Classes canceled until further notice due to strike
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All classes at Oakland University have been canceled today, the first day of classes, until further notice. The faculty are on strike because OU administration and the faculty union still haven’t agreed on faculty contracts for 2009-2012.
The strike was officially announced at 12:30 a.m. on Sept. 3 by the union American Association of University Professors, which represents about 600 faculty members, after the 2006-2009 contract expired at midnight.
Some teachers crossed the picket line and taught morning classes which began at 8 a.m., amid other teachers protesting on campus entrances and most teachers not in classes.
But then OU sent an e-mail to all students at 10:30 a.m. saying all classes have been canceled due to the strike. In a previous e-mail on Sept. 2 at 9 a.m., OU asked its students to attend classes even if there was a strike and to leave after 15 minutes if the instructor isn’t there.
Other university resources such as the library and career services are to remain open, and all “welcome week” events are scheduled to go on.
Lizabeth Barclay said that after the union members authorized the strike last night around 8 p.m. and the negotiation teams went back to bargain, progress has been made on some small issues, but still nothing settled on some of the bigger issues the faculty are pushing for.
She said these issues include OU offering lower health care benefits, less pay for summer classes, no increases in support for research travel, not providing the union information on how to include the upcoming OU William Beaumont School of Medicine faculty into the union, and hiring more fixed-term faculty instead of tenure-track faculty.
Barclay said both teams would continue to bargain this weekend if the contract isn’t resolved by Friday.
AAUP is holding a protest rally at 3 p.m. today in front of Wilson Hall.
