Librarians and other academics strike on three campuses.

LIBRARIES; COLLEGE teachers; LIBRARY personnel; LIBRARY schools; UNIVERSITIES & colleges

This article reports on the strikes by librarians and other academics on several campuses in the U.S. as of November 1990. The strike at Wayne State University lasted only three days in early September, causing no real disruption of library service. As did all academic professional represented there by the American Association of University Professors, Wayne State librarians won a pay hike of up to 6 percent. The new contract also refines the administration's policy allowing librarians to opt out of the tenure track. Now librarians who take that option will be assured employment security after seven years' service, as if they had achieved tenure. At the University of Bridgeport, permanent full-time replacements conducted classes and served in the library during the strike, according to library director Judith Linn Hunt. According to labor negotiator John Sabanosh, when the administration announced plans to achieve the next phase of its five-year plan--a balanced budget in the 1990-1991 school year. The final proposal which the administration implemented in September 1990 includes salary cuts of 21.8 percent to 28.1 percent, a shortening of layoff notice from a minimum of one academic year to no more than either academic year-end or 30 days, and the elimination of severance pay and free health insurance for dependents. James N. Myers, Temple University Librarians dean, characterized the faculty strike in the campus as unfortunate, which began on September 1, 1990. Before a court injunction brought striking librarians and faculty back to work October 3, 1990, Myers said that service demands had been light.