Whereas the AAUP is the collective bargaining agent for tenure track and tenured full time faculty at Eastern Michigan University, and

Whereas the AAUP initiated a strike after its contract expired on August 31,2006 after a summer of surface bargaining on the part of the EMU Administration in which important health care information was illegally withheld from AAUP negotiators , wage offers not discussed until late August, and a session was cancelled by the Administration, and

Whereas the Administration's bargaining team walked away from the table at 10pm the evening before classes began on September 6 when the AAUP was willing to work through the night to reach a settlement before classes began, and

Whereas the Administration's offer for a five year contract does not keep pace with conservative estimates of inflation in an expensive region of the state, yet the Administration's salaries are fourth highest in the state and the Administration has made poor fiscal decisions in relation to the president's home, the new student union building, and other large expenditures that could pay for decent wages and health care benefits for the faculty, as well as the other EMU staff, and

Whereas the Administration's offer does not provide meaningful roles for faculty input in safeguarding classroom conditions for themselves and students, and in general protect the role of faculty input in shared governance, and

Whereas EMU is among the largest employers in the region and campus labor unions at EMU look to the AAUP for leadership in winning decent wages and working conditions at EMU, and

Whereas this strike is receiving the national attention not only of the US professoriate but of organized labor in general, which currently represents only 11% of the US population.

Be it resolved that the Ann Arbor Democratic Party

1. Expresses solidarity with the AAUP in its strike and;

2. Encourages area Democrats to offer their support in the form of public relations and other strike support activities;

3. Urges the Regents of Eastern Michigan University to order the Administration's negotiators to return to the bargaining table to conclude negotiations with a fair settlement in order to end the strike; and

4. Urges Governor Granholm to review the extent to which the EMU Regents, led by Karen Valvo, are properly upholding their responsibilities to protect the institution from negative public opinion, to provide good stewardship of the university's resources, and to safeguard the rights, health, and welfare of its faculty and students in order to pursue the goal of affordable and quality higher education for Michigan's citizens.

Susan Greenberg, Chairperson

Doug Kelley, Secretary

Tim Colenback, Vice-Chairperson

Gwen Nystuen, Treasurer

The Ann Arbor Democratic Party

PO BOX 4178

Ann Arbor, MI 48106

734-480-4986

www.aadems.org

aadems@comcast.net