UM-Flint faculty rally for improved working conditions; in contract talks

FLINT, Mich. — Tenure-track faculty at the University of Michigan-Flint and their supporters rallied outside the Harding Mott University Center, braving the cold to demand better working conditions.

The demonstration took place Friday, Jan. 7, 2025, amid ongoing contract negotiations with the school.

“We are in the middle of our collective bargaining process negotiations with the university and you know, we’re just trying to bring broader awareness to what we’re fighting for at the table,” President of UMF AFT-AAUP Daniel Birchok said. “What we’re fighting for, it’s good for us, but it’s also good for the institution and good for the community.”

Faculty members formed the UM-Flint AFT-AAUP Local 5671 in early 2024, citing concerns over governance, workload and pay.

“At a university, faculty are supposed to have a large say in what happens and many of us feel like that has degenerated. So we’re fighting for governance and academic freedom…workload has been a big issue and then obviously base issues of pay and those kinds of things,” Birchok said.

More than 160 UM-Flint tenure track faculty members have been meeting to organize toward change. When asked, Birchok said negotiations are going well so far. 

A key workload concern is the recent requirement for faculty to teach both in person and online.

“If you’re actually teaching in both of those modalities properly, those are two different kinds of teaching, and that kind of thing is also bad for students, right? If you’re not putting in the extra work, then students are not getting what they need,” Birchok said. 

Faculty and students have also raised concerns about transparency and governance, criticizing the administration’s handling of budgetary issues and student affairs.

“Unionizing is more important now than ever. With threats from the presidential administration to eliminate federal funding to DEI programs and scientific research and the university’s retaliation against staff for participating in protests, we need to prioritize the protection of our academic freedom and our self governance,” University Staff United Organizer of UM-Flint Cameron Whalen said. “Nothing has been given to workers. Unions have fought for every right that we have.”

The rally ended in song as attendees belted “Solidarity Forever,” popular American trade union tune.