We are a group of union members (Faculty, Professional Staff, Adjunct Faculty, and Librarians at William Paterson University in New Jersey) whose goal is to strengthen our local union by engaging members and increasing solidarity among the cohorts of our bargaining unit. Currently, most of our members come from the Full-Time, tenured Faculty, but many people in the other three cohorts have expressed support for the goals of the caucus. We seek to grow caucus membership by including more Professional Staff, Librarians, and Adjunct Faculty.
We believe a healthy union empowers ALL members to participate at every level, and we seek to build a strong infrastructure that can withstand changes in both Union and University leadership.
We are establishing this caucus to demonstrate publicly that there is significant interest in working towards these goals within our local union. We believe an educated and active membership will strengthen our local bargaining position and generate solidarity among faculty and staff at WPU.
Our current state contract has been ratified, and references to constitutional revisions have often been made in membership meetings. The impact of COVID-19–combined with renewed attention to the disastrous effects of systemic racism–have forced us to reconsider many past practices in a new light. We believe the current crisis provides a perfect opportunity to affirm and shore up our union’s democratic foundations.
The goals of the Solidarity Caucus are to:
- Promote solidarity among the cohorts of our integrated local (Full Time Faculty, Adjunct Faculty, Professional Staff, Librarians, and NTTPs), by acting to ensure equity and shared sacrifice in local negotiations and seeking member input across the bargaining unit.
- Examine our practices of inclusivity in order to ensure that diverse voices are sought out and welcomed in the decision-making process via general membership meetings, committee work, and membership surveys.
- Revitalize our collective power on campus by using creative solutions and direct action to make change.
- Restore the democratic bodies that are described in our Local Constitution (Local Council, Negotiations Committee, Standing Committees), make transparent the election and governing process of said democratic bodies, and ensure members have publicly available official bylaws detailing their rights.
- Revise our Local Constitution and official bylaws to ensure transparency in the democratic process. In the event that bylaws are not available, this will include the drafting of bylaws to make transparent the election and governing process of democratic bodies.
Solidarity Caucus 