Excerpt from the Dayton Daily News
To union members at Miami University, negotiations with legal counsel for the university have felt like a fight. If the election earlier this year was round one, collective bargaining is round two.
And it hasn’t gotten easier for the group that started unionizing efforts in 2020.
In September, officials representing Miami declined to consider the union’s proposal of 2% raises. Staff and administrators who were not part of the unions received a 2% raise this year. Union organizers were shocked.
“It’s been very challenging,” said Cathy Wagner, an English professor and lead organizer for the faculty union.
Wagner called the raises a union-busting move, but the university says it plans to negotiate compensation when it discusses other economic issues later in negotiations.
“This is a game, at the moment, to the university,” Wagner said. “And we want faculty to understand we are in it for the long haul.”
As politics and culture wars continue to infiltrate the education world, this is an important moment for educators in Ohio, Wagner said.
