http://ucw-cwa.org/2006/09/open-thread/ We are the union for UT staff and faculty, graduate employees, and lecturers, with chapters on the Knoxville and Chattanooga campuses. UCW-CWA's mission is to advance and defend the interests of all UT staff and faculty, as well as promoting solidarity, democracy, and advancing social and economic justice in our workplace and in our community. Sun, 20 Jul 2008 00:21:28 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5.1 http://ucw-cwa.org/2006/09/open-thread/#comment-22 Shela Van Ness Wed, 04 Oct 2006 21:58:43 +0000 http://ucw-cwa.org/utmeritraise/?p=10#comment-22 Petersen is totally misguided on at least two issues. First, speaking for faculty, there is wide variation in workload, so when every faculty is judged by publications (largely), time available for research & writing become significantly different. If one works in a department where there are large class assignments and no graduate assistants, clerical help or grading assistance, the workload for those professors take an inordinate amount of time. Peterson's second faulty resoning is that merit is real when enployees have not had pay increases equivalent to the cost of living for over 10 years. This means that if a person made $50,000. five years ago, to stay even they need to be earning about $59,000. now. If your pay has actually been DECREASING for the last decade and then someone gives you a BIG 3% RAISE & calls it merit, THAT IS NO INCENTIVE TO "WORK HARDER"!! Perhaps the scariest part of all of this is Peterson's lack of logic. Petersen is totally misguided on at least two issues. First, speaking for faculty, there is wide variation in workload, so when every faculty is judged by publications (largely), time available for research & writing become significantly different. If one works in a department where there are large class assignments and no graduate assistants, clerical help or grading assistance, the workload for those professors take an inordinate amount of time.
Peterson’s second faulty resoning is that merit is real when enployees have not had pay increases equivalent to the cost of living for over 10 years. This means that if a person made $50,000. five years ago, to stay even they need to be earning about $59,000. now. If your pay has actually been DECREASING for the last decade and then someone gives you a BIG 3% RAISE & calls it merit, THAT IS NO INCENTIVE TO “WORK HARDER”!! Perhaps the scariest part of all of this is Peterson’s lack of logic.

]]> http://ucw-cwa.org/2006/09/open-thread/#comment-19 Anony mouse Fri, 22 Sep 2006 19:06:37 +0000 http://ucw-cwa.org/utmeritraise/?p=10#comment-19 hmmm.... some interesting points have been raised. what i would like to know is, where is my incentive to work really hard in the first place? i get charged to park nowhere near where i work, the student body is growing (increasing my workload), there are people in administration making 6 figure incomes (seven figures in sports) who don't work nearly as hard as me (time management, skills, education, getting along with a variety of people, patience, etc.), there's not enough time off with pay, and the current adminstration is going to increase how much i have to pay for things like parking/dental/health insurance (all the while feeding me hotdogs at 'branding ceremonies'). it's depressing bs no matter how one looks at it. i'm taking my talent and going elsewhere as soon as i can. hmmm…. some interesting points have been raised. what i would like to know is, where is my incentive to work really hard in the first place? i get charged to park nowhere near where i work, the student body is growing (increasing my workload), there are people in administration making 6 figure incomes (seven figures in sports) who don’t work nearly as hard as me (time management, skills, education, getting along with a variety of people, patience, etc.), there’s not enough time off with pay, and the current adminstration is going to increase how much i have to pay for things like parking/dental/health insurance (all the while feeding me hotdogs at ‘branding ceremonies’). it’s depressing bs no matter how one looks at it. i’m taking my talent and going elsewhere as soon as i can.

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