From WDTN TV
Updated at 9:15 a.m., Sunday, Nov. 6, 2019
The union representing the WSU faculty announced Saturday night that on Monday they will file to strike. The AAUP WSU and the university's Board of Trustees have been in contract negotiations for the last two years.
On Friday night, the Board of Trustees made what they called their "last, best" contract offer. They voted unanimously on in a public session to implement the terms and conditions of the offer immediately.
The AAUP WSU spent six hours on campus going over the contract and unequivocally rejected it.
"We were shocked last night because of their decision. We were horrified by the contract they decided to impose," Noeleen McIlvenna, the AAUP's contract administration officer said.
The contract keeps faculty's salary at their current levels and adds them to the same healthcare plan as other university employees. It also allows for furlough days but McIlvenna said one of the worst things it does is increase in their course load. She said it would negatively affect students.
"(Faculty) cannot give them individualized attention. They cannot give the same level of energy and attention to every course they offer," McIlvenna said. We hate to do this. This is our last stand for Wright State University."
The Board of Trustees told us 2 News Friday, the new contract was necessary to address the school's financial crisis.
"It was really about putting in what the Board believed and worked really hard on a reasonable, fair, terms and conditions," Doug Fecher, chairmain Board of Trustees said.
University trustees still a chance to come back with a different offer before a strike.
McIlvenna said faculty would strike as long as the Trustees refused to negotiate.
The union said there are legal guidelines they must follow before hitting the picket lines. That puts the possible strike sometime in the next three weeks as students start the spring semester.
On October 29, both parties voted whether to accept or reject the findings of a fact-finders report, which was meant to be a compromise proposal that would help settle the contract disputes. Trustees voted to approve the report as the next contract, while AAUP-WSU members rejected it.
You can read the terms of the contract here.
