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Eastern Michigan University's Federation of Teachers part-time lecturers unit rally Monday, May 15, seeking equal pay for equal work and job security in its new contract with the university. Martin Slagter l The Ann Arbor News

YPSILANTI, MI - Eastern Michigan University's Federation of Teachers part-time lecturers unit rallied Monday, May 15, seeking equal pay for equal work and job security in its new contract with the university.

Around 30 members of the EMUFT rallied outside of Welch Hall on Monday carrying signs asking the university to look out for the more than 600 part-time lecturers, as well as 100 full-time lecturers, instructional staff, field instructors and library staff who make up a large portion of instructors at EMU.

Negotiations, which began in mid-March, have resulted in several exchanges of contract proposals, including a 25 percent proposed cut to the per credit, contact or equivalent hour rates from EMU, bringing down the base of part-time lecturers from $1,200 currently to $900 per credit hour for new hires.

EMU-FT President Daric Thorne said while negotiations have resulted in some progress on smaller issues, including streamlining the grievance process for members, the cut in wages and the lack of job security in contract language is concerning.

"We have had cordial relations at the negotiation table," Thorne said. "The compensation piece has been problematic, though. We've received that back from them twice with the same compensation total and same removal of our job security. It isn't the end of negotiations and the relationship has been friendly at the time, though with negotiations, there are always things that we are going to stick on."

In their current four-year contract, EMU-FT members received a pay increase of $15 per credit hour in the first year, followed by $20 per credit hour increases in the following three years, increasing compensation from $1,140 to $1,200 per credit hour. Under the current proposal from the university, pay rates would remain the same, Thorne said.

EMU Spokesman Geoff Larcom said negotiations between the EMU-FT and the university are ongoing.

"It's important to remember that (the 25 percent cut in base pay) is just a proposed cut for new hires," Larcom said. "We're in an ongoing process of negotiations in which there are inherently a lot of exchanges of proposals. These talks will continue toward what we anticipate will be a collaborative and amiable resolution."

Thorne said job security also remains at the forefront of negotiations and is a point of contention at the bargaining table.

Thorne said there are no protections in place to prevent the university from removing higher paid lecturers if they are absent three days in a row or throughout the course of the semester, which could incentivize department heads to hire new lecturers over current lecturers.

Thorne said while current employees qualify federally for Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) for unpaid leave for qualified medical and family reasons, the vast majority of EMU-FT lecturers, if not all, don't work enough hours to be eligible for FMLA leave.

EMUFT bargaining unit member Phillip Bloomer said part-time lecturers are put in a difficult position in this scenario.

"Because they are part-time workers, most of them don't qualify for FMLA because we don't meet the threshold for that," Bloomer said. "(Unpaid sick leave) is something that's really important to us, in making sure that if someone is sick, that they can leave, take care of themselves and there would be no additional cost."