Faculty Rights

TMCC-NFA vigorously defends tenure and the safeguards it affords faculty members. Tenure protects academic freedom, which is necessary for teachers and researchers in higher education. Individuals cannot fulfill their responsibilities if they fear loss of employment because of their speech, publications, or research due to political, corporate, religious, or other outside pressures. Tenure also promotes stability, giving individual faculty members the ability to develop stronger ties to the local community, mentor students, and pursue innovation. Although tenure only permits termination for cause or extraordinary circumstances, its benefits go well beyond the protection of individual faculty members. It protects the quality of teaching and maintains the institution’s integrity, thereby serving students, society, and the common good.

Weingarten rights guarantee an employee the right to Union representation during an investigatory interview. These rights, established by the Supreme Court, in 1975 in the case of J'. Weingarten Inc., must be claimed by the employee. The supervisor has no obligation to inform an employee that they are entitled to Union representation. An employee may choose their own representative, who may be a representative of the union or a fellow employee. Employers are required to honor that request, so long as that choice does not unduly interfere with the employer’s ability to conduct its investigation. Employees may not request a non-employee representative unless that individual is an officer or business agent of the employee’s union. For example, an employee may not request a private attorney or a family member as their Weingarten representative if that individual has no affiliation with the employee’s union.