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Faculty Association wrapping up vote

Ben Botkin

Daily Egyptian

Members of the Faculty Association are wrapping up their voting today on a measure that could lead to a strike at SIUC.

The Faculty Association, the union that represents tenure and tenure-track professors at SIUC, completed its second day of voting Tuesday on a ballot that supports a possible strike.

There is one day left ˜ today ˜ for members of the Faculty Association to vote on supporting the strike, and even if the measure is approved, professors may be able to avoid walking out. For that to be averted, the University's administration and the union would need to reach a contract agreement.

The Faculty Association will announce the outcome of the vote at 5 p.m. today.

Besides deciding on how to vote, some faculty members are also faced with another choice ˜ whether to join the union. Faculty who join the association today would become eligible to vote on the ballot.

"If someone joins, they can then vote," said Ted Riggar, a professor in the Rehabilitation Institute who assisted at a polling table in the Engineering Building. "Everybody gets one vote."

Only members of the association can vote, a figure that represents about 60 percent of the roughly 688 tenure and tenure-track faculty at SIUC, according to Morteza Daneshdoost, president of the faculty union.

In the recent weeks since the possibility of a strike became an issue, the union experienced an increase in faculty who have joined, said James Kelly, an associate professor of journalism and chair of the Faculty Association's public information committee. Exact figures were unavailable.

If the measure passes with a simple majority, Daneshdoost will be authorized to call a strike on or after Feb. 3, 2003. Daneshdoost said a strike could take place if faculty have not reached a contract agreement with the SIUC administration by February.

For a strike before February to take place, the union's Departmental Representative Council, a group of about 42 elected members, would need to vote in support of walking out.

The bargaining teams of the Faculty Association and SIUC administration will meet Friday to continue trying to work out differences. About 75 issues remain unresolved and include salaries, workloads, tenure and student/faculty ratios.

Faculty are working under the terms of a contract that expired in June, and negotiations have been ongoing since February.

Reporter Ben Botkin can be reached at bbotkin@dailyegyptian.com

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