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Newsletter October 2021
President’s Message • Support for At-Risk KU Faculty • Letter of Support for Unionization of KU Food Service Workers Acienit id quatust • A Thank You ibustrum ese-
qui dem velles pro te que nis niillaborae in et resectat et Thismaxim fall semester has shown us the challenges of a university being fully open during a pandemic. At es as endus que esti ut omnienthis time last year, the majority of faculty were teaching online from home. Not this year. One of the most severe disappointments of this fall semester has been KU’s unwillingness to offer fully online FINISH READING ON PG. 2 teaching options to faculty who are significantly immunocompromised. Support for KU Faculty Steve Oross has bravely shared his battle to receive a suitable ADA accommodation in light of the fact that he had a heart transplant earlier this year. A heart transplant! Really, what could be more serious than that? Steve has gone public—in doing so putting his own health and employment situation at risk—to help ensure that other faculty members are treated fairly. A special thank you to Steve for taking on this battle. Additional faculty members have understandably not wanted to share their medical situations publicly, but they, too, deserve fair accommodations. APSCUF-KU and State APSCUF are fully supportive of Steve Oross and the others in this unacceptable situation. Much of APSCUF’s work is behind the scenes, whether working through the grievance process or providing advice from our State APSCUF contract office. The solution to this is very straightforward: KU needs to do the right thing. Let immunocompromised and other at-risk faculty members teach their classes online until they can safely teach in person—exactly what is happening at other State System campuses. Letter of Support for Unionization of KU Food Service Workers During the faculty strike in 2016, one thing that was clear to the hundreds of us on the picket lines was the support from other unions, not to mention the amazing support of our students. Our campus colleagues from AFSCME and SCUPA provided a great deal of support to us—as did other unions from off campus. Now we have a chance to support the unionization of our campus food service workers. At most other PASSHE campuses, the food contractor, Aramark, has already recognized the Pennsylvania Joint Board of Workers United (SEIU) as the union for these essential employees. Below is the text of the letter I am sending to Aramark this week, with a copy to President Hawkinson, in support of recognition of this union at KU: