Re: unionization process

[Harald Hutter <hutter@sfu.ca>]

Hi Brian,
I must have missed a recent email to everybody.
Can you please explain what causes the delay.
Thanks
Harald

On 2014-02-05, at 11:21 AM, Brian Green wrote:

> Hi folks.
> Glenn has now sent in his slides from the presentation last week, and they have been uploaded to the unionization resources page.
> Once we get the remainder of the materials we will let everyone know that it is all available.
> Link to the page is here: http://www.sfufa.ca/current-issues/unionization/resources/
> 
> 
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Neil Abramson" <nabramso@sfu.ca>
> To: "Lesley Shannon" <lshannon@sfu.ca>
> Cc: "Brian Green" <brian_green@sfu.ca>, "Lesley Shannon" <lshannon@ensc.sfu.ca>
> Sent: Wednesday, February 5, 2014 8:57:47 AM
> Subject: Re: unionization process
> 
> Hi Lesley
> 
> I think the presenters were asked; there were two as I understand. I think Brian said SFUFA hasn't received the material yet. It would go up, immediately upon receipt, on the SFUFA website so everyone would have access. Perhaps people should be informed when the materials are available.
> 
> Regards
> Neil
> 
> Sent from my iPhone
> 
>>> 
>>> ----- Original Message -----
>>> From: "Harald Hutter" <hutter@sfu.ca>
>>> To: "Neil Abramson" <nabramso@sfu.ca>, "JD Fleming" <jfleming@sfu.ca>
>>> Cc: "SFUFA Forum" <academic-discussion@sfu.ca>
>>> Sent: Tuesday, February 4, 2014 9:07:08 PM
>>> Subject: Re: unionization process
>>> 
>>> Dear Neil, 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> I agree with JD here. We all appreciate the enormous effort you put into this including long and thoughtful emails to all of us about issues related to unionization. However there is a clear shift in the content of emails going to sfufa-members from neutral to 'all positive' on the question of whether or not to unionize. Because the sfufa email list is the only effective way to reach all faculty members, I think it is only fair to ask that arguments against unionization as recently presented at a meeting and summarized by JD are communicated to all faculty members by email as well. 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> Best regards, 
>>> Harald Hutter 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> On 2014-02-04, at 6:43 PM, JD Fleming wrote: 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> Dear Neil, 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> The issue, of course, is not whether or not to restart the old forum. That is a distraction. The issue is: ensuring that SFUFA members can make an informed decision about unionization. This entails being informed about the potential downsides, not just the potential upsides. 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> So far, you and Brian Green have repeatedly and carefully communicated to all members rosy claims about unionization. Coffee klatches aside, it is notable that you have frequently chosen to get these messages across through the most effective medium available: mass email on the all-SFUFA membership list. You have made no analogous effort to communicate sceptical claims. Now that some of us are asking to have such claims communicated, in the same efficient manner, you are actively and even dismissively resisting our request. This is not what I would call even-handed democratic leadership. 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> If you and Brian did not want to take on responsibility for informing members fully, you shouldn't have started telling them all about one side of the issue. Having started--as President and Executive Director of SFUFA, with responsibility to all members equally--you must finish. You must use your control of SFUFA communications to ensure that all members are informed about the other side of the argument. 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> Otherwise, you risk tainting, even vitiating, the very process you care about. 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> Sincerely, 
>>> JD Fleming 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> Dear all, 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> I'd like to express my thanks to Hilmar Pabel, Glenn Chapman, and Krishna Pendakur for organizing the panel on unionization concerns yesterday. Although I had to miss the third presentation (Pabel's), I must say that the first two (Chapman's and Pendakur's) left me at a loss to understand why unionization is a good idea--let alone an urgent priority. 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> Chapman reminded us, among other things, that a union structure for SFUFA would require far more work on the part of faculty, for example in defining proper workloads for departments and faculties, then monitoring faculty work to make sure those workloads are being met but not exceeded. A union-to-member disciplinary vector also opens up here. No more would SFUFA be an organization of a couple faculty and staff members. No: it would become a much more complex organization of committees, duties, etc. 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> Pendakur's analysis showed that, while unionization appears to compress salaries somewhat (moving top and bottom toward the middle), its effect on raising them overall is either minimal or nil. I find this point especially compelling since Neil Abramson and others have repeatedly compared our salaries to UBC's, confidently claiming that the unionization of the latter's faculty explains the differential. This claim now appears to be, to say the least, questionable. As Pendakur pointed out, the reason is not mysterious: Unionized faculty don't get more money because there isn't any more money to get. We are not working in a profit-making economic sector where collective action can redistribute wealth. Rather, we are working in a profit-losing sector where the wealth has for the most part already been distributed, or is beyond our control. Unionized or not, we have no power over the money the government gives us; student fees are already too high; and the administration, even if bloated, is little more than a minnow compared to the Jabba the Hutt of our current and future salaries and benefits. Finally, there seems to be an idea that a union would claw back market differentials from the 50% of colleagues who have them, merrily redistributing that money to the 50% who do not. Since the richer 50% are also SFUFA members, with a right to have their interests represented, I find this scenario completely unintelligible--quite apart from the handicapping effect it would clearly have on hiring, in fields where academics have rich offers elsewhere. 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> In short, I am now more opposed to unionization than I was before. For what it's worth. Best wishes, JDF 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> PS Only 25% of SFUFA members are on this list. I still think an all-faculty discussion of the union issue is critical, not optional, and that an email list is still the easiest and most effective way to achieve it--especially since the SFUFA exec and director are explicitly partisan. It's like an election campaign where the government controls all the TV stations. I again call upon Brian Green to open up the discussion to all. This can be done very easily, Brian, if you just copy messages like this one to the sfufa-members list. You will still have absolute control over what does and does not get sent, thereby eliminating concerns about offensive messages etc. 
>>> 
>>> -- 
>>> 
>>> James Dougal Fleming 
>>> Associate Professor 
>>> Department of English 
>>> Simon Fraser University 
>>> 778-782-4713 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> " Upstairs was a room for travelers. ‘You know, I shall take it for the rest of my life,’ Vasili Ivanovich is reported to have said as soon as he had entered it." 
>>> -- Vladimir Nabokov, Cloud, Castle, Lake 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 

Harald Hutter, Department of Biological Sciences
Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC, Canada
phone 778-782-4803, email: hutter@sfu.ca