Why Librarians and Faculty Units Should Negotiate Together

Here’s the speech that librarian and FAM chief negotiator Ginny Boehme made at the table on the first day of bargaining to explain why the tenure-track/TCPL and librarian units should negotiate together:

“I want to urge you today to do the right thing and combine the negotiations for the faculty and librarian bargaining units.

“In 8 out of the 11 other unionized public institutions here in Ohio, librarians are covered under the same collective bargaining agreement as their faculty colleagues.

“When FAM first started organizing, librarians were included right from the get-go. To our faculty colleagues, we were considered an integral part of the university….The decision…to split us off into a separate unit was based on a fundamental misunderstanding of what librarians do and how we fit into the larger faculty community at Miami.

“Our faculty colleagues here with us at the table today and those who have been working alongside us to prepare for bargaining understand our roles and expertise, and know how vital we are to the mission of the university. We are all part of the same team, and we are all standing together in solidarity.. 

“Across all divisions, the messaging from university administration is…”we all have to tighten our belts; we can’t hire new lines; we don’t have the money…” But we somehow have the money for two different law firms to do largely the same work?

Ginny Boehme, Co-Lead FAM Negotiator, August 30, 2023

“Librarian work is faculty work. We teach. We conduct research. We serve on committees to better both the university and our profession. We have seats on University Senate. We vote as part of Faculty Assembly. We are fully integrated into the scholarly and academic community of our institution, just like our faculty colleagues. We are only as different from our tenured and tenure-track colleagues as our tenured and tenure-track colleagues are from our TCPL colleagues.

“The contract that our tenured, tenure-track, and TCPL colleagues will be negotiating will, by necessity, contain addenda that only apply to some of their 800 member unit, but the vast majority of the articles will apply to every person in their bargaining unit. And guess what? The vast majority of those articles will be directly applicable to librarians as well. 

“Our promotion system was modeled directly after the promotion and tenure process in place for faculty. We have the same health care options as our faculty colleagues. We experience the same issues with regard to diversity, equity, and inclusion. Salary increments are offered to us in the same way that they are offered to faculty. We receive the same pay bumps upon promotion as our tenured and tenure-track colleagues. I would estimate that between 70 and 80 percent of the issues that could be covered under a CBA are shared between librarians and our faculty colleagues. 70 to 80 percent.

“And it’s currently the university’s plan to pay two separate law firms to do between 70 and 80 percent identical work.

“How can the university justify this expense? Across all divisions, the messaging from university administration is one of austerity: “we all have to tighten our belts; we can’t hire new lines; we don’t have the money for this, we don’t have the money for that.” But we somehow have the money for two different law firms to do largely the same work? Who does that benefit?

“During the SERB hearings back in December, when the university was trying to split us all into separate units, the recurring argument from administration was in favor of “efficiency.”

“I ask you: how is it efficient to spend the time, energy, and money, to separately negotiate nearly identical contracts?…

“Perhaps more importantly to some here, combining the negotiations for the two units will engender much goodwill and sympathy for the university. It’s an easy win for the university, for all of us. Faculty, staff, students, alumni, are all watching these negotiations. We need to show that we are all willing to work together for the good of the university and of our students.

“Combining negotiations is the first step in the right direction.”