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Workload Report May 2009
Resolution of SAS Workload Issue by a Letter of Agreement
The Executive Council of the AAUP-AFT created an ad-hoc Workload Committee to examine workload policy and deliver recommendations for the membership, as appropriate.
The Ad-hoc Committee on Workload members were:
James G. Pope, Professor, Newark Law School (chair)
Harry W. Janes, Professor, Plant Biology & Pathology, New Brunswick
Patrice M. Mareschal, Associate Professor, Public Policy and Administration, Camden
Karen Thompson, staff representative, Rutgers AAUP-AFT
Links:
Full document, May 2009 Workload Report
Summary of May 2009 Workload Report
Rutgers AAUP-AFT Faculty Workload Report
Summary of Recommendations and Conclusions
May 1, 2009
Faculty productivity is, first and foremost, the responsibility of the faculty itself. It is expected that all full-time faculty will perform a full-time workload. The appropriate goal for a faculty workload policy is to ensure that each faculty member is carrying an equitable combined load of teaching, research and service. (See Part 2.)
Faculty workload policy should not be viewed as a means of responding to the budget crisis. Given that the overwhelming majority of Rutgers faculty already work long hours at a high rate of productivity, there is no reason to expect that an equitable workload policy will result in increased output. The University may not unilaterally impose an overall increase in workload requirements without first bargaining with the Union over the appropriate compensation. (See Part 3.)
Faculty workload policies should be developed at the departmental level using accepted procedures of faculty governance including the adoption of proposed policies by faculty vote with approval by the Dean. (See Part 4.)
In general, voluntary workload policies are preferable to mandatory. An increased teaching load that results from a voluntary shift in a faculty member’s professional commitments is far more likely to yield high quality teaching than an increased load imposed as a penalty for low scholarly production. It would be a serious mistake to impose mandatory requirements on an entire department because of a problem with one or two faculty members. In the event that a mandatory policy is nevertheless deemed necessary, a number of best practices are suggested. (See Part 5.)
Because of the wide variation in the forms and assessment of scholarship, teaching, and service across disciplines, individual faculty workloads should be negotiated at the departmental level. There should be full participation by an appropriate faculty committee or committees, and the department’s authority to vary workloads must have the unequivocal support of the dean and the administration. The individual workload assignments of each faculty member on a given track (e.g., tenure track) should be disclosed to all members of the faculty on that track in that department. Finally, there should be some avenue of individual appeal. (See Part 6.)
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President Lisa Klein and other officers thank the committee members and staff for their effort. This was no doubt an arduous task given the circumstances that surround us these days.
SAS Full-Time Faculty Workload Issue Resolved through a Letter of Agreement (LOA) with RU Administration
On May 8, 2009, Rutgers AAUP-AFT sent a demand for negotiations to Rutgers administration on the impact of the changes in workload requirements for the full-time faculty in the School of Arts and Sciences, New Brunswick.
Click here to read the May 11, 2009 message sent to SAS faculty about the demand.
The grievance was resolved through a Letter of Agreement (LOA) signed by President Eaton and EVPAA Furmanski on August 12, 2009 and ratified by AAUP-AFT union members on September 4, 2009.
The resolution of the workload issue in the LOA reads:
Faculty Teaching Assignments
Changes in faculty workload may be made consistent with Article XV (Professional Duties) of the collective negotiations agreement. The parties reserve all rights with respect to the applicability of Article XV to workload assignments in individual cases.
The parties mutually agree that for the remainder of the current collective negotiations agreement, through June 30, 2011, there shall be no increases to the teaching component of faculty members' workload assignments on the basis of economic exigencies, and that any increases in teaching assigned for 2009-2010 undertaken on the basis of exigencies be withdrawn by the appropriate chair or dean, and that the faculty member or members involved be informed of the outcome of that withdrawal at the earliest possible date, but no later than September 1, 2009.
The AAUP-AFT hereby withdraws its May 8, 2009 demand for negotiations over the impact of changes in workload requirements.
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