In January, our union will be renegotiating the financials in our contract, including pay, healthcare, retirement, and other benefits. We are entering these negotiations facing several significant challenges: the effects of free community college, the birth-rate decline following the 2008 recession, and projected increases in health care costs for next year. This means we will need to be thoughtful and strategic about how we make our case, and we need your help. We need to show the administration that we are one faculty united: if we want to retain talented educators and protect the student experience, raising our pay and benefits to levels that are competitive with other Michigan public universities must be a top priority.
One way that you could help our negotiating team is to send stories that exemplify how financial constraints are affecting your lives, causing stress, or keeping you from bringing your best to the classroom. Since healthcare costs will be a primary point of focus, we'll be particularly interested in stories about problems you've encountered accessing care or working with Blue Cross and Blue Shield.
One way that you could help our negotiating team is to send stories that exemplify how financial constraints are affecting your lives, causing stress, or keeping you from bringing your best to the classroom. Since healthcare costs will be a primary point of focus, we'll be particularly interested in stories about problems you've encountered accessing care or working with Blue Cross and Blue Shield.
As an English professor, helping people tell their stories is what I do best, which is why I'm offering a writing workshop on Friday, October 23th, from 10-11:15 in JXJ 1311. The workshop will provide structure for us to write together as we explore strategies for telling stories to foster empathy and drive institutional change. With your permission, the stories we'll write may be published in NMU AAUP's newsletter, used in negotiations with the administration, or shared with elected representatives as part of lobbying efforts.
Please let me know if you have any questions or if you wish to share a story but cannot attend the workshop. Otherwise, I look forward to seeing you all on the 23rd!
In solidarity,
Chad Seader
Information Officer - NMU AAUP