Rob Carey and the Union


The infamous termination of the SOC Eight and a new collective bargaining law were the catalysts that set us in motion. I was privileged to be part of the first union organizing committee, and then on the first negotiating team. It was probably the most dynamic and efficient academic group I was ever a part of. Members were Cecile Baril, John Finch, Dave Hoffman, Ian Couchman, and myself, with John Abernathy as a consultant. The meetings, as I remember them, were electric, with churning brain-waves, discussions going off in all directions, but somehow staying controlled and resulting in actions. Early issues revolved around getting the campus vote and deciding on an affiliation. Some wanted the more professional touch of AAUP, some wanted the muscle of the AFL/CIO. We ended up with the NEA.

Before the NEA sent us negotiating help, however, we sat at the table with Dave Copping as our negotiator. Prior to each negotiation, we’d meet at Dave’s house and shoot pool while we went over strategy. Unfortunately, Dave’s blood-pressure problems worsened under the strain, and he finally withdrew as negotiator. In that first g0-round, we pretty much got stonewalled by Bill Lemon and his team. If we’d been more experienced, we’d have walked out after the second meeting. Our only real victory that first session was when we prevailed at a hearing concerning the status of department chairs. We wanted them in the bargaining unit. Despite a contingent of state board lawyers arguing to the contrary, we won our case. John Abernathy was our spokesperson at that hearing.

Initially we had hopes of getting binding arbitration or, at the least, a system-wide coalition bargaining arrangement. (It was said by many that the big salary boosts provided that year by the legislature were to discourage system-wide organization.) In the face of further stonewalling by the Lemon team, and on the advice of our NEA advisor, we brought a bad-faith action before the labor board. A small contingent of us drove up to Salem with AP:SOC president, Bill Cornelius, to testify. A young lawyer named Ted Kulongoski represented us. Later, Bill reported to the union that the hearing had put the state board on notice-labor laws applied to them and the labor board was intent on enforcing those laws. The demise of administrative fiat did not follow hard upon, it must be said; but events moved gradually in that direction.