The Tale of a Faculty Union's Ongoing Labor War in Minnesota

• In Event: 539 - Section on Labor and Labor Movements Roundtables (one-hour)
  In Refereed Roundtable: Table 04. Social Movements and Labor Solidarity, in the United States

Abstract

This work-in-progress is the tale of a faculty union’s ongoing labor war with the nation’s fifth largest higher education system. This has become a national news story. The Minnesota State Colleges and Universities (MnSCU) secretly commissioned McKinsey & Company, a consulting firm that advises states on how to privatize public higher education systems. The union is on the verge of forcing the statewide board of trustees to remove the chancellor who has spearheaded this corporate agenda. I am one of the leaders of this 16-month campaign. As a sociologist, I am a participant-observer who is conducting participatory action research, as well as handling the media campaign for the union. As a regular contributor to “Contexts,”
This submission is a sociological essay in the more accessible genre championed by that journal.

Author

• Monte Bute, Metropolitan State University-Denver