After an 18-month union campaign, UW-Eau Claire's University Senate and administration approved new policy language governing instructional academic staff appointment procedures and job titles that resulted in significant improvements in working conditions for lecturers at UWEC.
The full set of policies adopted by the administration eliminated the "No intent to renew" job title, immediately gave chronically employed lecturers fixed-term renewable contracts with increased job security, and established the "Teaching Professor" title series for fixed-term renewable lecturers who have contractual responsibilities outside of the classroom. Most of the policy changes were approved by University Senate in April 2023, and University Senate approved the new Teaching Professor title series at the October 10, 2023 meeting, setting the stage for its implementation in 2024.
In the fall of 2024, it was announced that, after the initial implementation, 29 lecturers gained the official title of "Teaching Professor" (14 in the College of Business, 13 in the College of Arts and Sciences, and 4 at UWEC-Barron County). Of those, four individuals received a corresponding salary increase because of the higher salary minima associated with the Teaching Professor title.
The union began its advocacy in October 2021, when we organized a forum for staff and faculty to raise awareness about the impact of UW's Title and Total Compensation initiative (TTC), which had the effect of giving employees new job titles with fewer promotion opportunities. We supported the efforts of Academic Department Associates to file appeals protesting wrongful classification under new job titles.
In 2022, with an impending deadline to appeal, the union helped lecturers band together and jointly appeal their wrongful classification. We conducted a campus-wide survey of Instructional Academic Staff and found that lecturers were doing uncompensated labor, were not getting timely appointment letters, and were otherwise being exploited in ways that violated university policy. Lecturers banded together to create a petition to end the exploitation of IAS abd organized open forums in which lecturers came together to share their experiences. Finally, after the union issued an all-campus letter on the subject, leaders within the UWEC administration issued a proposal to remedy some of these problems.
The victory shows the power of collective action--how good things happen when workers come together, recognize their shared experiences, and combine their voices to demand change. It also shows how unions can hand-in-hand with Shared Governance to make improvements in the workplace. Finally, it shows how workers and management can find common ground that strengthens the university as a whole.