United Academics at UO: productive year!

by Michael Dreiling, President, United Academics at UO

At United Academics, we have completed a very productive year for our union. Please see our end of the year report. Highlighting the end of the academic year was our first Spring Picnic and Potluck, with great food, drinks and friends.  The festivities and connection with colleagues from all across campus reminded me of the invaluable benefit of standing together as a union. Across our multitude of interests and expertise a common thread unites us: our professional labor is the heart and soul of UO’s academic, teaching, and research mission. Our union honors this unique common ground and in our unity helps enhance the quality of our work lives.

Our unity does not stop at the threshold of the UO campus. Our members attend national conventions (AAUP in June, AFT in July), participate in the local and national political process, stand in solidarity with others (recently with physicians and graduate students), and so much more.  At a time when public higher education reels from numerous challenges, our union is a model for finding new solutions to some of the woes facing U.S. higher education. In just a few short years, we have shown that organization and collective bargaining can provide concrete mechanisms to elevate faculty voices and change the conversation at large public universities.