The offer was turned down last week after an overwhelming majority of the Crookston faculty rejected the local provisions for the Crookston campus. The contract would have covered faculty at both campuses.
           
In its offer, the University had refused to drop a demand to give the administration authority to unilaterally change parts of the contract addressing Crookston-specific issues at any time, without faculty input, according to leaders of the faculty union, the University Education Association (UEA).
           
The offer also failed to adequately address other key contract issues for Crookston, such as tenure and workload. The University has indicated that it needs flexibility regarding the direction the campus goes in the future, said Mark Keränen, president of the Crookston UEA local.
           
The Crookston faculty, which unionized in February 2005, has been working under a stop-gap agreement that covered their salaries and gave them a grievance procedure. It expired July 1, 2006. 
           
"Our members deliver the same top-notch quality of education to students as do faculty at the other U of M campuses," Keränen said. "We deserve the same respect in the form of a complete contract that treats us as professionals and gives us a meaningful voice in our conditions of work."
           
The Duluth faculty voted to approve the contract provisions specific to them, but are bound by the overall voting results. "The UMD faculty are without a contract because the University administration in the Twin Cities is unwilling to do the right thing and make a fair offer to the Crookston faculty," said Melanie Shepard, president of the Duluth UEA local.

For more information
Visit the UEA website, http://uea.educationminnesota.org/index.cfm?page_id=14883