by Reagan Reese
More than 500 professors at Eastern Michigan University went on strike Wednesday after their contract concluded on Aug. 31, according to a statement by the professors’ union.
Nearly 91% of the tenured and tenured track faculty in the Eastern Michigan University Chapter of the American Association of University Professors (EMU-AAUP) voted to strike Tuesday following the start of classes on Aug. 29, according to a statement by the union. Students have been advised to continue to go to class as normal and wait to see if their professor shows up, as the strike commences.
“During this time, students are advised to report to classes as scheduled and wait at least 15 minutes to determine whether their instructor will be teaching,” EMU vice president for communications Walter Kraft said in a press release. “Students may also contact their instructors in advance to determine whether classes will be taking place.”
EMU-AAUP and the university are negotiating over pay and health care insurance, according to a press release by the university. The university proposed an average salary increase of 6.2% for a first year contract which would total a 15.2% salary increase over five years.
The EMU-AAUP negotiation team said they tried to negotiate with the EMU administration earlier in the week, but received no response from the university, forcing a meeting with the administration on Wednesday. The last strike by the union was in 2006, according to the Detroit Free Press.
“It’s truly unfortunate that the EMU Administration’s failure at the bargaining table will cause delay and disruption for our students,” President of EMU-AAUP Mohamed El-Sayed said in a press release. “We will not be in our classrooms tomorrow, but our negotiating team will be at the bargaining table. We’re looking for solutions that support our students and set the stage for quality education at EMU for the long term.”
EMU-AAUP and the university did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
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Reagan Reese is a reporter at Daily Caller News Foundation.
Photo “Eastern Michigan University” by Andrew Jameson. CC BY-SA 3.0.
