Spring 2016: UW President Ana Mari Cauce responds to outrageous attacks on the AAUP listserv: "In 2013 the UW AAUP presented me with the Friend of the Faculty Award 'For her continued willingness to work for the interests of the faculty and for beginning the process of repairing the lecturer track at the UW.' But, of course, that's before the start of the unionization drive where having positive relationships with administrators can be viewed as a liability. Much work to be done. Prefer it when admin and faculty can move forward together." (5/14/2016)

Spring 2016: A new analysis by the National Bureau of Economic Research concludes "the workplace attribute of having a union is one that our results indicate is less appealing to more research-productive scholars. This raises the possibility that universities that unionize will face difficulty attracting and retaining the most productive scholars" (4/29/2016)

Spring 2016: Randy Beam's fact check of Amy Hagopian's AAUP listserv post regarding the Provost selection, chalking, etc. - Mostly False (it seems reasonable to judge the veracity of SEIU Faculty Forward by the veracity of its leadership) (4/28/2016)

Spring 2016: Galya Diment's reaction to an additional aspect of Amy Hagopian's AAUP listserv post (Amy and other members of UW's SEIU Faculty Forward leadership would have us believe that they are not "unnecessarily combative." You be the judge.) (4/28/2016)

Winter 2016: Faculty Unionization Fact Check from the "Informed Choice" website - but also see the items below! They're different from those listed here! (2/27/2016)

Winter 2016: SEIU Faculty Forward and U-PASS pricing - Mostly False (2/25/2016)

Winter 2016: SEIU Faculty Forward and the faculty regent initiative - Pants On Fire (2/25/2016)

Winter 2016: The decision to invite SEIU to unionize UW's faculty was made by 12 people!  (2/6/2016)

Winter 2016: The facts behind the January 19 Faculty Survey - Pants On Fire (1/23/2016)

Winter 2016: An example of "congenial relations" between union leadership and university administration at Rutgers - advanced by SEIU Faculty Forward as a model for UW - Pants On Fire (1/13/2016)

Winter 2016: Is the Service Employees International Union the right labor organization to represent us and negotiate on our behalf? (1/13/2016; updated 2/10/2016)

Autumn 2015: Fact-checking the SEIU Faculty Forward salary study - Mostly False (12/13/2015) (The SEIU Faculty Forward salary study was emailed to all UW faculty on November 30. An unmodified version of this badly flawed study was direct-mailed to all UW faculty on December 23, ten days after our fact-check was posted.)

Autumn 2015: Two rebuttals by faculty members to assertions made by SEIU Faculty Forward leadership (1/21/2016)

Autumn 2015: Seattle Times op-ed: "Unionization is like throwing sand in the gears of what is, by any measure, an institution that performs at an extraordinarily high level" (12/19/2015)

---

You are by now well aware that there is a campaign underway by the Service Employees International Union to unionize the faculty of the University of Washington - part of a national effort by SEIU, branded "Faculty Forward," to unionize college and university faculty.

If you are among the some 6,000 faculty members at our institution defined by State law to be part of the potential bargaining unit, then you will have the opportunity to influence the decision on whether or not to unionize.

We invite you to visit this link, which will lead you to information on both the pro and con sides of this important choice. If you support unionization, you will find links that allow you to declare your support. If you decide that SEIU unionization at this time is not the right choice - regardless of your specific reasons - we ask that you go on-the-record by signing this "Statement of Opposition to Unionization of the Faculty of the University of Washington."

Please consider:

• No premier research-intensive university in the U.S. - no true peer of the University of Washington, and no institution of a quality to which we aspire - has a unionized tenure-track faculty.
• There is no convincing reason to believe that faculty salaries would compare more favorably with our peers if we had a union.
• Some faculty unions de-emphasize merit pay and emphasize lifting salary floors and awarding across-the-board raises - antithetical to attracting and retaining outstanding faculty at a premier research-intensive university.
• Contracts at unionized institutions often include additional provisions that would diminish our ability to support excellence.
• It will be harder to get things done at the University of Washington.
• There is no convincing reason to believe that a unionized faculty will lead to greater state support for the University of Washington.
• There is no convincing reason to believe that a unionized faculty will lead to greater research support for the University of Washington.
• Aspects of shared governance at UW that are working well are likely to be negatively impacted by unionization.
• The union will sometimes have its own agenda.
• It is the wrong time to unionize the UW faculty.
• SEIU is the wrong union.
• Even those who vote “no” will pay, and be bound by the contract.
• A strike would force difficult decisions upon each of us.
• Representation by the SEIU would align the UW faculty with just one of the two major political parties, potentially compromising the institution's relationship with the public and the state legislature.
• Major issues that can and must be addressed are being addressed by existing mechanisms.

Each of these points is discussed here.

Do not leave this important decision to others!

Read our Seattle Times op-ed: "Unionization is like throwing sand in the gears of what is, by any measure, an institution that performs at an extraordinarily high level"