U-M, union agree to pact side-stepping right-to-work law

Another university union has reached a labor contract before the state's right-to-work law goes into effect.

The University of Michigan and the Lecturers' Employee Organization (LEO) reached a tentative five-year contract, officials announced Wednesday.

The union, which represents 1,500 non-tenure track instructors on U-M's three campuses in Ann Arbor, Flint and Dearborn, has been bargaining with the university since November to replace the contract that expires April 20.

The deal comes as Wayne State University's faculty union will be voting Wednesday to ratify an eight-year contract that was reached last week, and WSU officials will be testifying next week before a legislative committee on how it reached it's longest agreement ever.

U-M spokesman Rick Fitzgerald said the lecturers had the only expiring contract out of eight bargaining units at the university, and began working to reach a new agreement before the state's right to work law was passed.

"It was a natural negotiation of a new contract," he said.

The lecturers union ratifies the contract by mail, with a March 21 deadline, which is a week before the March 28 effective date of Michigan's right-to-work law. That law bans unions from requiring employees to pay union dies or fees as a condition of employment. LEO's contract has always included language that allows lecturers to join the union or pay a service fee not to join the union.

In a joint statement, both sides said the agreement was reached in good faith.

"We're delighted to have reached this agreement and to continue U-M's leadership in providing high-quality education to our students," said Sheryl Edwards, LEO lead negotiator and a lecturer in political science at UM-Dearborn. "Both parties collaborated to improve the process of lecturer evaluation, which is great for us and for everyone we teach."

Alexandra Matish, chief negotiator for the university, said, "We are pleased to have reached an agreement that provides a fair salary and much needed flexibility in benefits, as well as continuing stability for lecturers."

kkozlowski@detroitnews.com

(313) 222-2024

Source: http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20130306/POLITICS02/303060430/1361/rss41

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