Equity, Transparency, and Work Assignment Notification per Article 42.§6.2

By now, all bargaining-unit faculty should have received Spring 2016 work assignment notifications from their chairs, reporting the workload assignments for all faculty in their respective departments.

We believe that chairs want to honor the contract and do right by their faculty, but faculty in some departments are reporting the following concerns:

• Department chair is not reporting all faculty work assignments to the full faculty.
• Department chair is not reporting any faculty work assignments to the faculty.
• Department chair is not reporting accurate or complete measurements of work assignments.

The rationale for reporting workload assignments to the faculty is to ensure transparency in workload assignments and to ensure the equitable distribution of work assignments. That is why Article 42.§6.2 of the 2014-17 Agreement explicitly calls for department chairs to inform all WMU-AAUP faculty in their respective departments of the workload assignments for all department faculty:

42.§6.2 Work Assignment Notification. As soon as possible prior to the start of fall and spring semester, the department chair will distribute to the department the scheduled workload assignments of all department bargaining unit members, recognizing that these may be subject to change as the academic year progresses.

Workload Reporting Fast Facts:

• Chairs are required to report the workload assignments of all WMU-AAUP faculty to all WMU-AAUP faculty in their respective departments.

• These reports must be distributed to the faculty “as soon as possible prior to the start of fall and spring semester.”

• Chairs may not opt out of providing this information to their department faculty.

• Reporting each individual faculty member’s assignments to him or her does not meet the contractual requirement for work assignment notification.

• Research, scholarship, creative activity, service, and other non-teaching work assignments are included in faculty workloads, per Article 42.§5, and therefore must be accounted for in work assignment notification.

• The intent of work assignment notification is to ensure transparency in workload assignments and equity in workload distribution.

If your chair needs more information about workload reporting, please share this information with him or her. If you need assistance, please call the WMU-AAUP office at 345-0151 or email staff@wmuaaup.net