Monday, July 26, 2010
The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com

7

NEGOTIATIONS
From Page 1
weekend that LEO notified Univer-
sity administrators that negotiations
would slow inthe summerbefore con-
tract negotiations ever began.
"We told the administration back
in October that we really should have
the contract by the end of April," Hal-
loran said, explaining that the lec-
turers' bargaining team is made up
of volunteers who often have other
commitments during the summer.
"They knew from October that this
was going to be a problem for us and
they're expressing a lot of unhappi-
ness but this is exactly what we told
them would happen."
Halloran said it is also difficult for
members of the bargaining team to
communicate with LEO members dur-

ing the summer, which can also cause
some delays in the process.
"We function as a democratic
organization and while we invest our
bargaining team with the authority to
bargain at the table, they don't have
absolute authority and they need to
have feedback from the membership
on what's going on in terms of what's
okay and what's not," Halloran contin-
ued. "We can't have our full team there
and that's a problem for us."
Asked for her response on the Uni-
versity's action to bring in a mediator,
Halloran said LEO bargainers are ded-
icated to the ongoing negotiations and
are hopeful that a mutually acceptable
resolution can be reached.
"We knew this was a possibility.
It's a part of the process of negotiating
contracts," Halloran said of the media-
tor. "It's something we haven't done
before, but it's one of the options in the

process and we're fully, 100 percent
committed to this process of media-
tion and we think through the process
there's the possibility of coming to
some kind of agreement."
However, Halloran added that
LEO bargainers continue to also be
dedicated to the cause of University
lecturers.
"At the same time, we're still com-
mitted to our goals for our members,"
Halloran said. "We'll be working
through mediation in order to get to
the goals that our members expressed
through our own internal process."
In a statement released to the Daily
late last week, a representative from
the University's Office of Public Affairs
wrote that University officials also
remain optimistic that a resolution can
be reached through mediation.
"While mediation is a non-binding
process, the University is hopeful that

a mediator will be able to bring both
sides to the table so they may reach
a mutually agreeable resolution that
allows all parties to direct their atten-
tion to preparing for the fall term," the
statement said.
According to a University human
resources website, the two parties
have reached tentative agreements on
seven issues - six the result of the Uni-
versity's acceptance of LEO's proposal
and one the result of LEO's acceptance
of the University's proposal.
However, according to the web-
site, seven issues remain on the table
- including key debates over compen-
sation and benefits.
"In terms of the annual raises,
we're pretty close to each other. In
terms of the benefits offset, we're
also getting closer," Halloran told the
Daily. "But in other parts of the salary
package, we're still far apart."

One such area that Halloran said
the two parties remain divided on is
pay equity for lecturers.
"We're paid something like
$15,000 less than high school teach-
ers, we're paid something like that less
than the tenured faculty also," Hallor-
an said. "We know that's not a salary
that a family can live on.
"We play a really important role
in the University, but we're drasti-
cally underpaid for our educational
background and for the service we
provide for the University," Halloran
continued. "We don't want to be paid
the same thing as tenure track faculty,
but we want to close the gap somewhat
so that our salaries enable us to live a
middle class life and support a family
with two children."
The two parties are set to meet
again with the mediator at the bar-
gaining table on Aug. 3.


NCRC
From Page 2
the University," Zahn said.
University President Mary Sue
Coleman, in an interview last week,
said BoroPharm would be a boon to
the University. Coleman added that
BoroPharm's presence at the Univer-
1 sity would provide unique education-
al opportunities to students.

"We have a robust opportunity
here not only to have a partnership
with technologies that are com-
ing out of the University, but that
we could attract companies that are
small, that are growing, that make
sense from a research perspective,"
Coleman said. "There would be a
good interaction, a good possibility
for internships for students."
Coleman added that the company's

profitability was another reason the
University was attracted to Boro-
Pharm.
"The reason we like (BoroPharm)
as our initial tenant is because they
actually sell product," Coleman
said with a chuckle. "They're mak-
ing a profit right now. A lot of these
start-up companies go a long time
before making a product that can
be sold."

officials from both the University
and BoroPharm emphasized how the
business relationship was an exam-
ple of the success of the University
Research Corridor - a research part-
nership between the University of
Michigan, Michigan State University
and Wayne State University.
Zahn said the transition between
Michigan State University and the
University of Michigan has been

"awesome."
"We still utilize Michigan State
space and resources," he said. "Our
relationship is still very strong there.
We still have many collaborations
going on. We've had a very good
experience, similarly, like we did at
Michigan State. We've had an excel-
lent experience with the Univer-
sity of Michigan administrators and
faculty."


Felix Mendelssohn's
1E IJ HA
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Hill Auditorium
Blue Lake International Choir
Alumni Choir and Youth Symphony
Mon, July 26 Wed, July 28
Blue Lake Blue Lake
International Choir International
Works by Bach, Youth Symphony
Bruckner, and Bernstein Shostakovich No. 5
All Concerts Begin at 7:30 p.m.
More information at bluelake.org/ebl

Blue Lake Student Art Exhibition
July 13- August 18
Art Lounge
MICHIGAN UNION