Michigan Tech Faculty Votes Down Union

Tenured and tenure-track faculty at Michigan Technological University have voted not to continue being represented by the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) in collective bargaining negotiations with Michigan Tech.

The faculty vote was 143 against the union and 136 in favor of it, with six challenged ballots and three spoiled ballots. A majority of those voting was required to recertify the AAUP.

The secret ballot took place on the Michigan Tech campus on Feb. 20 and 21. The results must be certified by the Michigan Employment Relations Commission, which conducted the election and will review the challenged ballots.

"As we move forward, I look forward to all of us working together toward our common goal, to make Michigan Tech a premier technological research university," said Michigan Tech President Glenn D. Mroz.

The election was called after a professor of civil and environmental engineering filed a petition signed by at least 30 percent of the faculty affected. Michigan Tech has 313 tenured and tenure-track faculty represented by the AAUP, of whom 288 or 92 percent voted in the union election.

In a previous election in 2004, the union prevailed.

Michigan Technological University is a public research university founded in 1885 in Houghton, Michigan, and is home to more than 7,000 students from 55 countries around the world. Consistently ranked among the best universities in the country for return on investment, Michigan’s flagship technological university offers more than 120 undergraduate and graduate degree programs in science and technology, engineering, computing, forestry, business and economics, health professions, humanities, mathematics, social sciences, and the arts. The rural campus is situated just miles from Lake Superior in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, offering year-round opportunities for outdoor adventure.