More than 300 members of the Lecturers’ Employee Organization (LEO) signed a petition last week authorizing union leaders to send out a strike authorization ballot to all 1,270 members.

The entire LEO membership was scheduled to vote March 27 (after Record press time) to decide whether to support a one-day walkout on April 8 by non-tenure-track instructional staff from all three campuses.

Union leaders said they hope a walkout will encourage the administration to move faster in the bargaining process.

Both sides have been at the table since August, but Janet Weiss, associate provost and professor of organizational behavior and public policy, says working out the details of contracts with new organizations takes time.

“A walkout by the lecturers would be harmful to the University and especially to our undergraduate students,” Weiss says. “We believe we can make significant progress toward a contract without the union taking such a dramatic action.”

Results of the March 27 vote will be posted March 29 on the Record’s Web site, http://www.umich.edu/urecord.