Academic Librarians Return to Work after Faculty Strike

In Rochester, Michigan, librarians, teachers, and students at Oakland University went back to school September 10, ending a week-long faculty strike joined by a dozen tenure-track librarians from the Kresge Library.

The university administration and the faculty union reached a tentative agreement on the faculty’s 2009–2012 contracts at around 3:30 a.m., the September 10 Oakland Press reported, and the strike that canceled classes since September 3 was called off.

According to the Press, Joel Russell, president of the Oakland University chapter of the American Association of University Professors, which represents about 600 faculty, said in a letter to the faculty that “the [tentative agreement] retains and in some ways strengthens the shared governance provisions of former contracts, limits the use of term appointments, protects our intellectual property, and offers choices between our current type of health plans and healthy choice plans.”

The contract becomes official once it has been read and approved by all union members and the OU board of trustees, a process that is not expected to be completed before month’s end.

—Leonard Kniffel, American Libraries Online
Posted on September 11, 2009.

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