U. Hawaii admin seeks to impose 7% pay cuts on faculty

The faculty of the University of Hawaii, whose terms of employment are negotiated through collective bargaining with the university administration, have been without a contract since the end of the 2008-2009 academic year. Last year, when the Governor sought to impose unilateral across-the-board pay cuts on the entire public service workforce, state courts ruled that this would violate the state constitution's provision for collective bargaining.

Now the University administration is seeking an agreement for a temporary pay cut of 7% from faculty. However, the faculty's representative body has not been consulted, and yesterday the University president proposed to take unilateral action to impose the pay cut.

The point here is one that the AAUP and the UNLV Faculty Alliance have made repeatedly; that the proper way for universities to deal with budgetary crises is through full and open consultation with the faculty, including transparency about the state of the budget.

This requires both the participation of the administration, which we have seen by and large to the be the case at UNLV, and of the faculty -- who must, each and every one of us, find the time and the energy to take an interest and be involved.

One way to do this to join and become active in the Nevada Faculty Alliance.