In a June 15 letter to the IU Board of Trustees, more than 280 IU Bloomington faculty said they were dismayed by the board’s choice to not recognize the graduate worker union despite an overwhelming vote by faculty calling for union recognition. The letter was sent the day before the Board of Trustees meeting on Thursday at IU Northwest.
The Bloomington Faculty Council held a historic meeting May 9 to discuss the administration’s response to the graduate worker strike. Faculty members called on the Board of Trustees to recognize the union and to to affirm that the provost does not have the authority to fire graduate workers for striking.
The letter said it was disrespectful for board members to call the vote “thoughtful feedback” because of the vote’s historic nature and widespread support.
The letter also said the administration’s position on the strike has created a “climate of fear” on campus for both graduate workers and faculty.
“Without serious negotiations with the organized graduate students — and, as you know, the IU Graduate & Professional Student Government is fully in support of the IGWC — the administration’s legitimacy will be further eroded, and a strike in the Fall will be almost assured,” the letter said.
Faculty members said in the letter that they urge the board to reconsider their decision and support the resolutions.
