SUUVA / CWA » Articles » STAFF UNION OPENS MEMBERSHIP TO FACULTY-THE C'VILLE WEEKLY, MAY 20, 2008

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STAFF UNION OPENS MEMBERSHIP TO FACULTY-THE C'VILLE WEEKLY, MAY 20, 2008

Posted: Tuesday May 20, 2008

Staff Union Opens Membership to Faculty
Pushes for 20 to sign up in first week

BY SCOTT WEAVER

The Staff Union at UVA (SUUVA) launched a new campaign to sign up faculty members on May 16. The union is 6 years old, and traditionally, says Jan Cornell, SUUVA president, it has only been open to UVA staff. Now, though, it has opened its membership to faculty.

“We need their support,” says Cornell. “America, we’re in bad shape. People are struggling. UVA pays $9.56 an hour. What is that? There are so many issues for the union to take on.”

Jan Cornell, SUUVA president, says she expects to sign up 20 faculty members this week.

UVA spokesperson Carol Wood disputes the $9.56-an-hour number, which was also printed on flyers handed out at the rally. According to Wood, UVA’s pay band starts at $10.14 an hour. With the addition of benefits, Wood says via e-mail, the number is $13.87 an hour.

Cornell says she expects at least 20 faculty members to sign up this week. Within 30 minutes of launching the campaign in front of Bodo’s Bagels on the Corner, she held roughly 10 sign- up sheets from new members.

Latin American History Professor Herbert “Tico” Braun was one on of the faculty members who signed up. Handing his sheet to Cornell, he told her, “It feels great to be a part of something larger than my own little existence.”

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