Twenty-two NMU faculty members will have some extra money this holiday season thanks to work done by members of the NMU-AAUP Executive Committee. According to NMU-AAUP Data Analyst Brandon Canfield, the total amount of salary corrections to date, is $215,360.

The compensation errors were discovered when the NMU-AAUP began investigating salaries in response to a gender discrimination lawsuit in early 2019. While the analysis did not show any clear evidence of across-the-board gender discrimination, it did reveal improper application of the four specific requirements for determining salary compensation in Section 9.1.1.2 of the Master Agreement. “It occurred to me to look into whether the 9.1.1.2 formula was being applied uniformly. It quickly became clear that it was not, and I regret not discovering these errors sooner,” said Canfield. He went on to say that provisions are now in place to prevent such oversights from occurring in the future.

According to Canfield, two of the faculty members affected were hired in the middle of the contract period, and the salary errors were recognized by the administration without objection in mid-June of 2019.

Twelve of the affected faculty members accepted positions in 2015 prior to the signing of the current contract. As a result, they were provided employment agreements with salaries not in compliance with the Master Agreement that was in effect when their employment officially began for the F15 semester. The administration objected to correcting these salaries, maintaining that salaries were offered and accepted by the faculty, superseding the updated Master Agreement provisions. Counsel for NMU-AAUP provided overwhelming precedence that this argument had no standing and a violation of the MA existed. The administration conceded and signed an MOU to correct these salaries at the end of June 2019.

Once acknowledgement was made that the twelve salaries mentioned above were in error, it also meant that eight other faculty members in the same departments with identical CIP codes had incorrect starting salaries. The administration eventually signed a modified MOU to include correction of these faculty salaries midway into the F19 semester, six months after NMU-AAUP Contract Officer Lesley Putman had presented the issue to the administration.

Dr. Sarah Mittlefehldt, an associate professor in Earth Environmental and Geogrpahical Sciences, was one of the faculty members to receive a salary adjustment. “Before I came to NMU, I was teaching at a small liberal arts college that did not have a union. The AAUP was a major factor in my family’s decision to move to Marquette. We became direct beneficiaries of the union’s hard work last year when union members discovered salary discrepancies for faculty hired in 2015. Before I was even aware that there was a problem, my union colleagues had not only identified the problem, but they had already worked to solve it. My family and I are exceedingly grateful to the AAUP and the culture of solidarity that the union helps to facilitate,” said Mittlefehldt.

All retroactive corrections included salary and fringe (i.e. retirement contributions), and the numbers above only reflect salary corrections. The initial salary violations ranged from approximately $700 to $6500 below the respective correct salaries according to 9.1.1.2.

Canfield says he is happy to be a part of correcting these errors and recovering the funds due to these faculty members. “We should all be proud of the strength of our union, and that we are able to support a suite of Executive Officers who are able to perform their various duties in the service of all of us,” said Canfield.

Contract Officer Gabe Logan echoed Canfield’s sentiments. “It was a good catch on Brandon’s part. Brandon, Lesley and Brent put a lot of hours in on that, and it shows the power of the union. The union has duties beyond academic freedom and job security, we are also looking out for people’s financial well being and workplace environment issues,” said Logan.

History, Harleys, sports and Samurai swords are long-time passions for History Professor Gabe Logan. Perhaps he can now add contract enforcement to this list.

Enforcement of the contract lies primarily with the NMU-AAUP’s contract officer, and Logan is completing his first semester in that role. “It’s a steep learning curve, but I enjoy stretching my mind in a new way and seeing this operation of the university,” said Logan. Dr. Logan was selected to replace Dr. Lesley Putman as the contract officer when Putman was elected as the chief negotiator for upcoming contract talks.

Logan is no stranger to union matters. Prior to coming to NMU, he was a secondary education high school teacher, and he was involved with the Missouri Education Association. He also helped organized a graduate union at Northern Illinois University where he did his graduate work. He has been active with the NMU-AAUP as a Faculty Council representative and has been involved in unions for 27 years. “I’m impressed with the union leadership that we have, and how much behind the scenes work that is done. I think it is a statement about the vitality of our union that we don’t have that many issues because they are headed off in Faculty Council. We have a smooth operating system because the union takes care of business and takes care of issues before they become magnified,” said Logan.

Dr. Logan’s teaching and research primarily focuses on twentieth-century U.S. History, Sport History, Immigration History, and Secondary Teacher Education. He is also the director of NMU’s Secondary History/Social Studies programs. “Sport history is my main field of study. Mostly, I look at immigrants that have come to the United States and have used sport as a way of amalgamating into the host society. It offers a lot of opportunities to look at history in ways that haven’t been observed in the past,” said Logan.

Some of Gabes’s work focused on how the mob used sports in the 1920s as a means of laundering money during prohibition. According to Logan, Al Capone’s mob used sports teams to put a good stamp on Capone’s reputation with immigrant communities.

Logan’s interest in sports history is an outgrowth of his own athletic journey. “I played fairly competitive soccer for about 40 years, and I have been in martial arts for about 40 years, and I still go regularly to Japan to train with my teachers over there. I study the sword, and I study unarmed combat, and I get humbled quite easily by both,” Logan said jokingly.

While Logan makes light of his ability, he is a black belt in Kobudo. It is old school Samurai fighting, and Logan is a Dai Shihan which is a senior teacher in the Bujinkan dojo located in Noda-Shi, Japan. When asked how he trains without getting seriously hurt, he replied, “I get cracked all the time. I just had a tooth knocked out a couple of weeks ago. The idea is eventually that will stop happening, but as I said, I’m still quite humbled by it, and I still take my lumps and learn my lessons.”

Gabe also enjoys motorcycle riding and motorcycle mechanics. “This probably speaks to being an historian, I have a 1939 Harley-Davidson motorcycle that I’ve owned for 20 years. I also have a new one, and my wife Kathryn and I like to go riding together when the weather permits,” he said. However, Logan admits the charm of owning an antique motor bike is sort of a love-hate relationship. “It’s always better when it is parked in the garage rather than the side of the road, but there certainly have been ample examples of both,” he laughed.

So, the next time you have a question about the contract, you will know who to call and know a little more about your contract officer. In closing, Logan said, “If people have a question about the contract, I certainly don’t know all of the answers, but give me a call and we’ll figure it out together.” Gabe can be reached at the NMU-AAUP Office at 227-1624.