Western Michigan University’s academic labor unions voted no confidence in WMU president Edward Montgomery on Friday. That action comes a little over a week after Montgomery announced he would retire at the end of June.
The unions represent full time professors, part-time instructors and teaching assistants.
They say the university has failed to invest in its academic staff and is engaging in anti-union tactics.
Tim Bober is the president of the part-time instructors’ union, the PIO. He said that Western has not lived up to a promise to offer raises that keep up with inflation, after all three unions made COVID concessions.
Bober said in an email to WMUK that Western’s negotiators told the PIO members this summer that they should not expect a living wage because they are part-time.
Thomas Fisher is the president of TAU, the teaching assistants union.
Regarding Montgomery's retirement, Fisher said it was "no coincidence that the timing of his announcement corresponded with our efforts to make clear the dissatisfaction of 1000+ academic employees in hopes of reducing the power of our collective voices."
He went on to say that the unions would not allow the retirement to "let the President (and the Board of Trustees) off the hook without accountability over the next several months."
WMU spokesperson Paula Davis said the university had no comment.
