Unions target trustees on contract funds

Bulger favors 'full funding'

by Daniel J. Fitzgibbons, Chronicle staff

he presidents of two campus unions will again raise the issue of unfunded contracts when the Board of Trustees meets at the Mullins Center next Wednesday.
Ron Story, president of the Massachusetts Society of Professors, and Donna Johnson, president of the University Staff Association, are scheduled to address the board. Johnson is a clerical staffer in the English Department and Story is a History professor.

     Campus unions, whose contract funding was vetoed by Acting Gov. Jane Swift earlier this year, are planning to demonstrate outside the arena as the trustees arrive. The unions have been pressing President William M. Bulger and the trustees to press legislators to take up the contract issue. The unions are also appealing for a special legislative session to consider funding for the collective bargaining agreements.

     During a trustee committee meeting in Boston last week, Bulger addressed the issue.
"I understand that our unionized employees are disappointed by the fact that the Commonwealth, given the existence of a national and regional economic crisis, has been unable to appropriate the money needed to fund the various contracts," said Bulger. "I have previously sought the full funding of those contracts and that remains my position today.

     "The University values the services provided by its employees. Without our faculty, staff and administrators, excellence at the University of Massachusetts would be a goal rather than a reality.

     "I am confident that the Commonwealth -- when its fiscal picture brightens -- will be able to reward our employees, and I will advocate for that. I have supported this cause in the past and will continue to do so in the future."

     Bulger's comments came just days after the Graduate Employee Organization voted no confidence in Bulger. The University Staff Association previously adopted a no-confidence resolution.

     The trustees will meet Nov. 6 at 9:15 a.m. in the Massachusetts Room of the Mullins Center. Campus-related agenda items include the appointment of a distinguished professor, an appointment with tenure and an award of tenure.

     On Tuesday, the board will meet as a Committee of the Whole at 4 p.m. in the Massachusetts Room. Grace Fey, who chairs the board, and Bulger are scheduled to make reports. A presentation on "The Importance of Research at UMass Amherst" will follow.