With a $159 million proposal on the table from the State System of Higher Education, there is no guarantee that the system’s faculty members, including those at Clarion University of Pennsylvania, will not vote to strike by the end of October.
Negotiations have been ongoing since late 2014, with the Association of Pennsylvania State College and University Faculties working without a contract since June 30, 2015.
Clarion students and faculty have expressed concern.
Aaron Grebinoski, a senior political science major, said he supports the union, but hopes that a strike isn’t imminent.
“Strikes usually end up being bad for both sides,” Grebinoski said, “so I would think that they want to renegotiate their contract since the universities have been working off of the old one that expired last year.”
Communication professor Scott Kuehn and his co-worker and wife, Myrna, have taught at Clarion for 29 years, and are fighting through their fifth contract negotiation.
“From the very first time there was talk of a strike, we always knew we were going to save money and have what we call a strike fund,” Scott Kuehn said.
“There has been political things on both sides that make you see that there is a lot of stakeholder negotiations behind the scenes.
“There are people from the outside putting pressure on the State System; you don’t see that happening often. That is a new thing. It wasn’t that bad in the past negotiations,” he said.
Scott Kuehn said he hopes students aren’t too worried about the ongoing negotiations and are instead focusing on their studies.
Cindy Nave, a nontraditional senior business management and human resources major, said that although she hasn’t been following the contract negotiations too closely, she understands how detrimental the consequences of a strike would be.
“The students would be the ones to suffer, especially those who are graduating,” she said.
Sophomore biology major Gerald Bickel expressed similar concern about class attendance and graduation if a strike were to occur. As a community assistant, he also is worried what could occur at on-campus housing.
“I am concerned with what will happen if classes are canceled and we have all of the students in the resident halls with nothing to keep them busy,” he said.
“If APSCUF does go on strike, it will directly affect not only me but all of the student workers on campus. I do believe that the professors are responding to the lack of a contract appropriately, only because of how long they have been out of contract,” he said.
Seth Ickes, a history and political science dual major and president of Clarion Young Democrats, fully supports APSCUF’s decision.
“It is completely wrong that our professors have had to work without a contract for over a year,” he said, “and if they do decide to strike it’s certainly justified.
“Students missing a week of class is far less important than ensuring the university’s faculty are given a fair and proper contract by the PASSHE system, so we can ensure we receive the highest quality of education from the best professors,” he said.
Philosophy professor and former APSCUF President Jamie Phillips oversaw two union contracts during his six years serving at the helm of the union. Although there has never been a strike, Phillips said a strike would be unnecessarily disruptive.
“Nobody wants to have a strike,” he said. “Nobody wants to be out there walking; we want to be able to teach the class and students want to be able to take the classes. We can’t do things that are going to destroy the union, weaken the union, and we can’t be in the position where we are exploiting people.”
And, Phillips said, the stress is only mounting.
“Last time we almost went on strike, we pushed and they pushed and then eventually we came up with a contract,” he said. “There is give-and-take, and last time we were able to make things better.
“Creating a contract isn’t just about protecting the faculty, it’s also about making it better for the students, trying to come up with a way to make the whole system work better together,” he said.