I don't have much experience helping organize a union. In fact, I have canvassed a grand total of three fellow university academic professionals. The first one I talked to said, "YES! Unions are good. I am definitely interested!" "Excellent," I thought, "this isn't going to be so difficult after all." The second person to whom I spoke about the union was, shall I say, less enthusiastic. After a couple of days, I decided to jump back into the fray and asked another co-worker if she supported the AAP. Her response brought my canvassing effort to a temporary halt. She said, "I am paid on soft money and everybody knows that a union can't do anything to help people paid with soft money; so a union doesn't matter to me." ("Soft money" employees are paid through grants, not state money allocated directly to the university.)
Confused, I relayed this exchange to the AAP and asked what a union can do for people who work on soft money, since most of my co-workers are researchers. Peter Miller, an IEA staff person, gave me information on how soft-money employees are treated at some comparable institutions across the country. Most of this information comes from contracts and is, therefore, written in very precise (i.e., almost unintelligible) language. After going through all the papers, I found a few ideas worth pursuing but realized that we might need to be creative to resolve the issue on this campus.
Some institutions take a traditional approach and offer the opportunity for laid-off, soft-money employees to bump other employees of lower seniority. This might not work well for everyone at UIUC given the diverse, specialized skills of research APs, but it might work for some people on campus.
An interesting option I found at University of Maine is the "Soft Money Unemployment Recovery Fund" (SMURF), which states:
Soft money employees who have worked for the University for more than 3 years will finally receive a one-time cash payment if they are discontinued (laid off). The payout amount is fixed, and is based on years of University employment. The payment schedule for full time employees is based on years of continuous regular University service as follows:
Years of Service Payment at least 3 but less than 6 $2,000 at least 6 but less than 10 $3,000 10 years or over $4,000
After looking at the bargaining agreement for the University of Maine, I find the union is taking a look at which policies may be put into place to make employees feel less vulnerable. At an institution such as the U of I, where research is fervent, a union must develop proposals that truly offer some measure of security to people paid on soft money, while also being enforceable and equitable to those paid with hard money. It sounds difficult, but this is the University of Illinois where we make seemingly impossible things happen.
An important lesson I learned is that we're in uncharted territory. It's up to us to think about things we want to change because a union gives us the power to make those changes. Looking back, I should have asked my soft-money co-worker what she wanted from a union. What do YOU want?
As we continue toward our union for academic professionals, we must think about how to address the needs of those paid on soft-money accounts. This knowledge will prepare us for contract negotiations and ensure that a union for academic professionals brings benefits to all of us!
If you have ideas for changes that would help soft-money employees, send them to Lisa Braddock at braddock@uiuc.edu.