Administration Apologizes for Data Errors; EMU Professors Picket Conference Attended by Governor Granholm (12 Oct 2006)
Eastern Michigan University’s chief negotiator this week apologized for using erroneous salary data in the contract dispute. In a letter to members of the American Association of University Professors, Hartmut Hoft said a table comparing EMU faculty salaries to those at other Michigan universities contained mistakes.
The incorrect data was cited in university press releases during a faculty strike that lasted 11 days. It was removed from the university’s Web site just a few days ago. The faulty information was used as the basis for editorials in major media critical of the union’s position.
Hoft, who is interim dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, said EMU faculty salaries were compared with only eight other Michigan universities, not 11 as he previously had reported. The data excluded salaries at Western Michigan University, Saginaw Valley State and Lake Superior State University.
“I apologize for the errors,†Hoft said in a statement emailed to faculty Wednesday.
“We have been saying all along that the administration’s numbers did not make sense. Their bargaining was based on total distortions,†said Howard Bunsis, AAUP president and an accounting professor.
In other developments, on Saturday, October 14th, from 1 PM to 2:30 PM, the EMU Faculty Union will picketed the Health Care Conference to be held at the EMU Convocation Center. The Conference is being attended by Governor Jennifer Granholm.
The EMU faculty is working under conditions of their old contract, as negotiations broke down in September without an agreement. Both sides are submitting the dispute to fact finding, under the direction of the Michigan Employment Relations Commission (MERC).
The picketing is intended to display the faculty’s unity in alerting the Governor to the situation at EMU, as the Board of Regents refuses to accept the Union’s offer to accept all the results of the fact finding process.
For more information, see The Truth About Average Salaries, Part II
Contact: Howard Bunsis, President, EMU-AAUP
734-487-1070 (office phone)
734-845-0706 (cell)