OAKLAND UNIVERSITY CHAPTER OF THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF UNIVERSITY
PROFESSORS (AAUP) FILES UNFAIR LABOR PRACTICE AGAINST THE UNIVERSITY
Negotiations Failed to Produce at Tentative Agreement
ROCHESTER, MICH–Oakland AAUP filed an unfair labor practice charge with the Michigan Employment
Relations Commission (MERC) that cited the administrators of Oakland University for a number of violations.
Labor attorney Jim Moore presented the filing which held Oakland University in violation of four fair labor
practices, including bargaining in bad faith with the intention of not reaching an agreement and failure to
provide their chief negotiator with the proper authority to reach an agreement.
Teachers charge the administration with failing to bargain in good faith. The remaining complaint faults the
university with failure to provide information required for bargaining. Oakland University refuses to provide
the union with important documents regarding the upcoming medical school partnership with Beaumont
Hospital in Royal Oak.
Unfair labor practice is a punishable offense in the state of Michigan. If found guilty of unfair labor practices,
Oakland University would be subject to public censure and must comply with the judge’s ruling.
When asked about the administration’s response to the filing, OU media relations director Ted Montgomery
refused to answer.
AAUP and Oakland University have been negotiating faculty contracts since May 19. There are three major issues at stake. The first centers on protecting the faculty’s ability to make decisions about hiring, review, and curriculum. The second seeks to avoid a penalty-based health care plan, and the third challenges the university’s claim to the faculty’s ownership of their ideas and research. As of Thursday morning, faculty and supporters began picketing OU’s main campus in Rochester. The picketing is expected to resume after Labor Day.
