[lbo-talk] seems 99% sure

[Alan Rudy]

So, inorder to get the injunction - which denies us the right of peaceable
assembly and free speech at least until the court session Fri morn - the
admin claimed that we were 1) breaking the law (job actions are legal when
one party engages in unfair labor practices like refusing to negotiate or
negotiating in public), 2) causing the whole university to shut down, all
classes to be cancelled (at the same time they praise the contract-bound
temps and grad students for teaching their classes) and 3) going to force
tens of thousands of non-teaching employees to lose their jobs because of
our potentially Katrina-like power/effects.  They have also spread false
rumors that our job action could jeopardize NCAA athletes because the NCAA
could find that student-athletes not having/going to classes violates NCAA
strictures…

Additionally, they were sufficiently concerned (afraid?) that they contacted
the Michigan Education Association lawyers over the weekend - as they
refused the mediators request to negotiate on those days - to say that they
were going to seek a court injunction if we went out… something MEA Legal
has never seen before (perhaps the admin realized 97% approval of a motion
to allow the FA leadership to call a job action if necessary was an
indication that a job action would be robust).

Not only have we had great support from local businesses, the students and
other unions (the admin had to send a university truck to UPS to pick up
packages drivers refused to deliver), but faculty union members from Ferris
State and grad student union members from the University of Michigan have
driven to Mount Pleasant to protest in from the Admin building for us.

Of course, in all of these bad budget times, the new Pres and Provost are
making a great deal more money than their predecessors and at no point has
their shared sacrifice discourse indicated a willingness on their part to
share - nor an indication that they'll be finding lawyers who work for less
than $375/hour.

On Mon, Aug 22, 2011 at 9:23 PM, Jeffrey Fisher <jeff.jfisher at gmail.com>wrote:


> i know. been there. still. so little.
>
> On Mon, Aug 22, 2011 at 8:17 PM, <123hop at comcast.net> wrote:
>
> > It's the principle of the thing. The workers should get nothing and
> should
> > certainly not get a seat at the bargaining table.
> >
> > Joanna
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "Jeffrey Fisher" <jeff.jfisher at gmail.com>
> > To: lbo-talk at lbo-talk.org
> > Sent: Monday, August 22, 2011 6:12:54 PM
> > Subject: Re: [lbo-talk] seems 99% sure
> >
> > man, that is the same story, always, all the time. it never ceases to
> amaze
> > me.
> >
> > On Sun, Aug 21, 2011 at 7:49 PM, Alan Rudy <alan.rudy at gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> > > The
> > > whole package the union asked for comes to 1/2 of 1% of the total
> > > university
> > > budget.
> > >
> > ___________________________________
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> >
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