Bonnie Halloran: LEO’s Pride
by Marjorie Lynn
With her casually-styled brown hair, wire-rimmed glasses and minimally made-up face, Bonnie Halloran appears to be a “plain brown wrapper.” But this middle-aged, down-to-earth dynamo has led the three-campus, 1,200 member Lecturers Employee Organization (LEO) at The University of Michigan (U of M) for the past four years. She is one of just a handful of part-time faculty who lead unified locals that include both full-time and part-time temporary faculty.
At the 2004 national AFT convention, Halloran was widely
and publically praised for her accomplishments on behalf of LEO
for the unusually quick and successful work that began with
organizing in late-2001, and led to a signed contract by mid-2004. Craig Smith is the Associate Director of AFT Higher
Education division. He says that, while universities in California and New have locals with more members, “Bonnie is leading an adjunct union that’s unique in the Midwest….”
Certainly, though, the task of organizing the institution’s part-time and full-time temporary faculty was made easier thanks to GEO – the 35-year-old Graduate (Student) Employee Organization. Craig Smith points out that Bonnie “had bridged the GEO/LEO gap well.” Halloran’s ability to connect with the graduate student union leaders paid off handsomely. GEO leaders offered
needed support and guidance to Halloran and her fellow LEO
volunteers while the lecturers organized and negotiated their first
contract.
In May 2006, AFT-Michigan awarded LEO the President’s
Award for its activism and organizing work. AFT-Michigan
President David Hecker dubbed LEO “a union mature beyond
its years,” thanks to the group’s lightning-fast organizing effort,
and effort that stretched across three campuses and gathered together 1200 temporary faculty. (To put Halloran’s work into perspective, the AFT-MFT local at nearby Eastern Michigan
University (EMU) in Ypsilanti, Michigan, took a decade to organize, and was able to include only 110 full-time non-tenure track lecturers. The more than 300 part-time faculty at EMU
aren’t unionized.)
When asked, David Hecker describes Bonnie Halloran in
glowing terms: “She’s ardent, intelligent, a practical idealist.
She has…vision, and knows what the union movement is all about
both at the U of M and beyond. She knows what has to be done.”
The AFT’s Craig Smith agrees. “Bonnie has carried the flag
well on the national stage for you guys.” [Writer’s note: I should
mention here that I am a member of LEO, and have worked
with Bonnie Halloran for several years.]
Halloran was recently appointed to the AFT’s Council on
Higher Education Program and Policy. She was one of three
temporary faculty members chosen. The Council advises the AFT
Division of Higher Education, which represents the interests of
150,000 AFT members. Halloran also served on an AFT-sponsored advisory committee for non-tenure track lecturers.
“She has rapidly become recognized as an important leader
who is sought out for advice,” said Craig Smith.
Bonnie, flashes a warm smile. “Speaking through a bullhorn
at rallies did not fit my image of myself at all, but I have had to
learn how to deliver messages that way,” She claims she can’t
keep her mouth shut when she knows what needs to be said and
done.
From Adjunct to Organizer
In the early 1990s, Bonnie began the gypsy scholar life, teaching as a part-timer at several metro-Detroit colleges. She taught
up to seven classes per term, usually Introduction to Anthropology. Although she had taught in high school, Halloran preferred
college teaching. In 2002, because of what she says was a “growing sense of the gross injustice of the system,” she finally yielded to AFT organizers’ efforts to enlist her help. They wanted her to help organize on the U of M’s Dearborn, Michigan campus. Part
of what convinced her to become involved was concern for her
own children, some of whom are on the academic track.
“I wanted to make the system better – my situation in academia
was unacceptable to me for them,” says Halloran.
She recalled one one particularly galling episode. When illness forced her to miss several classes, and even though the
substitute had used Bonnie’s preparation work, she’d received
no sick leave, pay, or even acknowledgment of the role she’d
played. That experience, coupled with the fact that U of M Dearborn had not given the adjuncts a pay raise for several years,
fired her up.
“Being able to at last confess the sorry amount I got paid for
working at a great university empowered me – the hidden, dirty
secret was out!” says Halloran.
With her daughters grown, and with the support of husband
Dick (the Honorable Richard J. Halloran, Jr.,), a Michigan Circuit Court judge in Detroit, Bonnie’s life as a union maid began. Bonnie Halloran chaired the AFT’s organizing committee
on the U of M-Dearborn campus.
“I could not have done this work any earlier in my life when
family obligations prevailed. It’s the right time now,” she
laughes, quoting a feminist line that inspired her: “You CAN
have it all, just not at the same time!”
From Organizer to President
In late 2001, union organizing began on all three of the University of Michigan’s campuses, Ann Arbor, Dearborn, and Flint.
By 2003, AFT Local 6244 became the bargaining agent for all
of U of M’s 1,200 non-tenure track full- and part-time lecturers. In 2004, the membership (which does not include everyone
in the 1,200 member bargaining unit, because some temporary
faculty choose not to belong) voted on a constitution, and elected
a slate of officers. Bonnie, then Interim-President, was elected
to a two-year term as LEO’s first elected president, a paid position.
“Ultimately, I wanted to be president of the Union, knew I
could do it, [and] was passionate about doing it. Because of the
importance of the University of Michigan on the national scene,
I felt if we could bring about change here, we could gain some
added power that would encourage others.” Halloran chuckles
as she goes on, “Of course, people weren’t beating down the
door to take on the job, either!”
An undergraduate degree in sociology and a Master’s in anthropology plus some graduate work in world religions, did not
train Halloran to lead LEO. Her experience as a stay-at-home
wife and mother, volunteer activities and experience helping her
husband organize political campaigns for his judicial races taught
her skills she now uses. She says these include working and
building teams of people with a wide range of personalities and
time management.
Day-to Day: or “This job takes
over your life!”
“I’m connecting across all the different constituencies. I’m
the public face of what people across the state and country see
as an example of a successful union. I enjoy it!”
Usually Halloran spends mornings emailing, drafting letters,
and making phone calls to local, state, and federal offices. She
travels, too. A lot. Bonnie lives in Detroit, and travels a circuit
that includes Ann Arbor, Dearborn, and Flint, a several hour/
100+ mile commute. She spends about one-third of her time on
the job as union president talking to people in the bargaining
unit about their concerns.
The most important activity of any union is organizing: enrolling new hires and non-members, and encouraging current
members to become more active – to, say, serve on a committee. The other two-thirds of her time she spends as administrator, as liaison between LEO and University administration and
the Regents. She takes seriously her concern that, as a major
university, the University of Michigan has a leadership role to
play. As a result, Halloran also has become involved on the state
and national stages of union activism. She attends conferences
and shares what she calls “The LEO Story.”
“Our story is that we have an active membership who are
willing to fight, to put teeth into what we do.” Halloran elaborates: “The lecturers have a real sense of shared social justice.
For our contract, people put aside their own needs to look at
where the needs were the greatest.”
As the AFT’s Craig Smith notes, “The more visible she
[Bonnie] is, the more influence the U of M LEO unit wields.”
Challenges of the Job
When asked what the toughest aspect of representing LEO is
Bonnie replies, radio interviews: “You have to be thinking every second. I am the spokesperson for the Union, and I feel a
great deal of responsibility for people whose jobs are on the
line.”
The most frustrating aspect of her term as President has been
the unanticipated struggle to implement the contract. “We
thought that when we signed a contract, we’d have agreement.
We were pretty amazed to find how many different interpretations could exist.”
Essentially, bargaining continued for two more years. But
Sheryl Edwards, who is the U of M-Dearborn campus LEO chair,
describes Bonnie as “a positive person who doesn’t give up easily nor does she lose hope – she is determined without being
stubborn. She has a lot of patience, especially when dealing with
the administration’s negotiators.”
When asked if she thinks U of M’s president, Dr. Mary Sue
Coleman, played a little woman-to-woman hardball with her
Halloran explains that early in the organizing meetings it was
put on the table that women would have important roles.
“I…had to prove myself, as anyone new does, but I think my
competence shows pretty quickly and I am willing to listen and
learn,” says Halloran.
On the few occasions when her authority to speak has been
questioned, she has attributed it more to being non-tenured than
female – a class distinction that most contingent faculty find
familiar. Edwards notes that: “The only issue of gender I have
seen is how some people negotiating for the [University] thought
they could appeal to her feminine side – ‘Let’s all get along; we
don’t want to get personal.’– when dealing with her.”
Halloran’s Hopes
Bonnie Halloran is planning a run for the office of president
of LEO at the end of 2006.
She is also gearing up to negotiate a second contract – to
strengthen the contract and tighten up the loopholes exploited
by the University. Among other goals, Bonnie wants to develop
union leadership so the organization becomes more politically
active.
“It’s clear to me that governments at all levels have a huge
impact on us both immediately or in our future through legislation and labor laws. We need to educate our members
more,” she says. “The excitement of the union is about building a community through shared experience. To know I’m
part of making this community happen is exciting – building
a new sense of camaraderie humanizes workplaces in ways it
hasn’t ever been for part-timers. While at times we are
adversarial with the administration, I’m proud to be a part of
the University of Michigan.”
