Faculty Association members are awaiting a fall mail-in election that could alter more than 800 full-time faculty members’ futures.

The University administration and the Faculty Association reached an agreement on the collective bargaining issue June 17, prior to a scheduled hearing in Columbus.

Instead of attending, the parties entered negotiations and selected Sept. 28 through Oct. 12 as the time period for a confidential State Employment Relations Board election, Faculty Association President David Jackson said.

All full-time faculty members are eligible to vote, Jackson said, and a “yes” vote would allow both tenured and non-tenure track members to immediately begin contract negotiations with the University.

“Our position was always to have the entire faculty in one bargaining unit, because we’re more similar than different,” Jackson said. “We want to survey our members, find out what important things they want us to negotiate for and what is best for us and the students.”

President Carol Cartwright has addressed the faculty’s desire to form a collective bargaining unit periodically with statements on the University’s website.

“[T]he administration believes it can be fairly said that this step would fundamentally alter the faculty culture of BGSU and do nothing to accomplish the strategic goals that the BGSU community has established,” she said April 21. “While the administration does not support the organizing effort, it does look forward to the conversation that will now take place.”

Despite the University’s opposition, Faculty Association members remain optimistic for a passing vote and positive results, said Karen Craigo, director of communications.

“It’s the answer to a lot of our problems and it’s all for the good of the students,” she said. “It’s been said before that our working environment is their learning environment, and we’re all looking forward to getting past this election so we can collaborate for their future.”

Collective bargaining will allow faculty to negotiate higher salaries and benefits that compete with the rates of other state universities.

According to Candace Archer, secretary of the Faculty Association, this will positively affect students by providing a more stable faculty, decreasing class sizes and adding a faculty voice to strengthen educational priorities.

“We’re spending a lot of time explaining to students what’s going on and why the faculty believes this is important,” she said. “I got involved because I know people on campus and this is a way I can help improve their circumstances.”

Archer said the Faculty Association members are satisfied with the election agreement, which could potentially culminate unionization discussions that date back to March 2008.

“From our perspective, we’re happy everyone is settled, and we’ve just moved on,” she said. “We’re not thinking about previous disagreements, because we’ve come to a settlement both sides seem happy with. Hopefully we’ll have a collective bargaining unit established by mid-October.”