The National Center is pleased to announce publication of the 2020 Supplementary Directory of New Bargaining Agents and Contracts in Institutions of Higher Education, an open source study written for scholars and practitioners of collective bargaining in higher education.

The study was co-written by Bill Herbert, the National Center's Executive Director and Distinguished Lecturer, Hunter College, CUNY, Jake Apkarian, Assistant Professor of Sociology, York College, CUNY, and Joey van der Naald, a PhD candidate in the program in sociology, CUNY Graduate Center.

The 2020 Supplementary Directory is an analysis of data for the period 2013-2019 of new bargaining units, bargaining agents, and contracts in higher education following publication of our last directory in 2012. The study includes a listing of all new bargaining relationships concerning faculty, department chairs, librarians, postdoctoral scholars, academic researchers, and/or graduate student employees.

Unlike prior directories, the 2020 Supplementary Directory includes a detailed unit composition description for each new unit as well as hyperlinks to the most recent contract for each new unit. This information is aimed at enhancing future research and avoiding confusion over unit composition, particularly when faculty units include other titles.

The National Center is pleased to announce that its 48th Annual Conference will be taking place on April 19-20, 2021. The conference will be held virtually. Further, we are planning a number of additional webinars during the Spring semester.

The National Center, in conjunction with the New York City Seminar and Conference Center, transformed our planned in person conference into a successful virtual conference on October 19-20, 2020. The conference agenda was filled with panels and discussions on critical issues facing higher education and our country. Click here for the conference program and agenda.

We thank all of the conference speakers, panelists, and attendees for helping to make our first virtual conference a major success. Below are video excerpts from the conference.

We thank TIAA for sponsoring our 47th annual conference as well as AFT, SEIU, and The Standard Insurance Company for providing additional financial support.

Keynote Address by Steven Greenhouse, the former New York Times labor and workplace correspondent and author of the book Beaten Down, Worked Up: The Past, Present, and Future of American Labor (2019).

Plenary: The Student Debt Crisis: History, Consequences, and Post-Pandemic Solutions with Elizabeth Tandy Shermer, Associate Professor, Loyola University Chicago, Caitlin Zaloom, Professor of Social and Cultural Analysis, New York University, Jennifer Mishory, Senior Fellow and Senior Policy Advisor, Century Foundation, and Suzanne Kahn, Director, Education, Jobs, and Worker Power and the Great Democracy Initiative at the Roosevelt Institute.

Growth in Union Density Among Academic Labor, 2013-2019 with Jacob Apkarian, Assistant Professor of Sociology, Department of Behavioral Sciences, York College, CUNY and National Center Affiliated Researcher, Joseph van der Naald, Graduate Student Researcher, Program in Sociology, Graduate Center, CUNY and National Center Affiliated Researcher, and William A. Herbert, Distinguished Lecturer and National Center Executive Director, Moderator and Presenter. Discussants: Gary Rhoades, Professor and Director, Center for the Study of Higher Education, University of Arizona, JCBA Co-editor and Adrianna Kezar, Endowed Professor and Dean's Professor of Leadership, USC, Director of the Pullias Center.

Conference Greetings by Christina R. Cutlip, Senior Managing Director, Institutional Relationships, TIAA. 

Negotiating for Part-Time Faculty Equity with Will Silvio, President, Berklee College of Music Faculty Union, Jay Kennedy, Berklee College of Music Vice President for Academic Affairs/Vice Provost, Darryl Wood, NYSUT Labor Relations Specialist, Dia M.Carleton, Chief Human Resources Officer, SUNY Oneonta, and Beth Margolis, Gladstein, Reif & Meginniss, LLP, Moderator.

Labor as Contingent as Free Speech? An Analysis of Recent Adjunct Faculty First Amendment Cases with Nora Devlin, Doctoral Candidate, Rutgers Graduate School of Education, Stacy Hawkins, Professor of Law, Rutgers Law School, Commentator, Martin Malin, Professor of Law and Co-Director, Institute for Law and the Workplace, Chicago-Kent College of Law, Illinois Institute of Technology, Commentator, and Christopher Simeone, AAUP, Moderator.

Contingent Faculty, Job Security, and Academic Freedom with Carl Levine, Levy Ratner P.C., Keila Tennant, Associate General Counsel and VP for Labor Relations, The New School, Sonam Singh, former Unit Chair, BCF-UAW Local 2110, and Barry Miller, Senior Policy Advisor on Labour Relations, Office of the Provost, York University, Moderator.

Collective Bargaining from All Sides: Unionism, the Faculty Senate, Contingent Faculty, and Academic Administration with Naomi R. Williams, Assistant Professor, Labor Studies and Employment Relations, Rutgers University, Nelson Ouellet, Associate Professor, Université de Moncton, David Hamilton Golland, Professor, History, Governors State University, Jon E. Bekken, Professor, Communications, Albright College, and Theodore H. Curry, Professor of Human Resources and Labor Relations, Michigan State University, Moderator.

Higher Education Funding After the Pandemic with Fred Floss, Professor and Chair, Department of Economics and Finance, SUNY Buffalo State University and Fiscal Policy Institute, Senior Fellow, Thomas Anderson, Executive Director, Union of Part-Time Faculty, AFT Local 477, AFL-CIO, Thomas L. Harnisch, Vice President for Government Relations, and Sophia Laderman, Senior Policy Analyst, State Higher Education Executive Officers Association (SHEEO).

Race and Labor In Historical and Contemporary Contexts with Bill Fletcher, Jr. author and activist, former president of TransAfrica Forum, and Senior Scholar with the Institute for Policy Studies. Discussants: Derryn Moten, Alabama State University, co-president of the Alabama State University Faculty-Staff Alliance and a vice president of the Alabama AFL-CIO and Sherri-Ann Butterfield, Executive Vice Chancellor and Associate Professor, Sociology, Office of the Chancellor, Rutgers University—Newark. DeWayne Sheafter, National Council for Higher Education, National Education Association, Moderator.

Black Lives Matter on Campus and Beyond with Calvin Smiley, Assistant Professor, Sociology, Hunter College, CUNY, Paul Ortiz, University of Florida Chapter President, United Faculty of Florida NEA-AFT, Terri Givens, CEO and Founder, Center for Higher Education Leadership, Elijah Armstrong, Organizational Specialist in Human and Civil Rights, National Education Association, and Alethea Taylor, Doctoral Lecturer/Internship Site Developer, Hunter College - School of Education, Department of Educational Foundations and Counseling, Participant and Moderator.

Title IX Regulations: Bargaining Issues for Unions and Institutions with Rana Jaleel, Assistant Professor, Gender, Sexuality, and Women's Studies, University of California, Davis, Lance Houston, University EEO, Inc., Debra Osofsky, Negotiator, Educator and Contract Specialist, and Judi Burgess, Director of Labor Relations, Boston University, Moderator.

Affirmative Action in Higher Education, Post-Pandemic with Cara McClellan, Assistant Counsel, NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Risa Lieberwitz, General Counsel, AAUP and Professor of Labor and Employment Law, Cornell University School of Industrial and Labor Relations, Victor Goode, Associate Professor, CUNY Law School, and Lili Palacios-Baldwin, Deputy General Counsel for Labor, Employment & Litigation, Tufts University, Moderator.

The Equal Rights Amendment and Higher Education with Julie Suk, Dean for Master’s Programs and Professor, Sociology, CUNY Graduate Center, Elizabeth Schneider, Rose L. Hoffer Professor of Law, Brooklyn Law School, Jessica Neuwirth, Distinguished Lecturer and Rita E. Hauser Director, Human Rights Program, Roosevelt House, Public Policy Institute at Hunter College, CUNY, and Wendi Lazar, Partner, Outten & Golden, Moderator.

The Old Wolf, Again: Latinx Faculty Negotiations, Recruitment, Retention, and Racism in the Academy with Theresa Montaño, California State University, Northridge, Chicana/o Studies, California Faculty Association, José Luis Morín, Chairperson, Department of Latin American and Latinx Studies, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, Michael Ortiz, Sul Ross University, and José Cintrón, Professor, College of Education, CSU Sacramento, California Faculty Association, Moderator.

Mass Incarceration and Higher Education with Patrick Mitchell, Board Member, Community College Association, CTA, NEA, Michelle Jones, Doctoral Student, New York University, Vivian Nixon, Columbia University Teaching Fellow, and Bidhan Chandra Roy, College of Arts and Letters, California State University, Los Angeles, Participant and Moderator.

Reasonable Accommodations for Faculty and Teaching Assistants with Jamie Daniel, Former National Field Service Representative, AAUP, Laura Yvonne Bulk, President, CUPE Local 2278 (Canadian Union of Public Employees), PhD Candidate, Rehabilitation Sciences, The University of British Columbia, Barbara Aloni, Disability & Productivity Consultant, The Standard Insurance Company, John Rose, Dean for Diversity, Hunter College, CUNY, and Alexandra (Sascha) Matish, Associate Vice Provost for Academic and Faculty Affairs and Senior Director, Academic Human Resources, University of Michigan, Moderator.

Retirement Plan Trends in the COVID-19 Pandemic with Patricia McConnell, Levy, Ratner, PC, Gary Herzlich, Senior Director, Associate General Counsel, TIAA, Susan E. Bernstein, Schulte, Roth & Zabel LLP, and Christina Cutlip, Senior Managing Director, Institutional Relationships, TIAA, Moderator.

LGBTQ Labor Issues in Higher Education After Bostock v. Clayton County with Barbara J. Diamond, Diamond Law, Portland, Oregon, Mellissa Sortman, Director of Academic Human Resources, Michigan State University, Elizabeth S. Hough, Counsel to the President, United University Professions, and Elizabethe C. Payne, Founder and Director, Queering Education Research Institute (QuERI) and faculty at CUNY, Moderator.

Health and Safety Issues and COVID-19 with Deborah Berkowitz, Worker Safety and Health Program Director, National Employment Law Project, Amy Bahruth, Assistant Director for Health and Safety, AFT, Jeffrey Hescock, Executive Director Environmental Health and Safety, UMass Amherst, and Thomas H. Riley, Jr. Executive Director of Labor and Employee Relations and Special Counsel for the University of Illinois System, Moderator.

Collective Bargaining from All Sides: Unionism, the Faculty Senate, Contingent Faculty, and Academic Administration with Naomi R. Williams, Assistant Professor, Labor Studies and Employment Relations, Rutgers University, Nelson Ouellet, Associate Professor, Université de Moncton, David Hamilton Golland, Professor, History, Governors State University, Jon E. Bekken, Professor, Communications, Albright College, and Theodore H. Curry, Professor of Human Resources and Labor Relations, Michigan State University, Moderator.

Unemployment Insurance Policies and Practices: Adjunct Faculty, COVID-19, and Beyond with Michele Evermore, Senior Research and Policy Analyst, National Employment Law Project, George Wentworth, Of Counsel, National Employment Law Project, Arnab Datta, Senior Legislative Counsel, Employ America, and Francisco Diez, Worker Justice Policy Advocate, Center for Popular Democracy, Participant and Moderator.

Higher Education Funding After the Pandemic with Fred Floss, Professor and Chair, Department of Economics and Finance, SUNY Buffalo State University and Fiscal Policy Institute, Senior Fellow, Thomas Anderson, Executive Director, Union of Part-Time Faculty, AFT Local 477, AFL-CIO, Thomas L. Harnisch, Vice President for Government Relations, and Sophia Laderman, Senior Policy Analyst, State Higher Education Executive Officers Association (SHEEO).

LERA Higher Education Industry Council Panel: The Changing Place of Labor Studies in Higher Education with Marissa Brookes, University of California, Riverside, Tobias Schulze-Cleven, Rutgers University, Cedric de Leon, University of Massachusetts-Amherst, and Ruth Milkman, CUNY School of Labor and Urban Studies, Moderator.

Between May and August 2020, the National Center hosted a series of webinars. Below are links to six of those webinars and related materials:

Labor and Employment Legal Issues Resulting from the Pandemic with Henry Morris Jr., Partner, Arent Fox LLP, Aaron Nisenson, Senior Legal Counsel, Christian Gobel, and William A. Herbert, National Center, Hunter College, CUNY, Moderator.

Description: This webinar was the National Center’s annual legal update panel, which examined issues and cases over the past year including legal subjects related to the pandemic.

The Future of Privatization in Higher Education: Post-Pandemic with Rima Brusi, Distinguished Lecturer, Department of Anthropology, and Writer in Residence at the Center for Human Rights and Peace Studies, Lehman College, CUNY, Shahrzad Habibi, Research and Policy Director, In the Public Interest, Robert Shireman, Director of Higher Education Excellence and a Senior Fellow at The Century Foundation and William A. Herbert, National Center, Hunter College, CUNY, Moderator.

Description: This webinar examined the future of privatization in higher education following the devastation caused by COVID-19. The speakers examined the privatization and resistance at the University of Puerto Rico, the challenges to privatization at California State University, the use of public-private partnerships on campus, and the renewed federal promotion of the for-profit higher education industry. The panel was organized in conjunction with the Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute at Hunter College, CUNY and In the Public Interest, a research and policy center on privatization.

Collective Bargaining and Online Technologies in the Age of a Pandemic with Joseph McConnell, Morgan, Brown & Joy, LLP, Cynthia Eaton, Secretary, Faculty Association, Suffolk County Community College, Gary Rhoades, Professor of Higher Education, University of Arizona, and Co-Editor, Journal of Collective Bargaining in the Academy, Ellen Grachek, University of Michigan, Molly Brookfield, University of Michigan/GEO, and William A. Herbert, National Center, Hunter College, CUNY, Moderator.

Description: This webinar included presentations by the three panelists who examined collective bargaining and online technologies, which was followed by Q & A, and information sharing about bargaining issues and experiences from around the country. The following are some of the issues that were discussed during the webinar: the use of online technology for the conduct of bargaining; specific negotiation topics related to online learning during the pandemic; how collective bargaining can alleviate the negative consequences of the digital and economic divide in our communities; and how the expansion of online teaching in higher education might impact the shape of collective bargaining. The panel was organized in conjunction with the Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute at Hunter College, CUNY.

Reading Material: Negotiating the Distance and Beyond, Bargaining Contract and Policy Language for Distance Education and Intellectual Property.

The Gig Academy and COVID-19: Implications for the Future with Adrianna Kezar, Endowed Professor and Dean's Professor of Leadership, USC, Director of the Pullias Center, and Director Delphi Project, Daniel Greenstein, Chancellor, Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education, Henry Reichman, Chair, Committee A on Academic Freedom and Tenure, AAUP, Maria Maisto, New Faculty Majority, and William A. Herbert, National Center, Hunter College, CUNY, Moderator.

Description: In a recently published book, The Gig Academy: Mapping Labor in the Neoliberal University, Adrianna Kezar and her co-authors describe and critique the restructuring of labor relations in higher education over the past few decades that included a massive increase in precarious employment in the form of contingent faculty positions, post-doctoral appointments, and the use of graduate assistants for teaching and research. Today, non-tenure track faculty make up 70% of college instructors nationwide. During this webinar, the panel discussed the book's insights and recommendations as well as their relevance for post-pandemic colleges and universities. The panel was organized in conjunction with the Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute at Hunter College, CUNY.

Online Learning: Policies, Practices, and its Future in the Face of COVID-19 with Stephanie Hall, Fellow, The Century Foundation, Anthony G. Picciano Professor, Hunter College and CUNY Graduate Center, School of Education, Di Xu, Associate Professor University of California Irvine, and William A. Herbert, National Center, Hunter College, CUNY, Moderator.

Description: Over the past two decades, the prevalence of online learning in U.S. colleges and universities has grown considerably. University administrators, educators, and students have regarded this form of education with both excitement and suspicion. Distance learning holds the promise of greater educational inclusion and increased revenue generation for higher education institutions, yet has been the subject of critiques by its various stakeholders. This panel provided a multifaceted examination of online learning from three distinct, yet interrelated perspectives. Di Xu reviewed existing research on the impact of online learning on access and student performance in U.S. higher education, and discussed instances where online educational programs have been most successfully implemented. Stephanie Hall examined the theoretical and policy implications of online degree programs, using the results of a Century Foundation analysis of university contracts with for-profit online program managers. Last, Anthony Picciano discussed both the implications of online learning on faculty, with a focus on collective bargaining, professional identity, and university administration, and concluded the panel discussion with an exploration of how future technological innovations in online education may redefine the professional roles of tomorrow’s teachers, administrators, and researchers. This panel was organized in conjunction with the Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute at Hunter College, CUNY.

Higher Ed Collective Bargaining and Shared Governance in Responding to COVID-19 with Theodore H. Curry, Michigan State University, Risa L. Lieberwitz, Cornell University ILR and AAUP, Jamie Dangler, UUP, Rebecca Givan, Rutgers AAUP-AFT, Dale Kapla, Northern Michigan University, Julie Schmid, AAUP, and Michael Eagen, UMass Amherst, and William A. Herbert, National Center, Hunter College, CUNY, Presenter and Moderator.

Description: This labor-management panel examined the role of collective bargaining and shared governance in resolving the many serious higher education labor relations, policy, and legal issues that have arisen because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The panelists provided an overview of collective bargaining and shared governance along with examples of their use and non-use on campuses around the country since the pandemic began. The panel was organized in conjunction with the Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute at Hunter College, CUNY, and the Labor and Employment Relations Association's Higher Education Industry Council.

To assist with this research project, we request institutions of higher education and unions representing faculty, graduate assistants, and other campus workers to upload copies of any written agreements reached in response to the pandemic. Questions concerning this research inquiry can be emailed here.

Oregon Institute of Technology, OERB Case No. UP-023-20

On October 28, 2020, the Oregon Employee Relations Board (OERB) issued a decision

sustaining an unfair labor practice charge against Oregon Institute of Technology filed by Oregon AAUP challenging changes to faculty workload during the course of negotiations for a first contract. OERB concluded that the the imposition of the 2020-2021 Guidelines unilaterally changed the status quo concerning faculty workload. While the university subsequent rescinded the 2020-2021 Guidelines, the rescission did not negate the finding of an unfair labor practice but it did impact the remedy imposed.

On October 23, 2020, the Saint Leo University Board of Trustees decided it will no longer recognize the United Faculty of Florida, which has represented university faculty since 1976. Saint Leo University's action follows the June announcement by St. Xavier University that it would no longer recognize its faculty union.

Both institutions justified their unilateral actions on a recent NLRB decision concerning the standard to be applied for asserting jurisdiction over a religiously-affiliated institutions, and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The NLRB decision, however, is under review in the United States Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit, and there are many examples of collective bargaining helping to resolve pandemic related labor-management issues at institutions across the country.

Slippery Rock University v. Association of Pennsylvania State College and University Faculty, Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court, Case No. 1667 C.D. 2019

On October 30, 2020, the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court issued a decision sustaining an arbitration award granting tenure-track status to a former contingent faculty member in the business department based on the conversion language in the contract between the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education (PASSHE) and the Association of Pennsylvania State College and University Faculty (APSCUF).

Under the contract, a contingent faculty member who has worked full-time for five consecutive years will be “offered placement in tenure-track status, if recommended by the majority of the regular department faculty."

In this case, the contingent faculty member began working full-time in the business department in the 2011-12 academic year and continued to do so in the following two academic years. In the 2014-15 academic year, her work hours were lowered to three-quarters but she was restored to full-time for the following three academic years. In 2018, the faculty member filed a grievance after the university's refused to grant her tenure-track status after a departmental vote in favor.