Martin Johnson in a red FAM tee on the megaphone

“They have plenty of money for lawyers, and plenty for themselves”: Martin Johnson

Martin Johnson, Associate Professor of History, spoke at FAM’s Rally for Raises on September 20, 2024 about the gulf between what Miami University spends on lawyers and management versus what it has invested in faculty and librarians:

Faculty and librarians at Miami do the crucial work of our core educational mission. Not lawyers. Not administration. Faculty and librarians. We are the university!

But we haven’t gotten raises since 2022 — even though our Negotiating Team proposed a Memo of Understanding (MOU) that would have given bargaining unit members the same raises all other employees at Miami got. Management flat out refused.

That’s not right! That’s not fair!

And yet, they have plenty of money for outside law firms, not one but two of them. They spent more than 60% of their legal budget on union-busting in 2023 alone, more than $400K just in 2023. Imagine what they’ve spent on those two law firms so far in 2024!

That’s not right! That’s not fair!

They also have plenty of money for themselves. From 2016 to 2023, salaries for all faculty and librarians increased just 14% while management salaries increased 42%. Their salaries have grown more than three times the rate of faculty and librarians’ salaries.

That’s not right! That’s not fair!

FAM’s raise proposal is eminently reasonable, given our low salaries, lack of raises, the increase in cost of living and inflation, and what Ohio faculty and librarian peers are receiving. Are you going to put up with 1.25% raises?

It’s not right! It’s not fair!


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