The University of Michigan Lecturers’ Employment Organization announced a strike authorization vote last Friday. If a majority of union members vote yes, union leadership will be able to call a strike at any time. The ballot for union members will be open until 5 p.m. on Tuesday.
The decision to call for a strike authorization vote follows months of negotiations with University administration, with bargaining starting in October. LEO’s bargaining platform demands course load reductions, increased professional development funds and pay parity between the Ann Arbor, Flint and Dearborn campuses. The University has a four-year contract with LEO for the Flint and Dearborn campuses, and they have received 3% raises each year. The Ann Arbor campus has received raises of 8, 6, 6 and 5% across the past four years.
According to LEO president Kirsten Herold, if the majority of lecturers vote to authorize a strike and LEO chooses to do so, it would likely take the form of a grade strike for the winter 2024 semester; LEO would withhold grades in order to pressure the University administration to respond to their contract demands. In an interview with The Michigan Daily, Herold explained the rationale behind the grade strike.
“The grade strike currently being called is for the winter semester, so it will not affect the spring and summer (terms),” Herold said. “What it means is that lecturers will not submit their grades for winter semester until we have a contract agreement … because the strike won’t get called until classes are over and we don’t want to prevent people from taking their final exams — that wouldn’t be fair.”
Herold compared this concept to the strike by the U-M Graduate Employees’ Organization last March. She said the potential grade strike by LEO would be similar to how Graduate Student Instructors withheld grades at the end of the winter 2023 semester.
“Once the semester was over last year, the GEO strike became a grade strike, right?” Herold said. “They didn’t read the final papers students submitted. … In courses where (there were) mainly professors and teachers of some kind and GSIs, GEO members did not do the grading. This would be the same.”
Herold told The Daily that while a LEO strike would still include picketing or public protest, the presence on campus would likely be smaller due to the end of the semester.
“I wouldn’t expect mass picketing, like I wouldn’t expect picketing for people to go take their exams, for example,” Herold said. “But I think it’s also very possible that there would be some kind of presence on campus. And we (would) have a rally or some way of showing that we’re here. But I wouldn’t expect it because it’s a great struggle because teaching is over. I wouldn’t expect to see pickets at every door on campus.”
If the majority of lecturers vote against the strike, Herold said the union will likely return to the bargaining table to continue negotiations. Herold said if the union cannot agree on a tentative agreement, they may reach a point called an “impasse,” where the University’s last contract offer would be imposed on LEO.
If the impasse occurs, Herold said there is a chance the contract negotiations will favor the University.
“In sort of the endgame, the final stages of a contract negotiation tend to favor the employer in the sense the employer will get to impose (the contract),” Herold said.
As of Sunday night, one-third of LEO members have cast their vote, according to Herold. The union held a membership meeting on Monday where they continued to urge members to vote.
In an email to The Daily, University spokesperson Kim Broekhuizen wrote that if lecturers choose to strike, the University will remain committed to students’ education.
“If LEO does call a strike, the University will nonetheless expect that lecturers fully perform their duties and commitments to their students,” Broekhuizen wrote. “Continuity of education for our students remains a top priority. The university will take all necessary steps to continue operations and deliver our academic mission, as well as enforce the contract as agreed upon by both parties. Those steps may include disciplinary action and/or stopping pay for those who withhold grades or engage in other strike activity. The university will also seek remedies against the union for its breach of contract and unfair labor practices, and it will stop the deduction of employees’ union dues that are paid to the union.”
Herold said a majority vote does not necessarily mean the union will strike.
“The union council may or may not call for a strike,” Herold said. “If the union council feels like bargaining is improved, and we have a better deal on the table, and we think we should take it, we won’t go to strike.”
In an interview with The Daily, LSA freshman Zach Schimel, president of U-M student organization People’s Michigan, said he feels solidarity between students and workers is important, citing last semester’s student rally in support of the United Auto Workers during their strike and the Union Solidarity Rally held in March.
“I think it’s super important that students are on the frontlines standing with workers,” Schimel said. “We did it last year in the fall, we had students for (the) UAW rally, where students were able to show solidarity, and then the union solidarity rally. … One day, most of us will be workers in one form or another.”
LEO will announce the results of the strike authorization vote on Tuesday night.
Correction 4/23: A previous version of this article incorrectly stated the raises lecturers have received during the last contract period. The article has since been updated to correct that error.
Daily News Editor Sneha Dhandapani can be reached at sdhanda@umich.edu.