tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6205547147753764731.post7241237846334562544..comments2023-04-29T10:00:23.869-04:00Comments on Students, Staff, and Faculty Together: timing is a tacticNancyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13215134456397263898noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6205547147753764731.post-82195249081204827342008-12-24T07:47:00.000-05:002008-12-24T07:47:00.000-05:00If we think of an op-ed's audience as the administ...If we think of an op-ed's audience as the administration, no, it's not going to be heard. They're pursuing a logic of well-supported executives and managers overseeing a "flexible" and lean faculty and staff. On the other hand, if we think of an op-ed's audience as students, staff, and faculty who feel overwhelmed by the administration's arguments and unsure as to whether there's any alternative, everything we do--op-eds, pickets in meetings, leaflets and tabling, letters to the editor, panels--helps to put more people with us so that each time we stand up (or sit down!), we have that many more. Two faculty and staff members contacted me after Kat spoke in the faculty senate meeting about joining SSFT, three more people after reading the press conference coverage. If we really get out on campus--every bulletin board, every chalkboard and whiteboard, (almost) every faculty member announcing in class our first event--we could fill one of those 260-seat classrooms Fogel wants to see more of, with people who want to stop the cuts. Education and activism can go hand in hand here--and need to since so many students, and a larger public, need to hear the arguments for why these cuts are neither necessary nor warranted.Nancyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13215134456397263898noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6205547147753764731.post-25357862597970990592008-12-23T21:08:00.000-05:002008-12-23T21:08:00.000-05:00Saving labor strategies can work and are working e...Saving labor strategies can work and are working elsewhere in higher ed, for one example, see the NYTimes:<BR/><BR/>http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/22/business/22layoffs.html?partner=rss&emc=rss<BR/><BR/>excerpt:<BR/>Even as layoffs are reaching historic levels, some employers have found an alternative to slashing their work force. They’re nipping and tucking it instead.<BR/><BR/>A growing number of employers, hoping to avoid or limit layoffs, are introducing four-day workweeks, unpaid vacations and voluntary or enforced furloughs, along with wage freezes, pension cuts and flexible work schedules. These employers are still cutting labor costs, but hanging onto the labor.<BR/>And in some cases, workers are even buying in. Witness the unusual suggestion made in early December by the chairman of the faculty senate at Brandeis University, who proposed that the school’s 300 professors and instructors give up 1 percent of their pay.<BR/><BR/>“What we are doing is a symbolic gesture that has real consequences — it can save a few jobs,” said William Flesch, the senate chairman and an English professor. <BR/>END EXCERPT<BR/><BR/>If the people employed in affected groups on campus voluntarily opt to keep their co-workers on board by using such alternative strategies, we could weather the storm together and keep people employed and paying taxes instead of collecting unemployment and accelerating the downward spiral. Let's stay employed--To do so, those at the top--with salaries over $100,000--should take a pay cut, not freeze their pay at an unsustainable level while others lose their jobs. After the cuts, Deans and departments will have less to cut and can look at what their employees suggest as alternatives.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com