Portland State University (PSU) may be planning to flout an arbitrator’s order to reinstate 10 laid-off faculty members.
An arbitrator ruled Nov. 6 that PSU violated its contract with PSU-American Association of University Professors (PSU-AAUP) when it laid off faculty members in June without going through a process it had agreed to under the contract. The arbitrator directed PSU to reinstate the faculty members and make them whole, meaning pay them for the income and benefits they lost.
In a Dec. 10 statement, PSU said it disagreed with the arbitrator’s interpretation of the collective bargaining agreement but decided not to challenge “the underlying decision,” meaning the arbitrator’s determination that the university violated the contract…