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NATIONAL CENTER
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tudy of
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ollective
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argaining in
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ducation and the
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The National Center E-Note is a monthly electronic newsletter containing research and analysis relevant to unionization and collective bargaining in higher education and the professions.
1. Call for Papers: National Center's 46th Annual Conference April 7-9, 2019
4. Reed College: Union of Student Housing Advisers Withdraw Petition
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Call for Papers: National Center's 46th Annual Conference April 7-9, 2019
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The National Center has begun work on our 46th annual labor-management conference. It will be held at the CUNY Graduate Center on
April 7-9, 2019.
A Call for Papers, Presentations, and Workshops has been issued inviting scholars and practitioners from multiple disciplines to submit abstracts of proposed papers, panels, or interactive workshops for next year's conference. We are particularly interested in proposals related to unionization and collective bargaining in the post-Janus world.
W
e welcome proposals for the presentation of recent research and proposals by authors of recently published books relevant to higher education, professional employment, unionization, collective bargaining, labor relations, or labor history.
Those interested in presenting their work should upload an abstract by September 7, 2018 to
2019AbstractDropbox
that includes a description of the proposed paper, panel or interactive workshop. Abstracts of panels and workshops should include a list of invited participants including their title and aļ¬liation. Questions concerning the call for papers
should be emailed to
2019 National Center Annual Conference.
William A. Herbert
Executive Director
Michelle Savarese
Administrator 
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Oregon State Univ.: AAUP-AFT Certified to Represent a Faculty Unit
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Oregon State University, OERB Case No. RC-006-18
On June 27, 2018, United Academics of Oregon State University, AAUP-AFT, AFL-CIO was certified by the Oregon Employee Relations Board (OERB) following a card check to represent a unit of approximately 2,400 faculty and post-doctoral employees at the Oregon State University.
In issuing the certification, OERB rejected a petition that had been filed by some faculty seeking an election instead of a card check. The petition for an election was denied because it was not supported by 30% of the bargaining unit, and was supported by electronic signatures, a format not authorized under agency procedures. In addition, OERB rejected an objection from a faculty member who opposed the inclusion of non-tenure track faculty in the bargaining unit with tenured and tenure-track faculty.
The following is the newly certified bargaining unit sought at Oregon State University:
All faculty employed by Oregon State University with rank (including those on Academic Wage Appointments), a well as PostDoctoral Scholars and PostDoctoral Fellows, but excluding: (1) confidential employees; (2) faculty employed as a president, vice president, provost, vice provost, dean, associate dean, assistant dean, head or equivalent position; (3) faculty employed in an administrative position without a reasonable expectation of teaching, research or other scholarly accomplishments; (4) unclassified employee with No Rank; and (5) faculty who are not considered supervisory under ORS 243.650(23)(c)(C), but supervise other faculty with rank (including those on Academic Wage Appointments), PostDoctoral Scholars, and/or PostDoctoral Fellows.
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Miami Dade College: SEIU Files to Represent PT Adjunct Faculty Unit
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Miami Dade College, FPERC Case No. 2018-026
On July 3, 2018, SEIU filed a representation petition seeking to represent 1250 part-time adjunct faculty at Miami Dade College. A telephonic evidentiary hearing has been scheduled on August 20, 2018 concerning the petition by the Florida Public Employees Relations Commission Hearing Officer Suzanne Choppin.
The following is the bargaining unit sought in the SEIU representation petition:
Included:
All part-time adjunct faculty employed by Miami Dad College and teaching at least one college-credit-bearing course (including Continuing Education and Off-Site Courses but excluding any adjunct faculty in the School of Nursing).
Excluded:
All other faculty, including tenured and tenure-track faculty, full-time faculty, deans, assistants to deans, provosts, employees covered by an existing collective agreement at Miami Dade College, all faculty teaching in the School of Nursing, managers, and supervisors. |
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Reed College: Union of Student Housing Advisers Withdraw Petition
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Reed College, NLRB Case No. 19-RC-213177
On June 28, 2018, the representation petition filed by
Student Workers Coalition- Local 1 Housing Advisers on behalf of 52 undergraduate housing advisers at Reed College was
withdrawn.
The withdrawal follows an extraordinary unionizing effort by the Reed College undergraduates that resulted in the union being certified following a representation election despite the active opposition by the college administration. The student union was represented at the NLRB by undergraduate representatives, rather than an attorney, and defeated the legal arguments raised by the college.
The specific reason for the withdrawal of the petition at Reed College is unclear from the NLRB record. What is known is that the college had filed a
Request for Review seeking reversal of the decision in
Columbia University, 364 NLRB No. 90 (2016), which had held that students who receive compensation for work at an institution of higher education were employees for purposes of the National Labor Relations Act. The withdrawal of the petition by the Reed College students deprives the current NLRB Board majority with an opportunity to reconsider the holding in
Columbia University.
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| Onondaga Community Coll.: Court Rules Grievance Should be Arbitrated |
Matter of Onondaga Community College, N.Y. App. Div., 4th Department
On June 29, 2018, New York's Appellate Division, Fourth Department issued a decision finding that a contract grievance filed by the Professional Administrators of Onondaga Community College Federation of Teachers and Administrators was subject to arbitration because it challenged the retrenchment of a position as constituting constructive discharge in violation of the contract's just cause provision.
In reaching its decision, the appellate court concluded that the arbitration clause of the contract was sufficiently broad to make the grievance arbitrable. The court stated that the
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grievance at issue concerns whether the member was improperly dismissed without just cause under the guise of retrenchment, and a reasonable relationship exists between the subject matter of the grievance and the general subject matter of the [contract]."
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| Lake-Sumter State Coll.: Election Ordered for FT Faculty and Librarians |
Lake-Sumter State College Board of Trustees, FPERC Case No. RC-2018-005
On June 15, 2018, the Florida Employees Relations Commission issued an order directing the conduct of an election concerning a representation petition filed by United Faculty of Florida seeking to represent the following unit of faculty, librarians, and others at Lake-Sumter State College.
The agency action follows a hearing officer's recommended order finding that the proposed unit includes approximately 80 employees including 3 full-time temporary instructors, 2 instructor/applied nursing simulation lab coordinators, 7 librarians, and 4 assistant department chairs.
The following is the at-issue bargaining unit sought in the representation petition:
Included:
Instructor, assistant professor, associate professor, professor, senior professor, librarian, lecturer, full-time temporary instructor, assistant department chair, and instructor/applied nursing simulation lab coordinator.
Excluded:
All managerial, administrative, supervisory, and confidential employees including, but not limited to those job titles categorized as follows: administrative and professional, career service, other professional services, part-time employees, adjunct faculty, acting or interim faculty, program manager, department chair, and all other employees of the College not expressly included.
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Lake-Sumter State Coll.: UFF Files to Represent Department Chairs
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Lake-Sumter State College Board of Trustees, FPERC Case No. RC-2018-021
On June 22, 2018, United Faculty of Florida filed a petition seeking to represent a unit of approximately 11 department chairs and program managers at Lake-Sumter State College. A telephonic evidentiary hearing has been scheduled by the Florida Employees Relations Commission for August 13, 2018.
The following is the at-issue bargaining unit sought in the representation petition:
Included:
Department chair and program manager.
Excluded:
All managerial, administrative, supervisory and confidential employees including, but not limited to those job titles categorized as follows: administrative and professional, career service, other professional services, part-time employees, adjunct faculty, acting or interim faculty and positions in the faculty bargaining unit in Case No. RC-2018-005.
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| St. John's River State Coll. UFF Files to Represent Faculty and Librarians |
St. John's River State College Board of Trustees, FPERC Case No. 2018-024
On June 28, 2018, United Faculty of Florida filed a petition seeking to represent a unit of approximately 130 full-time faculty, librarians, assistant department chairs and advisors/counselors. A telephonic evidentiary hearing has been scheduled by the Florida Public Employees Relations Commission for August 16, 2018
The following is the at-issue bargaining unit sought at St. John's River State College:
Included:
Instructor, assistant professor, associate professor, professor, senior professor, librarian, full-time temporary instructor, assistant department chair, and advisors/counselors.
Excluded:
All managerial, administrative, supervisory, and confidential employees including, but not limited to, those job titles categorized as follows: administrative and professional, career service, other professional services, part-time employees, adjunct faculty, acting or interim faculty, department chair, workforce director, and all other employees of the College not expressly included. |
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Kean University: Transfer to Non-Teaching Duties Found Not Arbitrable
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State of New Jersey (Kean University), NJ PERC Docket No. SN-2018-034
On May 31, 2018, the New Jersey Public Employee Relations Commission NJPERC issued a decision concluding that a grievance filed by the Council of New Jersey State College Locals, AFT/AFL-CIO challenging the reassignment of certain faculty to non-teaching responsibilities was not arbitrable because the university had the managerial perogative to assign faculty to duties outside the classroom.
However, NJPERC concluded that the impact of the reassignment in terms of compensation, workload, and working hours, and whether the non-teaching responsibilities are not within the particular faculty members' primary duties are subject to arbitration. |
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Fordham University: First PT and FT NTT Contracts with SEIU Approved
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On July 17, 2018, the Fordham University Board of Trustees approved two contracts with SEIU for bargaining units of full-time and part-time non-tenure track faculty. The approval follows a ratification vote by the SEIU-represented faculty members.
The three-year contracts cover approximately 800 non-tenure track faculty and provide wage increases and improved job security and professional development for bargaining unit members. According to SEIU
most adjunct faculty "pay will rise between 67% to 90%, with a majority of adjuncts receiving between $7,000 to $8,000 per course by the third year of the contract, depending on how long they have taught at Fordham. The contract sets a new minimum annual salary of $64,000 by the third year of the contract for full-time, non-tenure-track faculty with full course loads, an increase of roughly $14,000 for some of the lowest paid full-timers at Fordham."
When Fordham President Joseph M. McShane, S.J. announced the approval of the contracts, he emphasized the values underlying the university's new collective bargaining relationship with its non-tenure track faculty represented by SEIU:
I have said before that organized labor has deep roots in Catholic social justice teachings, and that given its Jesuit traditions and historic connection to first-generation and working-class students, Fordham has a special duty in this area. But the benefits of these contracts do not only accrue to the non-tenure track faculty: a stronger connection to students, tenured and tenure-track faculty, and the rest of the academic community rewards all of us in ways great and small.
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Journal of Collective Bargaining in the Academy
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The Journal of Collective Bargaining in the Academy is the National Center's peer review multi-disciplinary journal that is co-edited by Jeffrey Cross, Eastern Illinois University, and Gary Rhoades, University of Arizona.
We encourage scholars, practitioners, and graduate students in the fields of collective bargaining, labor representation, labor relations, and labor history to submit research articles, op-eds, and practitioner perspectives for potential publication. The Journal is particularly interested in contributions related to collective bargaining and unionization issues in a post-Janus world.
The following are articles published in the latest Journal volume:
Op-Eds
The Slippery Slope of "Unique" by Daniel J. Julius counters the commonly held notion among academics that their collective bargaining is essentially different from other bargaining units.
Articles
The History Books Tell It? Collective Bargaining in Higher Education in the 1940s by William A. Herbert examines the little-known history of collective bargaining in higher education from the 1940s including the collective bargaining program instituted by the University of Illinois and the role of United Public Workers of America and its predecessor unions in negotiating the first contracts for faculty before the union was destroyed during the McCarthy era.
Practitioner Perspective
The Accidental Academic: Reflections on 50 Years in Academic Collective Bargaining by William Connellan gives a retrospective from a 50-year veteran in academic labor relations that reminds us of the complexity of bargaining, with not only the internal tensions, but the external dimension to what happens at the bargaining table.
The Journal of Collective Bargaining in the Academy is
supported, in part, by a generous contribution from TIAA-CREF and is hosted by the institutional repository of Eastern Illinois University.
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Upcoming Conferences of Interest
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The following are some upcoming conferences that you may be interested in attending:
August 3-5, 2018:
The Coalition of Contingent Academic Labor will be holding
COCAL XIII
on August 3-5, 2018 at San Jose State University, California.
August 16-19, 2018:
The Coalition of Graduate Employee Unions will be holding its annual meeting of North American graduate employees in New York City.
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National Center for the Study of Collective Bargaining
in Higher Education and the Professions
425 E 25th St.
Box 615
New York, NY 10010
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