Word: unioneering
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...thinking of the union leadership has shifted considerably over the past five months—from optimism that members could weather the fiscal storm without suffering too many ill effects, to sober recognition that sacrifices will have to be made to bring the University back into the black. “We were more hopeful originally that any changes in the staffing pattern or reductions would be incremental or spotty,” Jaeger says. “But it’s become clear in the past few months, it’s worse than that...
...Jaeger, in all his practicality, seems to lean toward a ‘no.’ Union leaders have begun to schedule meetings with schools and departments that have told them they are considering changes that could result in involuntary layoffs, according to Jaeger. Otherwise, concrete information has been meager...
...Because administrators have been wary about discussing any impending layoffs, union leadership has been forced to go into information-seeking mode for the last several months with mixed results, bringing into sharp relief the necessity that collaboration be a two-way street. “Where there’s strong [University] leadership, it’s working,” says HUCTW executive board member Linda Kluz of labor-management discussions. “But where there’s no leadership, there is no information forthcoming...
...Even Jaeger admits that the gross ramifications of the financial decline have alerted the union to the absence of University leadership when it comes to thinking beyond calculations and figures. “The main thing [central administrators] really do is set that number,” Jaeger says. “We wish they were doing more than that to really lead or to advise the schools and departments as to how to cope...
...shouting through the windows.” He was struck by some of the parallels between the cutbacks unveiled on the FAS Web site last month and a few of the union’s suggestions in their public letters. For example, in a December letter, the union leadership called for the closing of leased commercial spaces and slashing of catering budgets—both of which will be implemented next year...