In Minnesota if one is a public employee, one has a choice of either belonging to a union or paying fair share to the union which represents one's position. If one is a faculty member at a state university, the union is the Interfaculty Organization (IFO). Yesterday and today I attended my first delegate assembly. The purpose of this meeting is to set the budget and hence the dues for the association for the next two years and to propose resolutions to guide the negotiation process for the next round of contract negotiations. It actually turned out to be quite interesting, and a great place for people watching.
In the proposed resolutions I noticed one relating to work that must be done for doctoral programs. It didn't seem right for the doctor of nurse practice program that is being implemented by four of the state universities. So when it came up mentioning only theses and dissertations, I moved an amendment to add doctoral capstone projects. Well, all chaos broke loose! People yelling about why was I being so exclusive. It wasn't even our university's resolution, but it suddenly became my problem. So after debate it got tabled for 30 minutes. Worked out new language and then people said they couldn't understand it and wanted to table it until it could be printed and distributed on paper to everyone. Well, I didn't do that after coming home at about 10 PM last evening.
Back this morning I reported there wasn't any way to do this on a Friday night at home. The whole day was occupied with a budget debate. When that got done, suddenly the proposed amendment was passed out and passed in about 15 seconds! Well, we'll have to wait at least two more years before such language may appear in a contract, but at least the road is started in the right direction. Very interesting experience!
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