Excerpt from WYSO
Some Wright State students are planning to attend town-hall meeting Wednesday to learn more about how a faculty strike scheduled for January 22 may affect them.
More than 500 faculty members with the American Association of University Professors are planning to walk out next Tuesday unless a new contract deal is reached. The union has been in negotiations with the university for over two years.
Wright State President Cheryl Schrader says officials are looking internally for temporary instructors to fill in for striking faculty members. Some of those subs could include administrators with master’s degrees or qualified members of their alumni community. But she says those plans could change if some union members decide to cross picket lines.
"We do have contingency plans in place with the assumption that every member of the bargaining unit would not come to work, but we know that will not be the case. We have a number of faculty who have indicated that they will be coming to work, from the union and from outside of the union.”
Union president Marty Kich confirmed that three members of the union do not plan to join the strike. Kich says two have serious health issues and are concerned about any disruptions to their health insurance plans. One is planning to step down from the faculty this Spring. 10 percent of AAUP-WSU members voted against the strike, 5 percent abstained from voting.
In a statement on social media, union officials said upon their return from the strike, faculty members will not accept “any work of any kind that was completed at the direction of replacement teachers.”
Students are invited to a Wright State student government association town-hall meeting to discuss the strike Wednesday at 7 p.m. in the Apollo room of the Student Union. Students must present Wright State IDs to be admitted.
