FEDERAL MEDIATION AND
CONCILIATION SERVICE VERIFIES CARD CAMPAIGN
The Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service—an
independent agency of the federal government—has verified that a majority of
HSSU regular full time faculty signed cards indicating that they wanted
Missouri NEA to be their exclusive bargaining agent for the purpose of
negotiating a collective bargaining agreement.
As a follow-up, HSSU-NEA, the MNEA local chapter, extended
an invitation to the Board of Regents to meet on May 15th in the HSSU
Library Seminar Room at 9 AM to prepare for negotiations. In response, President Walker has sent a
letter to all faculty indicating that the administration had been in
consultation with the regents and that they have “no intention” of meeting with
representatives of HSSU-NEA.
The position of the chapter is that the core of the
university is the faculty and the students and that neither the president nor
the Board of Regents can effectively represent these core groups if they refuse
to meet with them and address their concerns.
The HSSU chapter of the MNEA supports the faculty senate in
its role of shared governance, but emphasizes that shared governance is not the
same thing as collective bargaining. We
believe that the administration and the regents can work with both the faculty
senate and the HSSU-MNEA to improve Harris-Stowe State University.
While the chapter is troubled by the response of the
administration and the regents, we are confident that they will ultimately respect
the faculty’s decision. HSSU-NEA will
continue to prepare for May 15th and looks forward to working with the
administration and the regents in achieving academic excellence for our
students.
