In this newsletter, we report on recent administrative agency decisions and recent filings in higher education. Among the decisions is one by the California Public Employment Relations Board, which concluded that a mandatory influenza vaccination policy is a non-mandatory subject of negotiations.

The newsletter also includes reminders concerning the National Center's 2021 Academic Collective Bargaining Survey, the Call for Proposals for our 2022 annual conference, along with video highlights from our 2021 annual conference, and links to articles from the current volume of the Journal of Collective Bargaining in the Academy.

The National Center is in the midst of conducting a nationwide survey to collect information about all current collective bargaining units and contracts in higher education involving faculty, administrators, postdoctoral scholars, and student workers. The data will be used for a new directory of collective bargaining relationships and other scholarship.

Timely responses from labor representatives and administrators with direct knowledge of bargaining unit compositions, sizes, and agreements are essential for ensuring that our database is current and comprehensive. The survey will take about 15 minutes to complete. Any identifying individual information will be kept confidential and will be used only to follow up if clarification of responses is necessary.

We strongly encourage you to complete the survey to ensure that data relating to your institution or bargaining unit are included.

Follow this link to the Survey: Take the Survey

Or copy and paste the URL below into your internet browser:

If you have any questions about the survey, please contact the National Center's research team at: ncscbint1@hunter.cuny.edu

The National Center's 49th annual labor-management conference will be taking place in mid-April 2022 in New York City. It is anticipated that the 2022 conference will be blended with in-person and virtual options for panelists and attendees.

The theme of next year's conference will be the State of Collective Bargaining and Higher Education.

We welcome proposals concerning suggested topics below as well as proposals by authors of recent research or books relevant to higher education, collective bargaining, labor relations, or labor history.

Those interested in proposing a panel should upload an abstract by September 8, 2021 to 2022 Abstract Dropbox that includes a title and description along with a list of invited participants including their title, affiliation, and contact information. Please also state whether participants prefer an in-person or a virtual format.

Questions concerning the call for proposals should be emailed to 2022 National Center Annual Conference.

University of California, CPERB Case Nos. SF-CE-1300-H and SF-CE-1302-H

Mandatory COVID-19 vaccinations in higher education, and employment generally, is an important current subject and a contentious topic for some.

The California Public Employment Relations Board (CPERB) issued a relevant decision on July 26, 2021, which determined whether a university's mandatory influenza vaccination policy, and the impact of that policy, are mandatorily negotiable.

The CPERB decision resolved complaints by AFSCME Local 3299, the University Professional and Technical Employees, CWA Local 9119, and Teamsters Local 2010 challenging a University of California Executive Order requiring university faculty, staff, and students to receive an influenza vaccination by November 1, 2020.

In its decision, CPERB ruled that the university's mandatory vaccination policy was a non-mandatory subject of negotiations "because under the unprecedented circumstances of a potential confluence of the COVID-19 and influenza viruses, the need to protect public health was not amenable to collective bargaining or, alternatively, outweighed the benefits" of California's higher education collective bargaining law. In reaching its decision, the agency relied on the opinions of public health and medical experts that the influenza virus, combined with the COVID-19 virus, would overwhelm hospitals and healthcare facilities.

Although the CPERB decision did not address the negotiability of a COVID-19 vaccination mandate or its impact, the decision will likely be applied to labor challenges to such a COVID-19 policy in California's public sector. In addition, the decision might be persuasive precedent for other state labor relations agencies and the NLRB when determining the negotiability of mandatory vaccination policies and their impact under other collective bargaining laws.

University of New Mexico, Board of Regents, PELRB No. 307-20

On August 17, 2021, the New Mexico Public Employees Labor Relations Board (NMPELRB) issued a decision and order concluding that full-time and part-time graduate assistants at the University of New Mexico are public employees entitled to unionize and engage in collective bargaining under the New Mexico Public Employee Bargaining Act. The unanimous NMPELRB rejected the conclusion of the agency's hearing officer who had found that the graduate assistants were excluded from the protections of the state's collective bargaining law.

As a result of the NMPELRB decision, the petition filed by United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America (UE) seeking to represent the University of New Mexico's graduate assistants will continue to be processed. Among the issues that will need to be resolved is the appropriateness of the proposed bargaining unit. The UE petition seeks a unit of all instructional and research assistants at the University's campuses at Albuquerque, Gallup, Taos, Los Alamos, and Valencia County including the following positions: Graduate Assistant Regular; Graduate Assistant Special; Project Assistant; Research Assistant; Teaching Assistant Regular; Teaching Assistant Special, and Teaching Associate.

The recent NMPELRB ruling giving a green light to the representation efforts at the University of New Mexico comes at a time of massive nationwide growth in graduate assistant unionizationn, which is examined in a forthcoming book chapter by National Center Executive Director Bill Herbert and National Center Affiliated Researcher Joseph van der Naald titled Graduate Student Employee Unionization in the Second Gilded Age.

Matter of the Employees of the University of Pittsburgh, PLRB Case No. PERA-R-19-2-w

On July 16, 2021, a Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board (PLRB) hearing officer issued an order and notice of election concerning a petition filed by United Steel, Paper and Forestry, Rubber, Manufacturing, Energy, Allied Industrial and Service Workers International Union, AFL-CIO, CLC (USW) seeking to represent approximately 3,500 full-time and regular part-time tenure-stream and non-tenure-stream faculty and librarians at the University of Pittsburgh.

The official ballot will be mailed out by PLRB on August 27, 2021 to all eligible voters. The ballots must be returned to and received by PLRB by October 12, 2021 and the ballots will be counted on October 19-21, 2021 at PLRB's offices in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

Portland Community College, OERB Case No UP-029-21

On July 15, 2021, the PCC Federation of Faculty and Academic Professionals filed an unfair labor practice complaint against Portland Community College with the Oregon Employment Relations Board. The complaint alleges that the college violated its duty to bargain in good faith by refusing to permit unit members to attend bargaining sessions as observers, refusing to bargain over ground rules, and then utilizing the lack of ground rules as the basis for circulating a letter to bargaining unit members describing the status of negotiations.

Included: All full-time and regular part-time Administrative Assistant B – Museum Illustrators; Administrative Coordinator – Curatorial Research Coordinator in Egypt; Assistant Museum Collections – Lead Mount-makers; Archivists A and A-01; Coordinators A; Database Administrators; Designers, Exhibit, Publications and Publications Senior; Financial Administrative Coordinator; Information Technology Communication Analyst; Information Technology Support Specialist Senior; Manager, Museum Collections; Museum Conservator; Research Coordinator Senior; and Technician Audio Visual B employed by the Employer at the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology located at 3260 South Street, Philadelphia, PA.

Excluded: All other employees, employees represented by other labor organizations, employees who are employed by third party contractors, managerial employees, confidential employees, non-professional employees, students, faculty, academic employees, Curators, Assistant Curators, Associate Curators, guards, and supervisors as defined by the Act. Others permitted to vote: The parties have agreed that the Associate Director, Corporate and Foundation Relations in Development & Alumni Relations, Major Gifts Officer in Development & Alumni Relations, Manager D – Special Projects Manager and Head Photographer may vote in the election, but their ballots will be challenged since their eligibility has not been resolved. No decision has been made regarding whether the individuals in these classifications or groups are included in, or excluded from, the bargaining unit. The eligibility or inclusion of these individuals will be resolved, if necessary, following the election.

Hamilton College, NLRB Case No. 03-RC-281779

On August 24, 2021, the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union, District Union Local One (UFCW) filed a petition with the NLRB seeking representation of a bargaining unit of 65 tour guides and student fellows employed by Hamilton College.

The following is the at-issue proposed bargaining unit:

Included: All Tour Guides and Student Fellows

Excluded: All other employees, guards, supervisors and confidential employees as defined by the Act.

Oxford University Press USA, NLRB Case No. 02-RC-279675

On July 9, 2021, the News Media Guild, Local 3122, filed a petition seeking to represent a unit of 160 employees working for Oxford University Press in Manhattan. The following is the at-issue proposed unit:

Included: All employees employed by the Employer at or out of its facility located at 198 Madison Avenue.

Excluded: All guards, supervisors and managerial employees as defined by the Act.

The National Center's annual national conference was a major success with the largest registration since we began holding annual conferences in 1973. We thank the panelists and moderators who participated in the conference, as well as, all of the attendees.

We are grateful to TIAA, SEIU, AAUP, AFT, and NEA/NCHE for sponsoring the conference, and the organizations and individuals who made donations. The sponsorships and donations allowed us to not charge a registration fee for this year's conference, and they will help support future National Center programming.

The National Center thanks the Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute at Hunter College, the LERA Higher Education Industrial Council and Commonweal Magazine for co-sponsoring certain of the conference panels.

Below are links to video recordings of conference presentations along with links to panel descriptions, panelists bios, and written materials.

Welcoming Remarks and Announcement with Jennifer J. Raab, Hunter College President, William A. Herbert, National Center Executive Director, DeWayne Sheaffer, President, NEA's National Council for Higher Education, Alexandra Matish, Associate Vice Provost for Academic and Faculty Affairs, University of Michigan, Jeffrey Cross and Gary Rhoades, Journal of Collective Bargaining in the Academy.

The Biden Administration: Higher Education and Labor Initiatives with Lynn Pasquerella, President, Association of American Colleges and Universities, Mark Gaston Pearce, Executive Director, Workers Rights, Georgetown University Law School and former National Labor Relations Board Chairman, Damon A. Silvers, Director of Policy and Special Counsel, AFL-CIO, and Michael Loconto, Founding Principal, Fenway Law, LLC, Moderator. Panel Description and Panelists Bios Reading Material

Collective Bargaining in Higher Education: Best Practices for the Promotion of Collaboration, Equity and Measurable Outcomes with Daniel J. Julius, Visiting Fellow, Yale University, School of Management and Professor of Management, New Jersey City University, Joel Cutcher-Gershenfeld, Professor, Heller School for Social Policy and Management, Brandeis University, Adrienne E. Eaton, Dean, School of Management and Labor Relations, Distinguished Professor, Labor Studies & Employment Relations Department, Rutgers University, Thomas Kochan, MIT Sloan Institute for Work and Employment Research at the MIT Sloan School of Management, and David Lewin, Professor Emeritus, Management and Organizations, UCLA Anderson School of Management. This panel was co-sponsored by the LERA Higher Education Industry Council. Panel Description and Panelist Bios

Challenges of the Past Year and Perspectives about the Future with Daniel Greenstein, Chancellor, Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education, Susan Poser, Provost & Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, University of Illinois Chicago, Mildred Garcia, President, American Association of State Colleges and Universities, and Scott Jaschik, Editor, Inside Higher Ed, Moderator. Panel Description and Panelists Bios

Challenges of the Past Year and Perspectives on the Future of Academic Labor with Rebecca Givan, Rutgers AAUP-AFT, Jamie Martin, President, APSCUF, Justin Tzuanos, NEA Center for Organizing Fellow, NEA Organizational Specialist and Higher Education Team member, Charles Toombs, President, California Faculty Association, and Gary Rhoades, Professor, Center for the Study of Higher Education, University of Arizona, JCBA Co-editor, Moderator. Panel Description and Panelists Bios

COVID-19 and Its Impact on Academic Women with Karen R. Stubaus, Vice President for Academic Affairs, Rutgers University, Maria Lund Dahlberg, Study Director, National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, Eve Higginbotham, Dean of Inclusion and Diversity, University of Pennsylvania, Leslie D. Gonzales, Associate Professor in the Higher, Adult, and Lifelong Learning Unit in the College of Education, Michigan State University and Juli Wade, Dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at University of Connecticut. Panel Description and Panelists Bios

COVID-19 and Racial Equity in Higher Education with Amalia Dache, Assistant Professor, Higher Education Division, University of Pennsylvania, Jennifer Johnson, Assistant Professor, College of Education and Human Development, Temple University, Henrika McCoy, Associate Professor and Interim Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Student Services, Jane Addams College of Social Work, University of Illinois Chicago, and Roseanne Flores, Associate Professor, Psychology, Hunter College, CUNY, Moderator. Panel Description and Panelists Bios

Joe Biden and Catholicism in the United States with Massimo Faggioli Professor of Theology and Religious Studies, Villanova University and contributing writer to Commonweal magazine, E.J. Dionne, Jr., Washington Post Syndicated Columnist, Senior Fellow, Brookings Institution, and Georgetown University Professor, Heidi Schlumpf, Executive Editor, National Catholic Reporter, and Paul Moses, Professor of Journalism, Brooklyn College, CUNY, Moderator. This panel was co-sponsored by the Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute and Commonweal Magazine.

Just Universities: Catholic Social Teaching Confronts Corporatized Universities with Gerald J. Beyer, Associate Professor of Christian Ethics, Villanova University, Patricia McGuire, President, Trinity Washington University, Discussant, Mary-Antoinette Smith, Professor, English, and Executive Director, National Association for Women in Catholic Higher Education (NAWCHE), Seattle University, Lily Ryan, Organizer, Kalmanovitz Initiative for Labor and the Working Poor, Georgetown University, and Donna Haverty-Stacke, Professor, History, Hunter College, CUNY, Moderator. This panel was co-sponsored by the Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute and Commonweal Magazine.

Speaking of Dignity: Non-Unionized Adjunct Faculty Teaching at a Catholic Church-Affiliated University with Jacob Bennett, University of New Hampshire, Maria Maisto, New Faculty Majority, James Coppess, Associate General Counsel, AFL-CIO, and David Marshall, Director, Center for Labor and Employment Law, Dorothy Day Professor of Law, St. John's University School of Law, Panelist and Moderator. Panel Description and Panelists Bios

Social Unionism to Bargaining for the Common Good in Higher Education: Then and Now with Charles Toombs, President, California Faculty Association, Ellen Schrecker, Professor Emerita of American History, Yeshiva University, Andrew Feffer, Professor, History, Union College and author of Bad Faith: Teachers, Liberalism, and the Origins of McCarthyism, Marilyn Sneiderman, Professor and Director, Center for Innovation in Worker Organization, Rutgers University School of Management and Labor Relations, and Malini Cadambi-Daniel, Director for Higher Education, SEIU, Moderator. Panel Description and Panelists Bios

How Public Employees Win and Lose the Right to Bargain with Dominic Wells, Assistant Professor, Political Science, Bowling Green State University, author of From Collective Bargaining to Collective Begging: How Public Employees Win and Lose the Right to Bargain (2020), William P. Jones, Professor & Director of Graduate Studies, Department of History, University of Minnesota, President, Labor and Working-Class History Association, Eleni Schirmer, PhD candidate at University of Wisconsin-Madison in Educational Policy Studies, and William A. Herbert, National Center Executive Director, Moderator. Panel Description and Panelists Bios

Contingency, On-Line Education and Faculty Strikes in the US and the UK with Mariya Ivancheva, Lecturer in Higher Education Studies at the University of Liverpool, Robert Ovetz, Lecturer, Political Science, San Jose State University, David Harvie, Associate Professor of Finance and Political Economy, University of Leicester, and Alyssa Picard, Director, AFT Higher Education, Moderator. Panel Description and Panelists Bios

Higher Education Legal Update with Henry Morris Jr., Partner, Arent Fox LLP, Monica Barrett, Bond, Schoeneck & King, PLLC, Angela Thompson, Associate Director, AFT Legal Department, and Aaron Nisenson, Senior Legal Counsel, AAUP, Panelist and Moderator. Panel Description and Panelists Bios

Academic Freedom in Collective Bargaining Agreements and Faculty Handbooks with Hans-Joerg Tiede, Director of Research, AAUP, Risa Lieberwitz, General Counsel, AAUP and Professor of Labor and Employment Law, Cornell University School of Industrial and Labor Relations, Missy A. Matella, Watkinson Laird Rubenstein, P.C, and Jeffrey Cross, Former Associate VP, Academic Affairs, Eastern Illinois University (Emeritus), Editor, Journal of Collective Bargaining in the Academy, Moderator. Panel Description and Panelists Bios

Shared Governance, Collective Bargaining, and the Future of Online Learning in Light of COVID-19 with Anthony G. Picciano, Professor, Hunter College and CUNY Graduate Center, School of Education, Irene Mulvey, President, AAUP, Joseph McConnell, Morgan, Brown & Joy, LLP, and Theodore Curry, Professor of Human Resources and Labor Relations, Michigan State University, Moderator. Panel Description and Panelists Bios

The Future of Graduate Assistant Unionization with Ken Lang, Director of Organizing, UAW, Peter MacKinnon, SEIU Local 509 President and Chair, Higher Education Council, Kavitha Iyengar, Graduate Assistant Union President, UAW 2865, University of California, Shukura Umi, Executive Vice President, United Campus Workers, and Joseph van der Naald, Graduate Student Researcher, Program in Sociology, Graduate Center, CUNY, Moderator. Panel Description and Panelists Bios

Principles and Practices for Effective Negotiations with Kathy Sheffield, Director of Representation and Bargaining, California Faculty Association, Barry Miller, Senior Policy Advisor on Labour Relations, Office of the Provost, York University, Deborah Williams, Johnson County Community College Faculty Association, Judi Burgess, Esq., Director of Labor Relations, Boston University, and Elena Cacavas, Esq., Cacavas ADR, LLC, Moderator. Panel Description and Panelists Bios

Preparing and Presenting Grievances in Arbitration with Letitia F. Silas, Executive Director of Systemwide Labor Relations, University of California, E. Kevin Young, Associate Director for System-wide Labor Relations, University of California, Tara Singer-Blumberg Labor Relations Specialist, New York State United Teachers National Center Executive Director William A. Herbert, and Homer C. La Rue, Labor Arbitrator, Mediator, and Professor of Law, Howard University School of Law, Panelist and Moderator.

The National Center has published the latest volume of the Journal of Collective Bargaining in the Academy, on the theme Beyond Getting Back to the New/Old “Normal." We thank the Journal's co-editors Jeffrey Cross and Gary Rhoades for their tireless work.

Post-Pandemic Collective Bargaining in Higher Education: An Irresistible Force Meeting and Immovable Object? James Ottavio Castagnera

Online Learning, COVID-19, and the Future of the Academy: Implications for Faculty Governance and Collective Bargaining Anthony Picciano

The Gig Academy: Naming the Problem and Identifying Solutions Daniel T. Scott and Adrianna J. Kezar

Working in Coalition, and Wall-to-Wall: The New Progressive Normal Gary Rhoades

The Journal is an open access, peer-reviewed, online periodical, the purpose of which is to advance research and scholarly thought related to academic collective bargaining and to make relevant and pragmatic peer-reviewed research readily accessible to practitioners and to scholars in the field.

We encourage scholars and practitioners in the fields of collective bargaining, labor relations, and labor history to submit articles for potential publication in future volumes.

The Journal is supported, in part, by a generous contribution from TIAA and is hosted by the institutional repository of Eastern Illinois University.

Routlege will be publishing a new book edited by Daniel J. Julius titled Collective Bargaining in Higher Education: Best Practices for Promoting Collaboration, Equity, and Measurable Outcomes. The book will contain contributions from a diverse group of scholars, practitioners, and advocates, many of whom have been active in National Center programs. The book provides an overview of the contemporary landscape and practical advice concerning collective bargaining and labor relations in higher education.

Routledge is offering a 20% discount. Use this discount code at checkout: code AET21

The National Center's downloadable study, 2020 Supplementary Directory of New Bargaining Agents and Contracts in Institutions of Higher Education, includes important findings and data for scholars and practitioners interested in collective bargaining in higher education.

The study was co-written by National Center Executive Director Bill Herbert, 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 study analyzes data regarding new bargaining units, bargaining agents, and contracts in higher education for the period 2013-2019. It 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.

Apply Now Job No: 509553

Review of applicants will begin on September 15, 2021, and will continue until a suitable candidate pool has been identified.