Dispute on Proposed Faculty Union at Oregon

The University of Oregon has filed objections to a proposed union of faculty members organized jointly by the American Association of University Professors and the American Federation of Teachers. Potentially the most significant challenge is to the idea of having in the same bargaining unit tenure-track faculty members, adjuncts, postdocs and others. The university filing with the state labor board states that there is not "a sufficient community of interest" in these various groups. Union organizers criticized the university's action. "The university administration appears to be headed down a long and contentious path of using every legal mechanism and a lot of public money to deny us the basic right to decide our union future for ourselves,” said Michael Dreiling, associate professor of sociology.