Inside Iowa State: Iowa State University

April 16, 2004

UNI's union leader visits with faculty senators

by Linda Charles
The union at the University of Northern Iowa provides a well-defined academic life for the faculty, Charles Quirk told the Faculty Senate at the April 13 meeting.

"People know what the rules are and if they violate the rules, they end up in arbitration," said Quirk, executive director of United Faculty (the UNI union). "It provides structure for the faculty and the administration."

ISU senate president Jack Girton arranged for Quirk to address the senate because of the role the union plays in negotiating faculty salaries and because few ISU faculty know much about the group.

The UNI master document spells out academic freedom, promotion and tenure and grievance procedures, Quirk said.

The grievance procedure is a "detailed process," Quirk said, which can end in arbitration. However, in promotion and tenure cases, the arbitration is not binding and may be overruled by the university president.

"We try to solve most disagreements before they become active grievances," Quirk said.

The union has people who are skilled in conflict negotiation who will work with faculty for a resolution before a formal grievance is filed, he added The desire for a union at UNI was not driven by economics, but rather by governance, he said.

"We had advisory boards but the advice was never heeded," Quirk said. Girton pointed out that the salary increases the union negotiates with the Board of Regents, State of Iowa, become "the benchmark" for salary increases for faculty at ISU and the University of Iowa.

Girton also said that while the average Iowa State faculty salary has gone from ninth to last place among its peer 11 group, the UNI average faculty salary has risen to fourth in its peer group.

The average faculty salary at Iowa State has increased 11 percent between FY2000 and FY04 (from $68,000 to $75,500), while the average faculty salary at UNI has increased 15 percent (from $55,900 to $64,300) during the same period.

Quirk said the union negotiates a contract every two years. UNI faculty received a 3.5 percent increase this year and will receive a 3.75 percent increase next fiscal year.

In addition, he said, the union contract guarantees that all faculty will receive at least 70 percent of any negotiated increase. The administration may pool the remaining 30 percent to use for salaries as it sees fit, such as for market equity.

Quirk noted that Iowa is a right-to-work state, and under collective bargaining, all faculty fall under the union contract, whether they are paying members or not.

He added that less than half the faculty at UNI belong to the union. Reasons for not joining the union include:

Philosophical objection to unions in general and faculty unions in particular.
Faculty who are not "joiner-type" people.
"Cold calculation" resulting in not paying the $300 annual membership dues when they can receive the same benefits "for nothing."
Faculty in departments where few, if any, belong to the union.
Faculty who never have been asked to join the union.

He said the heaviest concentrations of union members are in the departments of history, communication studies, English and foreign languages, and philosophy and religion. The fewest union members are in business and natural sciences.

Asked about faculty striking, Quirk said Iowa law forbids public employees from striking. "So, no strikes," he said. "I don't think we've even done informational picketing."