i
Wednesday, October 29, 1975
page 6
daily nebraskan
agents, legislators vary in bargaining support
By Marian Lucas
Dissenting opinions concerning collective bargaining
have been expressed by several state legislators and NU
Regents.
Regent Robert Raun of Minden said he is opposed to
faculty bargaining.
Collective bargaining was originally established for blue
collar workers, Raun said, and the NU faculty doesn't have
enough similarities to blue-collar workers.
He said that since faculty are professionals, it is not
traditional for faculty members to bargain collectively.
"They have a lot more to lose than to gain," he said.
Bargain with Unicameral
If the state legislature passed a university line-by-line
budget, Raun said, the faculty then would have to bargain
with the Unicameral and not with the regents.
A lot of friction would be generated, he said.
The regents are involved, he said, but the bargaining unit
would have to negotiate with the legislature.
In addition, Raun said collective bargaining would cause
difficulties in giving merit increases to deserving professors.
Sen. Richard Marvel of Hastings said the regents would
be involved in the bargaining because they hire faculty
members.
Controls budget
But he added that the legislature also would have some
sav since it controls the university budget.
"Marvel, a professor at Nebraska Wesleyan University,
said with the passage of Legislative Bill 15 several years ago,
state employes are allowed to collectively bargain.
"But they are not necessarily bound to this," he said.
Omaha Regent Kermit Hansen declined personal
comment on collective bargaining, but said if appropria
tions from the Unicameral continue on a line-by-hne basis,
the faculty would have to bargain with legislators.
If they allocate a lump-sum ouagei, mte 1 nope mey
Collective bargaining support solidified
by 'frustrating situation ' last spring
Continued from p. 5
-Courses of study
Class size
-Budget
Calendar considerations
-Building projects
Retrenchment policies
Rules and regulations concerning the school's manual
operation
In the case of NU, anything established by state statutes
or the regents' legal obligations is non-negotiable.
Started three years ago
According to John Robinson, UNL English department
chairman and president of UNL's AAUP chapter, the drive
to establish collective bargaining started three years ago
when AAUP decided to "sound out" faculty attitudes
about unionization. The majority of faculty didn't favor
unionization at that time, he said.
AAUP then planned to start a campaign for collective
bargaining this fall, Robinson said, but because the regents
temporarily blocked tenure appointments last May, the
drive started then.
AAUP collected signature cards calling for an election to
establish collective bargaining and about 60 per cent of the
UNL faculty favored calling the election.
According to Don Haack, engineering mechanics
professor, a "frustrating situation" at UNL sparked the
move for collective bargaining.
In seven of the last seven years, increments in faculty
salaries have failed to keep up with the cost of living," he
said. "Nebraska doesn't stack up well in salary matters with
similar schools."
Haack, who also is on AAUP's collective bargaining
committee, said the resulting loss of the faculty's purchas
ing power has caused a disproportionate amount of
attrition at UNL and caused morale problems among the
faculty.
Quoting an AAUP tudy, Haack said UNL ranks in the
lowest 20 per cent of all category one schools in total com
pensation to the faculty. Category one schools, he explain
ed, are research and graduate institutions that grant Ph.D.'s.
Salary problems
Franklin Eldridge, animal science professor and presi
dent of the UNL Faculty Senate, said he would prefer not
to bargain collectively, but salary pioblems may force
establishment of collective bargaining.
"I prefer to operate in the framework we are in now
rather than using collective bargaining," he said. "It is a
more professional way for university faculty to work."
Eldridge said he is disappointed with formula (across the
board) salary increases and prefers merit increases.
Of the nearly 2,000 UNL faculty members, about 200
are members of the local AAUP chapter. They pay national
dues ranging from $ 1 2 to $36, plus local chapter dues of $2
a year.
will," Hansen sard, "the Board 01 Regents will be very
involved."
Regent Edward Schwartzkopf of Lincoln said he
supports system-wide bargaining. Otherwise, he said, the
faculty would get "a little bit of everything."
If collective bargaining was established, he said, the
bargaining unit would have to negotiate not only salaries
but also working conditions and health benefits.
"Most of these things are accepted now," Schwartzkopf
said, "but if they get collective bargaining, they would not
be automatically accepted."
"Out the window"
"When you get collective bargaining, some of these
things may go out the window," he said.
Sen. Wally Bamett of Lincoln said he felt the faculty
should have the bargaining privilege.
Barnett said he "hoped to God" the legislature would
not have a part in the bargaining process. ?
"That's for the regents to decide," he said. "I'm for
letting them run it." "' '
Collective bargaining is
'more orderly process'
Collective bargaining has worked well at Rutgers Uni
versity in New Jersey, according to bargaining expert Bill
Weinburg.
Weinburg, an Industrial Relations professor at Rutgers,
testified as a witness for the NU Board of Regents last
month at a bargaining hearing.
"Collective bargaining is a more orderly process in solv
ing grievances," he said, "not only for tenure but for
administrative handling as well."
Rutgers is similar to NU in structure and size, Weinburg
said. He added that both are state universities that are
"very much dedicated to serving the state."
Rutgers' University has three campuses-New Brunswick,
Newark and Camden, N.J.
NU now is experiencing the typical problems of faculty
group organization and choosing a bargaining agent, Wein
burg said.
Presently, he said collective bargaining at Rutgers is in
volved in salary negotiations.
Weinburg said he favors university-wide collective
bargaining because it adds to administrative efficiency and
eliminates competitive faculty groups.
"You can have unified but still separate treatment in a
bargaining unit," he said.
Weinburg has worked with collective bargaining since
1948. He said he has helped many universities such as NU
in their primary stages of bargaining.
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