Thread by @famiamioh

Cathy Wagner, Professor of English and president of Miami AAUP, takes the stand. Her testimony shows not only that faculty commonly change rank from VAP to TT or TCPL, but also that they continue to do the same work after they are permanently hired

VAPs are NOT “seasonal/casual employees,” Cathy shows. They are not hired at the last minute to “plug holes.” What our research shows is that faculty who start as VAPs are sometimes retained as TT or TCPL faculty, and it’s because we need them to teach the same courses

“It’s identical work” regardless of rank.

“Notably, the VAPs who changed rank were doing research AS VAPs—in fact, when we hire them as permanent faculty, we consider their research in the hiring process”

The university wants to argue that faculty who moved from VAP rank to TCPL or TT rank were “not retained”—-um, inaccurate. They were retained and are doing the same teaching and research they were doing as a VAP!!!

These are faculty who do very similar work as VAPs and then as TCPLs and TTs

FAM’s lawyer: “do you think faculty across ranks have a community of shared interests?” Cathy: “YES. We’re all on the front lines of teaching, service and research at Miami University.” 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

If the Liberal Education Council at Miami consisted only of TT faculty, and there was a separate council for VAPs and TCPLs, would that make sense? Would it be inefficient? NO.

A shared interest is NOT based on a faculty member’s title but instead the actual work they actually do — and that work is much the same across ranks

Not just TT but also NonTT faculty are active in governance at Miami—they are enfranchised by the university to participate in decision making — so why not participate together in collective bargaining? We’re a shared community of interest

If the Liberal Education Council at Miami, or any major committee at Miami, consisted only of TT faculty, and there was a separate council for VAPs and TCPLs, would that make sense?“NO. No cmte with major decision making power wd function while excluding a category of faculty.”

FAM lawyer: "Admin has argued that TCPLs are really excluded from governance at Miami. Do you think that's accurate?"
Cathy: "It's a robust involvement, actually, and regular. They are deeply involved in Senate, Faculty Assembly, President's Exec Council, etc. They are crucial"

"The union needs ALL faculty ranks to identify and address issues, to function well." #famhearings

FAM Lawyer: "Do faculty all want to be in the same unit as you?"
Cathy: "Yes."
Lawyer: "Do you want to be in the same unit as them?"
Cathy: "Very much so, yes."

Cross examination of Cathy Wagner begins by university lawyers. This should be good.

"Do you think there might be conflicts among different faculty groups during bargaining?" Cathy: "There would need to be discussion about it, yes, and we would need to develop a shared set of interests to negotiate around."

"We would have a process for doing that where we would have a bargaining survey, interview faculty to find out their needs, meet, and figure out what we wanted to advocate for. It's a part of the process. Inequities might be identified in workload, for example" 1/2

"and we would likely want to address those inequities." 2/2

"The way to put it is not 'conflict.' It's working together to figure out issues in common and to advocate for all."

"It's a negotiation between faculty and administration, not just between different ranks of faculty. Your characterization leaves out the role of administration in the process."

"there is a distinction between practice and policy at Miami in expectations about NTT faculty. VAPs, for example, in practice do research and service, just like TT faculty. Due to the decline in TT faculty, we need service covered by VAPs because we don't have enough TT fac"

"It's implicit for VAP faculty to do service and research, to be valued and their contracts renewed. The annual contract creates a strong encouragement for VAPs to do service and research."

Uni lawyer: "How often do librarians teach on the front line?"
Cathy: "Very often. Each librarian visits many faculty member's classes to do research instruction, so many class visits per week, month, semester."

Uni lawyer: "You did not personally speak to all faculty in the proposed bargaining unit about their interest in unionizing?"
Cathy: "Not personally, but as president of the advocacy chapter, I have the records and know of their support."

Redirect: Cathy is asked about the administration's 2020 nonrenewal of hundreds of VAPs at Miami. "There was a lot of dismay among all ranks of faculty at this time, and that is when we decided to unionize. There was NO DISCUSSION about this enormous unilateral decision."

"We petitioned administration NOT to nonrenew these lines, and we even offered as TT faculty to take a pay cut so they could be kept. Admin NEVER RESPONDED to us. They went ahead with the cruel firings, and during Covid, when the fired faculty were left without job or insurance"

"At BGSU, on the other hand, their union were able to negotiate the number of nonrenewed faculty down, and for severance for nonrenewed faculty. And at Oregon State, they negotiated to delay a nonrenewal (and saved ALL faculty jobs as a result)."

"There are some faculty groups that are more precarious than others. That's the administration's doing, not a union. In a contract, we're negotiating among those constraints. But the precarity is admin's doing--NOT the union. Unions do their best to limit precarity."

IPEDS has a definition for casual employees: Persons who are hired to work during peak times such as those that help at registration time or those that work in the bookstore for a day or two at the start of a session. That does NOT characterize VAPs.