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July/August 2023 Newsletter | |
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In this newsletter, we announce new members of the National Center’s Board of Advisors, as well, as the availability of additional National Center archival research material on our website that will be useful for scholars and practitioners.
We have also included an update regarding the upcoming sold-out September 14-15 regional conference in Chicago and a reminder that proposals for our 2024 annual conference are due on or before September 12, 2023.
The newsletter contains a summary of an interesting federal court decision about a faculty reasonable accommodation case under the American with Disabilities Act, as well as, summaries of recent administrative decisions, certifications, elections scheduled and results, and petitions filed involving faculty, graduate and undergraduate student employees, librarians, and museum workers.
Lastly, the newsletter includes links to video recordings from or 50th anniversary conference earlier this year, links to articles in the current volume of the Journal of Collective Bargaining in the Academy, an announcement about an upcoming labor history book on contingent faculty, and job postings with the California Faculty Association.
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The National Center's New Offices | |
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Effective July 1, 2023, the National Center offices have been relocated to Hunter College's main campus in the East Building, Rooms 1418 and 1444, at 68th Street and Lexington Avenue in New York City.
Our new mailing address is:
National Center for the Study of Collective Bargaining In Higher Education
and the Professions
Hunter College, East Building, E1444
695 Park Ave
New York, New York 10065
Please use both of these two email addresses when contacting the National Center: nat_ctr@hunter.cuny.edu and msavares@hunter.cuny.edu.
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The National Center Welcomes New Members to Our Board of Advisors | |
The National Center is pleased to introduce two new members of our Board of Advisors: | |
Melissa Sortman, Vice Provost and Associate Vice President for Faculty and Academic Staff Affairs, Michigan State University. Melissa serves as a strategic partner on the leadership team in the Office of the Provost developing and implementing strategic plans for the University, academic human resources policies, and negotiating academic labor contracts. She collaborates with leadership across the university to improve the organizational culture of the working and learning environment with college, school, department, and unit leaders across the university on all academic human resources-related functions for 5,700 faculty, academic staff, and executive management. Prior to coming to MSU, she worked at the University of Michigan as the Associate Director of Academic Human Resources. Melissa holds a B.A. in English and Communications from Western Michigan University and an M.A. Degree in Higher, Adult, and Lifelong Education from Michigan State University.
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Julie Schmid is the Senior Director for Higher Education at the American Federation of Teachers. Prior to joining AFT, Julie served as Executive Director of the American Association of University Professors, a position she held for a decade, and as AFT-Wisconsin’s chief of staff and higher ed. organizing director for six years. From 2014-16 she served as a WISCAPE affiliate for the Center for Advancement of Post-Secondary Education at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Julie has published numerous articles on academic labor and is co-editor of Cogs in the Classroom: The Changing Identity of Academic Labor. Julie holds a PhD in English from the University of Iowa and has been involved in the academic labor movement since 1993, when she became active in organizing the graduate union there.
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National Center Archival Research Materials are Now Available | |
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Over the past decade, the National Center has been digitizing our archival materials to make them readily available to practitioners and researchers studying the history of unionization and collective bargaining in higher education.
For the past half-century, the National Center has collected and analyzed unionization and strike data in higher education and published directories of faculty and other collective bargaining relationships in higher education.
We are pleased to announce that we recently posted on our website links to 25 National Center directories of faculty collective bargaining relationships, published between 1976 and 2020. Those directories, along with our bimonthly newsletters from 1973 to 2000, provide important data and analysis relevant to the trajectory and restructuring of campus labor relations since 1973.
We will be announcing in future newsletters when additional archival research materials become available on our website.
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Sold Out! Higher Education Collective Bargaining Workshop
University of Illinois-Chicago, September 14-15, 2023
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The National Center for the Study of Collective Bargaining in Higher Education and the Professions at Hunter College, the University of Illinois System, and the University of Illinois School of Labor & Employment Relations’ Labor Education Program are co-sponsoring a two-day higher education collective bargaining regional workshop in Chicago on September 14-15, 2023. The program will be taking place University of Illinois-Chicago Student Center East, located on Halsted Street, just south of the Jane Byrne Interchange.
We are very pleased to announce that the workshop is sold out. Those interested in being place on the waiting list can submit their names by registering here. Those unable to attend the regional workshop are encouraged to join us for our annual national conference that will be taking place on March 17-19, 2024.
Confirmed Regional Workshop Sessions, Speakers, and Facilitators
Keynote speaker: Sameer Gadkaree, President, The Institute of College Access and Success with an Introduction by Thomas H. Riley, Jr., University of Illinois Executive Director of Labor and Special Counsel and a member of the National Center's Board of Advisors.
Below is a finalized list of all confirmed panels and separate facilitated labor (L) and administrator (A) sessions and joint facilitated sessions:
Panel: Best Practices in Collective Bargaining I
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Robb Craddock, Labor and Employee Relations Executive Director, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
Robert Bloch, Dowd, Bloch, Bennett, Cervone, Auerbach & Yokich, LLP
Richard W. Fanning, Jr., Clark Hill, PLC
Mike Newman, Deputy Director, AFSCME Council 31
Moderator: Terry Curry, Associate Provost and Associate Vice President
for Academic Human Resources Emeritus, Professor Emeritus,
School of Human Resources and Labor Relations, Michigan State
University
Panel: Best Practices in Collective Bargaining II
Melissa Sortman, Assistant Provost and Director, Faculty and Academic Staff Affairs, Michigan State University
Diana Valera, President CFAC/IFT, Columbia College
Mark Bennettt, Laner Muchin
Elizabeth Towell, SEIU Local 73
Moderator: Marcia Mackey, Michigan Education Association
Panel: 10 Best Practice Tips from Experienced Labor Arbitrators
Betty Widgeon, Arbitrator, Moderator and Panelist
Meeta Bass, Arbitrator
Cary Morgen, Arbitrator
Panel: Legal Obligations under Public Sector Statutes and NLRA
Angie Cowan Hamada, NLRB Region 13 Director
Ellen Strizak, General Counsel, Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board
Sidney McBride, Director, Michigan Employment Relations Commission
Moderator: Alice Johnson, General Counsel Cook College Teachers Union
Panel: Academic Freedom and Free Speech Issues in Higher Education
Joerg Tiede, AAUP Director of Research
Charlotte Garden, Law Professor, University of Minnesota
Thomas S. Bradley, Laner Muchin
Moderator: Stephen A. Yokich, Dowd, Bloch, Bennett, Cervone, Auerbach & Yokich, LLP
Panel: Collective Bargaining, Discrimination, Affirmative Action, & Title IX
Risa Lieberwitz, Professor of Labor and Employment Law, Cornell ILR and AAUP General Counsel
Julie Miceli, Husch Blackwell
Augustus Wood, Assistant Professor, School of Labor & Employment Relations, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
Ricky Baldwin, Assistant Director, State Division, SEIU Local 73
Moderator and Panelist: Karen Stubaus, Vice President for Academic Affairs, Rutgers University and National Center Affiliated Researcher
Facilitated Session: Unit Composition, Ground Rules, Information Demands, Tactics and Strategies (L)
Facilitators:
Nicholas Christen, Director of Field and Organizing, IFT
Robert Bruno, Director of the Labor Education Program, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
Facilitated Session: Unit Composition, Ground Rules, Information Demands, Tactics and Strategies (A)
Facilitators:
Alexandra Matish, Associate Vice Provost for Academic and Faculty Affairs and Senior Director, Academic Human Resources, University of Michigan
Melissa Mlynski, Associate Vice Chancellor HR, University of Illinois-Springfield
Facilitated Session: Just Cause, Tenure, Job Security, and Appointment Length (L)
Facilitators:
Rachel Tollett, UniServ Director, Illinois Education Association
Aaron Krall, President, UIC United Faculty
Moderator: Stephanie Fortado, Assistant Teaching Professor and Co-Director of Regina V. Polk Women's Labor Leadership Program
Facilitated Session: Just Cause, Tenure, Job Security, and Appointment Length (A)
Facilitators:
Dominick Fannelli, Director, Labor Relations, University of Michigan
Michelle Jackson, Associate Director of Labor & Employee Relations, University of Illinois-Chicago
Joint Facilitated Session: Post-Pandemic Remote Work and Technology Issues
Facilitators:
Keino Robinson, Director of Labor and Employee Relations, University of Illinois-Chicago
Kate Birdsall, President, Union of Non-Tenure Track Faculty, AFT Local 1855, Michigan State University
Facilitated Session: Compensation and Workload (L)
Facilitators:
Melinda Bunnage, Director of Higher Division, SEIU Local 73
Gretchen McNamara, Ohio AAUP Conference President and Chief Negotiator AAUP-WSU
Facilitated Session: Compensation and Workload (A)
Facilitators:
Jeffrey Frumkin, Associate Vice Provost for Academic Human Resources, Emeritus, University of Michigan
Benjamin Superfine, Assistant Vice Provost for Faculty Relations,
University of Illinois-Chicago
Panel: Community Colleges-Distinct Bargaining Issues and Challenges
Tony Johnston, Cook County Teachers Union Local 1600 President
Andre' L. Poplar, Vice Chancellor for Human Resources and Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion, Oakland Community College
Robert Boonin, Dykema, PLLC
Shannon Altson, Director of Business, Legal & Human Resources, Michigan Education Association
Moderator: Joshua Welker, Dean of Business and Institutional Effectiveness, John Wood Community College
Joint Facilitated Session: Negotiating over Sick Leave, Childcare Leave, Union Leave, and General Wellness Provisions
Charitianne Williams, UIC United Faculty
Julie Dillard Assistant Director of Labor, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
Local Hotel Information for the Event
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Call for Proposals: National Center's 2024 Conference in New York City | |
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The National Center invites proposals for panels for our 51st annual conference that will take place on March 17-19, 2024 in New York City.
The theme of the 51st annual conference will be New Crossroads in Collective Bargaining and Labor Relations in Higher Education and the Professions.
We welcome proposals for balanced panels relevant to higher education, professional employment, unionization, collective bargaining, labor relations, and labor history. A list of suggested panel topics is below.
We also encourage conference proposals from authors of recently published books relevant to collective bargaining, unionization, and other issues in higher education and the professions.
Those interested in proposing a panel should upload an abstract by September 12, 2023 to 2024 Abstract Dropbox that includes a title and description along with a list of invited participants including their title, affiliation, and contact information.
Questions concerning the call for proposals should be emailed to 2024 National Center Annual Conference with a copy to msavares@hunter.cuny.edu.
Below is a list of suggested panel topics:
- Collective Bargaining about Artificial Intelligence
- The Impact of Artificial Intelligence on Academic Research and Pedagogy
- Remote Work and Back-to-Office Mandates Following the Pandemic
- Electronic Surveillance on Campus: Bargaining Issues and Transparency
- Labor-Management Committees for Evaluating New Technologies on Campus
- Labor and Institutional Responses to the Growing Attacks on Higher Education
- Strategies, Tactics, and Approaches to Enrollment and Completion Rates
- Community College Job Training Partnerships with Industry
- Trustee Perspectives on Collective Negotiations
- Privatization of Public Services in Higher Education
- Mergers, Acquisitions, and Closures of Colleges: Bargaining and Other Issues
- Affirmative Action and DEI Initiatives after the Supreme Court Decisions in the Harvard University and University of North Carolina Cases
- Collective Bargaining over Harassment and Title IX Issues
- The Illinois Workers’ Rights Constitutional Amendment and Recent Changes to State Collective Bargaining Laws: An Update and Analysis
- Survey of Higher Ed Pandemic-Related Agreements
- Workshop on Stress Reduction Strategies and Exercises
- Bargaining Unit Composition: Separate, Combined, or Wall-to-Wall?
- Collective Negotiations for Department Chairs and Administrative Personnel
- Bargaining Issues for Classified, Clerical, and Other Campus Staff
- Best Practices in Negotiating over Tuition Waivers and Affordable Housing
- Negotiating over Accommodations for Disabled Faculty, Staff, and Students
- Bargaining, Arbitrating, and Litigating over Academic Freedom
- The History of Contingent Faculty Unionization in Higher Education
- Graduate Student Representation Election Outcomes, 2020-2023
- Analyses of the Post-Pandemic Strike Wave in Higher Education:
- Causes, Size, Scope, and Locations
- Impact on Budgeting and Grant Funding
- Relationship between Duration and Outcome
- The Rise of Undergraduate Student Employee Unionization
- Growth and Implications of DIY Unions in Higher Education
- Student Scholarship Athletes: Update on Employee Status and Its Implications
- The History and Data Concerning Cultural and Museum Worker Unionization
- Unionization, Collective Bargaining, and Strikes Among Doctors and Nurses
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Kutztown University: Professor Granted Summary Judgement on ADA Reasonable Accommodation Claim Concerning Remote Teaching | |
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Stephen Oross v. Kutztown University, United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, Civil Case No. 21-5032
On July 25, 2023, United States District Court Judge Jeffrey L. Schmehl issued a decision and order granting summary judgement to Stephen Oross, a tenured Associate Professor of Psychology at Kutztown University, finding that the university violated the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) when it refused to grant Oross a requested accommodation to teach remotely following his heart transplant and by the university adopting what the court described as an "inflexible policy that would not permit remote teaching to any high-risk faculty member for the Fall 2021 Semester no matter what the individual’s circumstances were."
In reaching the decision, the court rejected the university's argument that in-person teaching and office hours were an essential function of a faculty position at Kurztown. In addition, the court found that the university had engaged in intentional discrimination in violation of the ADA based on Oross's disability and had retaliated against him in violation of the federal Rehabilitation Act of 1973.
Note: By their very nature, determinations under the ADA are fact specific and it is questionable whether that this lower court decision will be considered binding or even persuasive precedent in cases with different sets of facts. Moreover, it is likely that the decision will be appealed to the federal Third Circuit Court of Appeals.
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Frederick County Comm. Coll.: AFT Files to Represent Full-Time Faculty | |
Frederick County Community College, SHELRB Case No. EL 2024-02
On August 21, 2023, AFT filed a petition with the Maryland State Higher Education Labor Relations Board seeking to represent a unit of 90 full-time faculty employed by Frederick County Community College, which is located in Frederick, Maryland. The proposed unit excludes all other college employees.
This is the second representation petition filed under the new Maryland law granting community college faculty the right to unionize. As we reported in our May newsletter, SEIU 500 filed a petition on May 5, 2023 seeking to represent a part-time faculty bargaining unit at Anne Arundel Community College.
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Howard County Comm. Coll.: AFT Files to Represent Full-Time Faculty | |
Howard County Community College, SHELRB Case No. EL 2024-03
On August 21, 2023, AFT filed another petition with the Maryland State Higher Education Labor Relations Board seeking to represent a unit of 170 full-time faculty employed by Howard County Community College, which is located in Columbia, Maryland. The proposed unit excludes all other college employees.
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Washington College: AAUP Files to Represent TTT Faculty | |
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Washington College, NLRB Case No. 05-RC-322397
On July 24, 2023, AAUP filed a new petition seeking to represent a unit of 80 tenured and tenure track faculty at Washington College in Chestertown, Maryland. A similar prior AAUP petition, NLRB Case No. 05-RC-318094, was withdrawn on May 15.
The new petition proposes the following bargaining unit:
Included: All tenure track and tenured professors at the rank of Professor, Associate Professor, and Assistant Professor, and Librarians employed by Washington College.
Excluded: All other employees, office clerical employees, managerial employees, guards, and supervisors as defined in the Act.
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Miami University: AAUP-AFT Certified to Represent a FT Librarian Unit | |
Miami University, OSERB Case No. 2023-REP-03-9024
On July 6, 2023, AAUP-AFT was certified to represent a bargaining unit of full-time librarians at Miami University following a tally of ballots from a mail-ballot election, which demonstrated that the librarians had voted 28-0 in favor unionization.
The following is the new librarian bargaining unit at Miami University:
Included: All full-time Librarians at all campuses of Miami University.
Excluded: All faculty, all managerial employees, including the President, Vice Presidents, Provost, Associate and Assistant Provosts, Deans, Associate and Assistant Deans, and Department Chairs, all supervisory employees, and all other employees of Miami University.
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Michigan School of Psychology: AFT Certified to Represent Faculty Unit | |
Michigan School of Psychology, NLRB Case No. 07-RC-315926
On July 17, 2023, the MSP Alliance of Teachers, AFT Local 6618, was certified to represent a bargaining unit of 25 full-time, regular part-time and adjunct faculty at the Michigan School of Psychology. The certification followed a July 10, 2023 tally of ballots by the National Labor Relations Board which demonstrated that in a bargaining unit of 25 faculty members, the vote was 11-10 in favor of representation by MSP Alliance of Teachers, AFT Local 6618.
The following is the new bargaining unit at Michigan School of Psychology:
Included: All full time and regular part-time Core Faculty and Adjunct Faculty employed by the Employer at or out of its facility located at 26811 Orchard Lake Road, Farmington Hills, Michigan.
Excluded: Adjunct Faculty Clinical Supervisor, Clinic Director, Director of Clinic Training, PsyD Program Director, MA Program Director, and all guards and supervisors as defined by the Act.
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Mt. San Jacinto Community College: Retaliation Finding Sustained | |
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Mt. San Jacinto Community College District, CPERB Case No. LA-CE-6583-E
On June 28, 2023, the California Public Employment Relations Board (CPERB) issued a decision denying exceptions by the Mt. San Jacinto Community College District to an Administrative Law Judge decision finding that the college engaged in unlawful retaliation against two chemistry department chairs who are in the collective bargaining unit represented by the Mt. San Jacinto College Faculty Association.
CPERB found that the department chairs had engaged in protected activities under California's Educational Employment Relations Act by raising safety issues concerning conditions in the chemistry labs and objecting, during an Academic Senate meeting, to their removals as department chairs for making the safety complaints. Furthermore, the agency found that the college retaliated against them by summarily removing them as department chairs, refusing to recognize them as department chairs following their reelection, reassigning them to reach lower-level courses, and issuing them counseling memoranda.
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National Institutes for Health: UAW Files to Represent Researchers | |
National Institutes for Health, FLRA Case No. WA-RP-23-0038
On June 1, 2023, NIH Fellows United/UAW filed a petition with the Federal Labor Relations Authority seeking to represent a bargaining unit of 4,876 researchers, including post-doctoral scholars, employed by the National Institutes for Health (NIH).
The following is the unit proposed in the representation petition:
Included: All Trainees, Scholars, Fellows, Research Fellows, and Clinical Fellows employed by the employer nationwide, including but not limited to: postbaccalaureate Cancer Research Training Award ("CRTA") and Intramural Research Training Award ("IRTA") Fellows; predoctoral CRTA, IRTA, and Visiting Fellows; Research Fellows; Senior Research Fellows; Clinical Fellows; Communications Fellows; Data Science Fellows; Genetic Counseling Training Program Fellows; Medical Research Scholars; National Biosafety and Biocontainment Fellows; Otolaryngology Surgery Fellows; Postbaccalaureate Research Education Program (PREP) Scholars, and Technology Transfer Fellows.
Excluded: All summer fellows, scholars, students, and interns who are currently enrolled in higher school or undergraduate programs, externally funded fellows and scholars, staff scientists, lab managers, Principal Investigators, supervisors of employees, management officials, confidential employees, non-professional employees, and employees described in 5 U.S.C. 7112(b)(3), (4), (6), and (7), nationwide.
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Univ. of Alaska: Undergraduates Excluded from Graduate Assistant Unit | |
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University of Alaska, ALRA Case No. 23-1784-RC
On June 28, 2023, the Alaska Labor Relations Agency (ALRA) issued a decision and order rejecting the inclusion of undergraduate student workers in the bargaining unit sought in a petition filed by the Alaska Graduate Workers Association/UAW (AGWA/UAW).
The AGWA/UAW petition proposed the following unit graduate assistants working at all University of Alaska work locations:
Included: All employees of the University of Alaska who are enrolled in graduate academic programs, including Fellows.
Excluded: Any individuals in the faculty bargaining unit (United Academics) or in the adjunct faculty unit (United Academic Adjuncts); all undergraduate student employees; supervisors; confidential employees, all other employees of the University.
In its decision and order, ALRA concluded that the evidence demonstrated that undergraduate student workers lacked a community of interest with graduate student employees and therefore should be excluded from the unit proposed by AGWA/UA. ALRA reasoned that the terms and conditions of undergraduate student workers are sufficiently different from those of graduate student employees with respect to wages, time reporting, health insurance, tuition waivers, supervisory structure, and work interactions, that they should be excluded from the unit. Moreover, the agency found that graduate student employees share a distinct community of interest and have expressed a desire to be represented in a separate unit.
Lastly, ALRA ordered a hearing to determine whether fellows and engagement assistants have a community of interest with the graduate student employees and therefore should be included in the bargaining unit.
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Northeastern University: Graduate Assistant Election Scheduled | |
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Northeastern University, NLRB Case No. 01-RC-311566
On August 18, 2023, a Notice of Election was issued by NLRB Regional Director Laura Sacks scheduling an in-person representation election to take place among graduate assistants at Northeastern University on September 19-21, 2023 to determine a whether a majority want to be represented by Graduate Employees of Northeastern University- UAW (GENU-UAW).
The notice followed a July 14, 2023 Regional Director Decision and Direction of Election rejecting objections by Northeastern University to the proposed graduate student employee unit sought by GENU-UAW. In its petition, GENU-UAW seeks a bargaining unit of approximately 2000 graduate assistants who teach or research at the university's Boston, Nahant, and Burlington campuses.
In her decision, the Regional Director rejected Northeastern University's arguments that graduate students receiving stipends are not employees under the National Labor Relations Act, citing the decision in Columbia University, 364 NLRB No. 90 (2016), and she also rejected the claim that the Columbia University decision was distinguishable. Lastly, she denied the university’s claims that a community of interest did not exist between student workers paid by stipend and those paid by the hour and between student workers on the university’s three campuses.
The following is a description of the at-issue bargaining unit at Northeastern University:
Included: All graduate students enrolled at Northeastern University who provide instructional services or research services at the Boston, Nahant, and Burlington campuses.
Excluded: All undergraduate students employed by the employer, fellows, managers, guards, and supervisors as defined in the Act, and all other employees.
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Stanford University: UE Certified to Represent GA Bargaining Unit | |
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Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University,
NLRB Case No. 32-RC-316964
On July 14, 2023, the National Labor Relations Board certified United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America (UE) as the exclusive representative of a bargaining unit of 3410 graduate assistants at Stanford University. The certification resulted from a tally of ballots on July 6, 2023 that demonstrated the graduate assistants had voted 1639-108 in favor of UE representation.
The following is a description of the new bargaining unit at Stanford University:
Included: All Ph.D., Masters (excluding MBA) and J.D. students (as well as students pursuing degree combinations that include Ph.D., Masters (excluding MBA), and J.D.) enrolled at Stanford University located at 450 Jane Stanford Way, Stanford, CA 94305 who provide instructional and/or research services for the University in classifications including Teaching Assistant, Research Assistant, and Course Assistant, and students on fellowship who provide instructional services.
Excluded: All other exempt employees (including faculty or staff enrolled using University tuition benefit); students who are not providing research or instructional services for any class listed in Stanford Explore Courses, including all other students on fellowship; all other students (including but not limited to the following students: MBA, DMA, JSD, MD, and undergraduate students (including undergraduates who are conterminously enrolled in graduate program), students not seeking Stanford degrees, and visiting students) office clericals; managers; guards and supervisors as defined in the Act.
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Duke University: Graduate Assistants Vote for SEIU Representation | |
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Duke University, NLRB Case No.10-RC-313298
On August 23, 2023, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) tallied the ballots in an election concerning a representation petition filed by SEIU to represent a unit of graduate assistants at Duke University. According to media reports, Duke graduate assistants voted 1000-131 in favor of unionization, an overwhelming electoral outcome similar to outcomes at other institutions since the end of the pandemic.
Notably, only six years ago in 2017, Duke graduate assistants voted 398–691 against SEIU representation. Additional comparative data concerning outcomes in graduate assistant representation elections prior to the pandemic is available in a 2021 book chapter by National Center researchers: Graduate Student Employee Unionization in the Second Gilded Age.
The recent election at Duke University was conducted following the NLRB Regional Director's decision that rejected the university's efforts to reverse or distinguish the NLRB's decision in Columbia University, 364 NLRB No. 90 (2016). A statement from Duke University Provost Alec Gallimore suggests that the university will not seek a judicial determination reversing NLRB precedent that graduate assistants and other student workers are employees for purposes of collective bargaining under the National Labor Relations Act.
The following is the graduate assistant collective bargaining unit at Duke University:
Included: All PhD students in Duke University departments housed at its campuses in Durham and Beaufort, North Carolina, who are working toward PhD degrees offered by the Duke Graduate School and who are employed by Duke University to provide instructional services in undergraduate or graduate-level courses or labs (including, but not limited to, Teaching Assistants, Graduate Assistants, Instructors, and Graders) or to provide research services (including but not limited to Research Assistants and Graduate Assistants).
Excluded: All students at Duke Kunshan University and Duke-NUS Medical School, all
students not working towards PhD degrees offered by the Duke Graduate School and all
other employees, guards and supervisors as defined in the Act.
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University of Maine: Card Check Agreement with UAW for GA Unit | |
According to a media report earlier this month, the UAW and the University of Maine have entered into a card check agreement with the UAW concerning an ongoing unionization campaign by university graduate assistants. Under the agreement, a neutral third party will determine whether the UAW has the support from a majority of the appropriate 1,000 graduate assistants working for the university. Following that finding, the university has agreed to voluntary recognized the UAW. A similar negotiated process was utilized earlier this year when graduate assistants unionized at Syracuse University. | |
Emory University: SEIU Affiliate Files to Represent GA Unit | |
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Emory University, NLRB Case No: 10-RC-324546
On August 25, 2023, Union Workers United-SEIU filed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board seeking to represent a union of 1722 graduate assistants at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia.
The following is the description of the proposed unit in the representation petition:
Included: All PhD students enrolled at Emory University in the Laney Graduate School at its Atlanta, Georgia campus who provide instructional services or research services, including, but not limited to, teaching assistants, research assistants, teaching associates, instructors of record, and graders.
Excluded: All students not working towards PhD degrees offered through the Laney Graduate School and all other employees, guards, and supervisors as defined in the Act.
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The New School: UAW Files to Expand Student Worker Bargaining Unit | |
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The New School, NLRB Case No. 02-RC-323275
On August 7, 2023, the UAW filed a petition with the NLRB with the goal of adding approximately 900 additional student workers to its existing student collective bargaining unit at the New School in New York.
The following is a description of the unit of employees described in the UAW's representation petition:
Included: All full-time and regular part-time student employees including but not limited to Student Assistants, Student Workers, Student Technicians, Student Ambassadors, Student Assistant Specialists, Senior Student Assistant Specialists, Student Advisors, Resident Advisors, Community Assistants, Orientation Captains, and Orientation Leaders, as residual to the existing student employee unit represented by Petitioner as certified in 02-RC-143009.
Excluded: Guards, confidential employees, supervisors and managerial employees.
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University of Pennsylvania: Election Ordered for Resident Advisor Unit | |
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University of Pennsylvania, NLRB Case No. 04-RC-313979
On August 21, 2023, the NLRB Region 4 Acting Regional Director Emily DeSa issued a Decision and Direction of Election rejecting arguments raised by the University of Pennsylvania in opposition to a petition filed by the Office and Professional Employees International Union Local 153 (OPEIU Local 153) seeking to represent a unit of 220 Resident Advisors (RAs) and Graduate Resident Advisors (GRAs) employed by the University of Pennsylvania. The Acting Regional concluded that the student workers were entitled to union representation and collective bargaining under the NLRB's decision in Columbia University, 364 NLRB No. 90 (2016) and that they were not temporary workers under the National Labor Relations Act.
An in-person election has been ordered to take place on September 27, 2023 between 12:00 p.m. and 9:00 p,m. and September 28, 2023 between 12:00 p.m. and 9:00 p.m.at a campus location to be determined after consultation with the parties.
The following is a description of the proposed unit of student workers at the University of Pennsylvania:
Included: All Resident Advisors (RAs) and Graduate Resident Advisors (GRAs) employed by the Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania (the Employer, Penn, or the
University).
Excluded: all other staff, confidential employees, managers, guards, and supervisors
as defined by the Act.
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George Washington Univ.: SEIU Files to Represent Museum Workers | |
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George Washington University (GW Museum and Textile Museum),
NLRB Case Number: 05-RC-323910
On August 16, 2023, SEIU Local 500 filed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board seeking to represent a unit of 14 museum workers at George Washington University.
The following is the description of the proposed bargaining unit in SEIU Local 500's representation petition:
Included: All full-time and regular part-time professional and non-professional Employees at the GW Museum and Textile Museum with the following job classifications or in those job classifications as re-titled by the Employer: Associate Conservator; Programs Associate (Museum Collections); Curatorial Assistant; Senior Library Associate; Exhibition Coordinator; Senior Exhibition Coordinator; Curator; Office Assistant (Museum Visitor Experience); Exhibition Production Manager; Visitor Experience Specialist; Photographer (Museum Collections); Studio Technician; and Collections Specialist.
Excluded: All other Employees, confidential Employees, managers, guards, and supervisors as defined by the National.
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Video Recordings from the 50th Anniversary Conference | |
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The National Center's 50th anniversary conference on March 26-28, 2023 was a major success.
Click here for the full conference program. And click here for the webpage dedicated to the 50th Anniversary conference, which was developed with the assistance of Iris Finkel, Hunter College Web and Digital Initiatives Librarian.
Below are links to video recordings of certain presentations at the National Center's 50th Anniversary Conference.
We thank Roosevelt House Production Coordinator Daniel T. Culkin and Peter Jackson, Hunter College's Chief Digital Media CLT & Production Coordinator and the students of the Hunter College Film & Media Department for recording and producing the videos.
Welcoming Remarks by National Center Executive Director William A. Herbert, Anne Ollen, Managing Director, TIAA Institute, Gary Rhoades, University of Arizona and Co-Editor-in-Chief, Journal of Collective Bargaining in the Academy, and Karen Stubaus, Rutgers University and Associate Editor, Journal of Collective Bargaining in the Academy.
Keynote Presentation by Michael Sandel, Political Philosopher and Harvard University Professor with Introductory remarks by Hunter College President, Jennifer J. Raab.
Panel: Title IX: Its Past, Its Present, and Its Future with Frazier Benya, Senior Program Officer, National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, Lance Houston, Title IX Coordinator and Director of Equity and Compliance, Adelphi University, Risa Lieberwitz, Professor of Labor and Employment Law in the Cornell University School of Industrial and Labor Relations and General Counsel of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP), Tamiko Strickman, Special Advisor to the President and Executive Director of the Office of Equity, Civil Rights, and Title IX, University of Michigan, and Moderators: Karen R. Stubaus, Ph.D., Vice President for Academic Affairs, Rutgers University and Alexandra Matish, J.D., Associate Vice Provost for Academic and Faculty Affairs and Senior Director, Academic Human Resources, University of Michigan. This panel was co-organized by the National Academies' Action Collaborative on Preventing Sexual Harassment in Higher Education.
Panel: Treasuring the Past and the Spirit of Change: Perspectives from Experienced Arbitrators with Rosemary A. Townley, Arbitrator and Mediator, Howard C. Edelman, Arbitrator and Mediator, Jacquelin F. Drucker, Arbitrator and Mediator, and Homer LaRue, Arbitrator, Mediator, and Professor, Howard University Law School, Moderator. This panel was co-sponsored by the National Academy of Arbitrators.
Panel: Higher Education Unionization: Perspectives from Labor Relations Agencies with John Wirenius, Chairperson, New York State Public Employment Relations Board, Marjorie Wittner, Chairperson, Massachusetts Commonwealth Employment Relations Board, Mary Beth Hennessy-Shotter, Director of Conciliation and Arbitration, NJ Public Employment Relations Commission, and Michael P. Sellars, Executive Director, Washington State Public Employment Relations Commission, Moderator. This panel was co-sponsored by theAssociation of Labor Relations Agencies.
Panel: Annual Legal Update with Amy L. Rosenberger, Willig, Williams & Davidson, Monica C. Barrett, Bond, Schoeneck & King PLLC, Henry Morris, Jr., Partner, ArentFox Schiff LLP, Aaron Nisenson, Senior Legal Counsel, AAUP, and Brian Selchick
Cullen and Dykman LLP, Moderator.
Panel: Yesterday and Today: Experienced Faculty Leaders in Higher Education with Jamie Dangler, former Vice President for Academics, United University Professions, Art Hochner, Associate Professor Emeritus, Management, Temple University & former President, Temple Assn. of University Professionals, AFT 4531, Charles Toombs, President, California Faculty Association, Kenneth Mash, President, APSCUF, and Penny Lewis, Secretary, Professional Staff Congress/CUNY, AFT Local #2334, Moderator.
Panel: Exploring the Retirement Income Equity Gap with Brent Davis, Economist, TIAA Institute, John Dorsa, Chief Pension Officer, Office of the New York City Comptroller, Valerie Martin Conley, Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs, Idaho State University, and Anne Ollen, Managing Director, TIAA Institute, Panelist and Moderator.
Panel: College Athletes, NCAA and the NLRA: An Update with Gabriel Feldman, Sher Garner Professor of Sports Law, Tulane Law School, Joshua Nadreau, Fisher Phillips LLP, Mark Gaston Pearce, Executive Director, Workers’ Rights Institute, Georgetown University Law School, and former National Labor Relations Board Chairman, and Jeffrey Hirsch, Geneva Yeargan Rand Distinguished Professor of Law, University of North Carolina School of Law, Panelist and Moderator.
Panel: Labor Issues Facing Independent Musicians with Marc Ribot, Guitarist and Composer, Phillip Golub, Pianist and Composer, Amir Elsaffar, Trumpeter and Composer, Sulynn Hago, Guitarist and Composer, and Larry Blumenfeld, Moderator. This panel was co-sponsored by the Music Workers Alliance.
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The National Center's Journal of Collective Bargaining in the Academy has published. Volume 14. The volume title is "Learning from the Past to Enhance our Future."
The Journal's Editors-in-Chief are Gary Rhoades, University of Arizona, Karen Stubaus, Rutgers University, and Jeffrey Cross, Eastern Illinois University (Emeritus).
Introduction:
Volume 14 of the Journal of Collective Bargaining in the Academy (JCBA) is partly a selection of new articles, practitioner perspectives, and op-eds, which we briefly preview below. It is also partly a special issue celebration of the 50th anniversary of Hunter College’s National Center for the Study of Collective Bargaining in Higher Education and the Professions (National Center), featuring a selection of thirteen papers from the annual conference proceedings over the years. Our volume’s title, “Learning From the Past to Enhance Our Future,” echoes this year’s annual conference theme, “Looking Back, Looking Forward.”
In this issue, we happily welcome a new co-editor of JCBA, Dr. Karen Stubaus, Vice President for Academic Affairs at Rutgers University, to join Dr. Jeff Cross (now “retired,” but formerly Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs at Eastern Illinois University and Ferris State University) and Dr. Gary Rhoades Professor of Higher Education, University of Arizona. The 50 years of the National Center’s existence corresponds roughly to the academic lives of the co-editors, as students and employees. Indeed, Karen and Gary have each spent almost their entire professional lives at their respective institutions, having started in 1986. Jeff began his service and work in higher education a decade earlier. Collectively, that affords us a unique vantage point from which to look back on and learn from the selected papers from 50 years of the annual conference’s proceedings.
Building on the closing paragraphs of National Center Director Bill Herbert’s article in this volume, we believe that collective bargaining is “a form of workplace democracy,” and that it is “an important means for advancing higher education and the working conditions at colleges and universities as well as other industries.” (National Center Mission Statement)
As Herbert notes, that marks quite a shift from the National Center’s original, neutral mission to “take no position for or against collective bargaining,” What is continuous, though, is a commitment to the National Center bringing to bear “information and understanding” regarding collective bargaining. Thus, we also believe, as the current National Center Mission Statement indicates, that, "[T]he study of collective bargaining is essential for a knowledge-based dialogue concerning labor-management and educational issues, and is critically important for reasoned societal debate that will lead to social progress."
That is at the heart of our work with JCBA. And that is what we hope this special issue contributes to and provides.
Volume 14 includes two articles, two new interview articles, an op-ed, and a practitioner perspective. Together, they reflect and address longstanding issues in collective bargaining as well as provoke thought and discussion on the ongoing, pressing issues of today and the foreseeable future. Richard Boris provides an op-ed from his perspective as immediate-past Executive Director of the National Center. He repeats and expands upon several critical observations and suggestions as possible guides for the National Center’s future. From his perspective as Senior Labor Advisor, American Association of University Professors, Mike Mauer traces the AAUP’s history of advocacy and protection of academic freedom through collective bargaining. Bill Herbert has written a history of the National Center tracing events leading to its creation at the City University of New York (CUNY), and then summarizing the National Center’s evolving leadership, programming, research, and publications. Giovanna Follo’s practitioner perspective is an autoethnography describing personal dilemma that led her, a pro-union advocate, to cross the picket line.
We also introduce a new format with this issue—interviews with practitioners (and authors), which apropos of the volume’s theme, provide rich historical perspective to inform the future path of collective bargaining in the academy. The first, “Centering anti-racism and social justice, toward a more perfect union,” is a conversation with Cecil E. Canton (former Associate Vice President) and Charles Toombs (current President) of the California Faculty Association, based on work each has published about about the historical progression and future work of CFA in moving towards a more social justice- centered union. The second, “Power despite precarity,” is a conversation with longtime contingent faculty labor activists and scholars, Joe Berry and Helena Worthen, about their recent book, which looks at the history of the contingent faculty labor movement, provides an in-depth exploration of the case and contract of the California Faculty Association in regard to contingent faculty, and identifies strategies for the future.
Selections from 50 years of annual conference proceedings. Working with the National Center’s Director, Bill Herbert, the co-editors selected papers from each of the decades of the conference proceedings, for a baker’s dozen of papers. Inevitably, such a small selection of (thirteen) papers from such a long span of time means that many valuable and interesting papers have been left out. As we go through a brief discussion of the papers we’ve selected and why, we will also refer the reader to some examples of other such papers that we feel are particularly noteworthy, and/or that are authored by folks who have made important academic contributions in other professional conferences and academic journals as well. Further, we note and encourage you to search on the JCBA website, which has a tab to connect to the most downloaded papers.
A half century spans a long period of time encompassing many developments in higher education collective bargaining and society. In making our thirteen selections, we have sought to include conference papers that were timely, as markers of key historical developments, as well as timeless, pointing to enduring issues in collective bargaining. As we elaborate a bit below, it is striking how many issues have re-emerged or been in play in an ongoing way throughout the decades. At the same time, even so, as with the successive, iterative negotiation of collective bargaining agreements, which involves debate, deliberation, and negotiation around similar issues, each negotiation builds on the foundation of previous ones. History, then, informs, is there to be learned from, and is always carried in some manner into the present, even as it is newly negotiated for the future.
In collective bargaining in higher education, as in society, what may once have seemed settled law and/or practice can become surprisingly unsettled decades later. Here we are, fifty years after Roe v Wade, more than ever (re)litigating, negotiating and navigating issues of gender and women’s reproductive, medical, and travel rights in ways that directly implicate universities. So, too, over six decades after a civil rights movement and landmark Supreme Court decisions and legislation, we continue to (re)negotiate and navigate the rights of minoritized and marginalized people in ways that play out in and shape higher education. Just as we continue to (re)legislate, litigate, and negotiate the right to vote, so we see similar ongoing struggles in regard to the collective bargaining rights of different categories of (academic) employees in different sectors of higher education. For the National Center’s entire history, and each decade of the editors’ collective experience, higher education has been in the midst of and subject to an austerity agenda. The polarized politics of the 1960s and 1970s are present again in current attacks and legislation regarding, assaulting, and banning Critical Race Theory, LGBTQ+ rights, and more, violating the academic freedom, human rights, and dignity of members and institutions in the higher education world, more than five decades after Stonewall. As the saying goes, plus ça change, plus c’est la meme chose.
As with collective bargaining negotiations, issues keep cycling back, as we see in selected papers of the past 50 years of conference proceedings. Yet it is not negotiated on the same territory by the same players with the same expectations as Nicholas DiGiovanni’s 2015 conference paper nicely articulates, and history and the future are not stories of linear, relentless, progress. Yet, if there is this ongoing back and forth, of two steps forward and one or more step(s) back, we hope and work towards that being in the context, as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., said, of a larger trajectory of and arc of the moral universe that bends towards justice. So, we see it is in higher education collective bargaining, with new groups of employees at the table and with a more expansive range of issues being negotiated to intersect workplace and social justice.
The conference papers we have selected are bookended by Sidney Hook’s 1973 essay on “The academic mission and collective bargaining,” and Thomas Auxter’s 2016 retrospective analysis, “Collective bargaining and labor representation for higher education in a ‘right to work’ environment.” The matters they address look to learn from the past and enhance the future of higher education, as characterizes our special issue.
As an NYU Emeritus Professor of Philosophy, Hook reflects on competing philosophers and perspectives on how to organize academic work(ers), contrasting the views of John Dewey and Arthur Lovejoy, the first President and first General Secretary of the American Association of University Professors. Whereas Dewey was also a founding member and early officer of the American Federation of Teachers (and held membership card number 1), and strongly supported unions, Lovejoy was a proponent of professional associations as the preferred organizing model, opposing unions, and juxtaposing the idea of a job to a calling. The differing views, and the contrasting perspectives they offer on being a “professional” continue to play out in different forms in higher education. Indeed, that difference has been of ongoing relevance in the AAUP. And in a full circle moment, interestingly, this past year, the AFT and AAUP have formed an affiliation arrangement that appears to give the former the lead role in collective bargaining and the latter an ongoing, lead role in academic freedom and policy. Notably, the position that Hook comes to is an important one in looking to the future.
"I conclude from these and related considerations that intelligent choice today is not between acceptance or rejection of the principle of collective bargaining but between the different forms of collective bargaining. … [W]e must ask: under what form of collective bargaining can the academic mission best be preserved and strengthened?"
That is something for us all to consider.
Yet, as Auxter’s 2016 analysis considers, the question of whether and to what extent employees have collective bargaining rights continues to be a vexed and contested matter. In light of the Harris v Quinn and Janus v AFSCME Supreme Court decisions, effectively making all states in some regard “right to work,” Auxter provides a history of how the United Faculty of Florida, first established in 1976, has navigated this environment, and the transformations it has undergone in the process. A central part of the story is its experience and developed capacity to effectively navigate state-level politics with legislatures and governors that had anti-union and anti-faculty agendas. Given how developments in Florida are currently unfolding, that is a particularly relevant historical context with valuable lessons for action.
Joel M. Douglas’ 1981 paper, “The Yeshiva case: One year later,” addresses an earlier, defining Supreme Court decision that has had profound effects on collective bargaining in higher education. If Douglas’ perspective is of one year later, we know now its ongoing ripple effects on the bargaining rights of faculty. That is particularly true in the independent sector of higher education, where Yeshiva has inhibited the growth of tenure-stream faculty units in private colleges and universities. It is true as well of contingent faculty with influence on governance. And the ripple effect has extended into public sector higher education as well. For example, in 2010, following Wisconsin’s attack on public sector employees’ bargaining rights (excepting police and firefighters) a piece of state legislation in Ohio that was signed and then repealed in a referendum, included Yeshiva-like language eliminating full-time faculty’s collective bargaining rights if they had a role in governance.
Going back to the 1973 conference proceedings, we also have selected Margaret Chandler and Connie Chiang’s paper, “Management rights issues in collective bargaining in higher education.” The paper provides a thorough, empirical, and what can serve for us now as a baseline analysis of management rights and faculty rights in ninety-one collective bargaining agreements (seventy of which were in community colleges, reflecting the predominance of this sector in higher education collective bargaining), modeling what has become a more consistent part of the National Center’s work under Bill Herbert’s leadership. Thus, now, we see the National Center not only collecting and cataloging contracts, but also detailing and analyzing developments in collective bargaining, expanding now to include data on strikes.
From almost a quarter century later, we selected Ernst Benjamin’s 1997 paper, “Faculty, unions, and management,” which provides a faculty perspective on faculty and management rights in collective bargaining. In contrast to Chandler and Chiang’s piece, this is not a detailed analysis of collective bargaining agreement language. Rather, it offers a thoughtful take on the subject that focuses on court cases, and particularly on shared governance, which, as Benjamin says, “can and often does coexist successfully with collective bargaining, to the benefit of the academic mission of the institution.” Although it is important to place this issue in the context of the early days of debating whether shared governance in the form of faculty senates and collective bargaining can coexist, it is also a matter of enduring significance in the adjudication of faculty’s collective bargaining rights, particularly in private institutions. We also direct attention in the papers of the 1997 proceedings to the related institutional governance and partisan politics issue, which we see much of today, in the form of “activist” trustees and the role of faculty unions in response to them in governance matters, in papers by a SUNY trustee, Candace deRussy, and by UUP President, William E. Scheuerman.
Two other papers, in 1988 Edward R. Hines’ “State support for higher education: A twenty year contextual analysis,” and in 1994, Christine Maitland’s “Collective bargaining and technology,” address issues of enduring significance. Hines’ paper offers historical perspective from Illinois State’s Grapevine report that tracks the fundamental shift in public higher education in relative declines in state appropriations versus significant increases in tuition and fees. The combined framing of a policy context in terms of an austerity agenda with climbing college costs for students has for half a century been at the center of collective bargaining negotiations.
So, too, as it is for all workers and industries, the introduction of new technologies, in this case, instructional and delivery technologies is an enduring focus of negotiations between labor and management. Maitland’s thorough empirical analysis of collective bargaining agreements nationally speaks to patterns in the workload, compensation, and intellectual property provisions that have been negotiated. The broad pattern is of provisions being more “defensive” in giving some protections to faculty and ensuring compensation and some level of claims on copyright for distance education courses than they are proactive in ensuring faculty voice in decision making around instructional technology issues. Contract language was more common and extensive in community college contracts, but overall was still limited in terms of the number of contracts with provisions and their scope. For a more current perspective, nearly two decades later, in a 2016 conference paper, “Copyleft, copyright, and copy for the public interest,” and in a 2015 JCBA article, “What are we negotiating for: Public interest bargaining,” Gary Rhoades details the more extensive incidence of contract provisions on technology issues, and offers examples of contract provisions that proactively address public interest issues surrounding technology use and training, and distance education intellectual property rights that go beyond the immediate interests of the two parties at the bargaining table.
On another matter of enduring significance, two of the papers we selected focus on contingent faculty employment. One, by Frank Cosco, in 2008, “Vancouver Community College, New models of contingent faculty inclusion,” features what for many in the contingent faculty labor movement, serves as one of the gold standards of collective bargaining agreements. It also is an example of the several papers over the years addressing collective bargaining in Canada. Further, it focuses on the institutional realm of community colleges that ironically, given its predominance in terms of union density, is under-emphasized in the papers.
A second paper, in 2015 by Karen Stubaus, “The professionalization of non-tenure track faculty in the United States: Three case studies,” details the history and current status of non-tenure track faculty, whose numbers have been expanding considerably. Through the vehicle of three cases, Stubaus provides significant insight into the different configurations by which, within and beyond the collective bargaining agreement, non-tenure track faculty have negotiated improved, more professional working conditions that have incorporated them more into the academic life of their institutions and academic units. The cases of Rutgers University, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, and the University of Oregon each provide quite a different take in the configuration of the bargaining units, which speaks to significant differences in institutional history and state law. And yet in each case, similar issues are addressed.
On the issue of adjunct faculty, we also want to call attention historically to the 1982 conference proceedings with one of the first discussions of the increased use of adjunct faculty. Nancy L. Hodes, Deputy Director of the Governor’s Office of Employee Relations in New York provides a frank discussion of the political and economic rationales (“Use Justified”) for the hiring of larger numbers of “part-timers” (the dehumanizing and inaccurate term is in itself a marker of the times), entitled, “The use and abuse of part-timers-I: Casual employees, scabs, or saviors?” The companion, Part II piece is written by Nuala McGann Drescher, President of the United University Professions, who speaks to the legitimacy and quality of these faculty, and the need to strengthen collective bargaining rights and working conditions for them, integrating them into bargaining units. She also importantly draws attention to the “affirmative action” dimension of exploiting these faculty, given the larger proportions of them who are women. At this point, both contributions center a claim or a concern about the erosion of full-time faculty. To give a sense of the changing times, a recent contribution to JCBA (Rhoades, 2021) points to contingent faculty’s centrality to and leadership in the academic labor movement.
One of the papers we selected addresses another employment segment, graduate employees, that, as with contingent faculty, has experienced dramatic increases in the growth of new bargaining units in the 2000s, as detailed in Bill Herbert’s 2016 JCBA article, “The winds of changes shift: An analysis of recent growth in bargaining units and representation efforts in higher education.” The 1999 conference paper, “The Current Status of Graduate Student Unions: An Employer's Perspective,” by Daniel J. Julius provides a turn-of-the-century summary of graduate employee unionization. He offers an extensive review of national patterns and issues in relation to this realm of organizing, from a management perspective as well as of someone who has published on these issues. The timing of this review is noteworthy, as in the next two decades graduate employee unionization proliferated, particularly in the private sector, as the National Center’s Bill Herbert’s 2016 JCBA piece, “The winds of changes shift,” documents. Moreover, the subsequent decades have seen several NLRB rulings and reversals, as well as state-level employment board rulings that have also influenced patterns of graduate student unionization. Further, that realm of organizing and negotiation has seen a significant expansion of the sorts of issues addressed in collective bargaining, centering social justice issues, a point nicely captured in another paper we refer you to, Jon Curtiss’ 2015 history and discussion of important current issues, in bargaining for one of the earliest and most important graduate student unions, the Graduate Employees Organization at the University of Michigan.
On the latter matter, we have selected two papers that address social justice issues. The first is a 1993 paper by Rachel Hendrickson, “Sexual harassment on campus and a union’s dilemma.” It is part of an entire section of papers on discrimination, including several papers on the Americans with Disabilities Act and on pay equity. Hendrickson offers an analysis of national data on collective bargaining agreements, first noting that relatively few address sexual harassment in any great detail, and then providing some examples of contracts that in contrast contain extensive language. As well, she walks through the various questions that surround how to address sexual harassment in relation to the campus policies and procedures that are being developed and applied outside of collective bargaining. Notably, Hendrickson closes by encouraging labor and management “to institute training for all supervisors and faculty and to provide it on an ongoing basis.” That suggestion is all the more relevant today, three decades later. It is also notable that although much attention is directed in the paper to campus-based processes, one of the almost universal demands of graduate and postdoc unions today, after decades of largely unsatisfactory experience of institutions’ handling of such matters, is for access to independent external arbitration in matters of harassment and discrimination.
A decade earlier, the 1984 conference also had a series of papers on sex discrimination. Although it is not as focused on collective bargaining, there are some good contributions, including an overview by Bernice Resnick Sandler addressing the “times that try men’s souls.” There are also contributions on case law, and on comparable worth and grievance claims. A paper that is focused on collective bargaining is Nina Rothchild’s case study of the Minnesota experience in relation to the state’s collective bargaining law and comparable worth legislation.
A second paper we have selected on social justice issues is a 2015 conference paper by Derryn Moten, of Alabama State University, addressing social and labor justice in the context of HBCUs, in “The history of collective bargaining in higher education: The case of HBCUs.” In an historical review of HBCUs that intersects with racial justice and class-based justice through unionization issues, Moten calls our attention to the fact that Howard University was the site of the AFT’s first higher education affiliate, Local 33, in 1918 (though it disbanded in 1921).
In a revealing analysis of anti-labor laws and policy in the Reconstruction years, and in the 20th century with anti-strike and “right to work” laws in Alabama, Moten intersects labor history with the history of Jim Crow and White Supremacy in the South. The lessons for the academic labor movement in intersecting workplace and social justice should be clear. In addition to pointing to those HBCUs in which faculty are unionized (in most cases, with AAUP affiliates), Moten bookends his piece with two historical quotes. The first, from 1920, is about White paternalism and HBCUs, “Neither the prestige nor the income of any Negro college has ever been appreciably augmented by the administration of a white president,” relating the point to desirable working conditions as well. Moten sets up the second quote with a forward-looking call to current Black presidents and faculty of HBCUs in relation to respecting and not fighting the collective bargaining efforts of employees: “[G]iven the racial history of HBCUs, it might seem ironic that the fight has moved from a struggle between Black folk and White folk over equitable treatment to a struggle where Black folk fight with Black folk over equitable treatment.” The last line of Moten’s paper is a Frederick Douglas quote, “Power concedes nothing without a demand.” Fast forward 100 years, after Moten’s article, and the non-tenure track faculty at Howard University have done precisely that, successfully unionized, affiliated with SEIU Local 500, and signed collective bargaining agreements in 2022.
Finally, we have selected Nicholas DiGiovanni’s 2015 paper, “This much I know is true: The five intangible influences on collective bargaining.” It is among the most downloaded items from the website. And in many ways, it encapsulates the gestalt of academic collective bargaining. Based on nearly four decades of experience, DiGiovanni speaks to the intricacies and subtleties of the bargaining process, each round and cycle of which is somewhat unpredictable. Focusing on the process and performance of negotiating at the table, he identifies five factors that are part of the contingency of how the bargaining will play out—history, expectations, the nature and character of the players, timing, and catharsis. It is a profoundly practical reminder that for all the formal, legal dimensions of the process, collective bargaining is a human process, in which cultural and affective influences play out.
Finally, as a preface to the Baker’s Dozen of exemplary proceedings papers republished in this Volume, Daniel J. Julius has provided a contemporary commentary and a perspective on some academic collective bargaining “small world” observations spanning 50 years of National Center conferences.
We sincerely hope that you enjoy Volume 14, honoring the National Center’s 50th anniversary. We hope as well that this issue (as do the journal, the annual conference, and the Center) serves the goal of enhancing our collective future by sharing and circulating the collective experience, expertise, empirical analysis, insight, and wisdom of our contributors and community. For that is at the heart of the National Center’s mission and work.
Eds.
Op-Ed:
A New Foundation, Revisited by Richard J. Boris
Articles:
Protecting Academic Freedom Through Collective Bargaining: An AAUP Perspective by Michael Mauer
In the Beginning, Long Time Ago: A Brief History of the National Center’s Origin and Evolution by William A. Herbert
Power Despite Precarity: A Conversation with the Authors, Joe Berry and Helena Worthen by Gary Rhoades
Centering Anti-Racism and Social Justice, Toward A More Perfect Union: A Conversation with the Authors, Cecil E. Canton and Charles Toombs
by Gary Rhoades
Practitioner Perspective:
Factors that Led to Crossing the Picket-Line: An Autoethnography of a Faculty Striker by Giovanna Follo
Proceedings Materials:
50th Anniversary: Proceedings of the National Center for the Study of Collective Bargaining in Higher Education and the Professions by Daniel J. Julius
The Academic Mission and Collective Bargaining by Sidney Hook
Management Rights Issues in Collective Bargaining in Higher Education by
Margaret K. Chandler and Connie Chiang
The Yeshiva Case: One Year Later by Joel M. Douglas
State Support of Higher Education: A 20-Year Contextual Analysis Using Two-Year Percentage Gains In State Tax Appropriations by Edward R. Hines
Sexual Harassment on Campus and a Union's Dilemma by Rachel Hendrickson
Collective Bargaining and Technology by Christine Maitland
Faculty and Management Rights In Higher Education Collective Bargaining: A Faculty Perspective by Ernst Benjamin
The Current Status of Graduate Student Unions: An Employer's Perspective
by Daniel J. Julius
New Models of Contingent Faculty Inclusion by Frank Cosco
The Professionalization of Non-Tenure Track Faculty in the United States: Three Case Studies From Public Research Institutions: Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, University of Illinois At Urbana-Champaign, and University of Oregon by Karen Stubaus
This Much I Know is True: The Five Intangible Influences on Collective Bargaining by Nicholas DiGiovanni Jr.
The History Of Collective Bargaining in Higher Education: The Case of HBCUs
by Derryn Moten
Collective Bargaining and Labor Representation for Higher Education in a “Right to Work” Environment by Thomas Auxter
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.
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New Book: Contingent Faculty and the Remaking of Higher Education:
A Labor History, edited by Eric Fure-Slocum and Claire Goldstene
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Job Postings:
Open Staff Positions with the California Faculty Association
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A union of 29,000 tenure-track faculty, coaches, librarians, and counselors, CFA is seeking candidates with a strong knowledge and background in racial and social justice work. Candidates who have relevant experience (formally or informally) and can translate that into the range of job responsibilities listed below are strongly encouraged to apply.
CFA is proud to be a member-run union and believes in employing hard-working and creative staff whose talents complement those of our elected leadership.
CFA is an Affirmative Action Employer. Women, People of Color/Native People, members of the LGBTQIA+ community, and people with disabilities are strongly encouraged to apply.
CFA complies with federal and state disability laws and makes reasonable accommodations for applicants and employees with disabilities. If reasonable accommodation is needed to participate in the job application or interview process, to perform essential job functions, and/or to receive other benefits and privileges of employment, please contact searchcommittee@calfac.org.
Job Postings
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General Manager
The General Manager (GM) manages and directs union activities and staff in accordance with CFA bylaws and policies established by an elected Board of Directors. In addition to working with member leaders and staff to develop goals and strategies to meet desired outcomes, the GM has day-to-day general responsibility for implementing policy and overseeing plans in all program areas, including Representation, Collective Bargaining, Government Relations, Communications, and General Administration. The GM also has oversight responsibility to the CFA Board to ensure the adequacy and soundness of the union’s fiscal budget.
The GM manages a staff of approximately 50 employees (including 9 managers) based throughout California in the CFA Sacramento Headquarters and on the 23 CSU campuses. The GM serves as the liaison between the staff and governance operations of CFA. The GM represents the union, as appropriate, in its relationships with the CSU administration, legislators, affiliates, community alliances and in the public on local, state and national levels. The GM reports to the CFA President.
The ideal candidate will have the following:
- Proven record of accomplishment in collective bargaining and administrative processes;
- Proven skill and experience in strategic thinking, organizational development, campaign development and implementation, and long-term planning;
- Strong and demonstrated commitment to intentionally advancing racial and social justice transformation in CFA, the union movement, the university, and beyond; Ability to work creatively, strategically, and in consultation with union officers, member leadership, and senior staff to develop CFA programs and campaigns, including coordinating, planning, and managing implementation;
- Demonstrated skill, experience and acumen in building and managing staff teams;
- Strong demonstrated skills in motivating and inspiring staff Requirements:
- Extensive management experience in a union, political, nonprofit, grassroots, or higher education association;
- Five-year minimum staff management experience;
- Five-year minimum experience developing and implementing campaigns;
- Familiarity working with union officers and member-based committees;
- Experience bargaining or administering collective bargaining agreements;
- Excellent written and oral communication skills;
- Ability to establish priorities and manage multiple activities with attention to detail and accuracy;
- Bachelor’s degree;
- The GM is required to devote full time to the position and works a non-standard work week including evenings and weekends when required;
- Frequent travel within the state and some limited travel outside the state;
- Valid driver’s license, an automobile for business use, and proof of minimum insurance coverage;
- Ability to lift 25lbs; subject to reasonable accommodation.
Initial interviews will begin August 2023
Salary/Benefits/Location: CFA offers a fully paid benefit package including medical, dental, vision, SEIU defined benefit pension plan and generous paid leave. Salary range for this position is $190,000 – $205,000 commensurate with experience.
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Representation Specialist
Location: Northern or Southern California (remote working from home with occasional travel)
This position primarily handles grievances and discipline appeals at the Level II and arbitration stages. Given the nature of our work as a union and the responsibilities of this position in particular, we are looking for a candidate with the capacity to communicate across many lines of difference, with the ability to handle conflict and challenges with steadiness, and the capacity to craft innovative outcomes that honor various individual needs.
CFA takes an organizing approach to representation. As a result, the Representation Specialist plays a key role in identifying and developing local and statewide representation issues and strategies with an understanding of how these issues connect to chapter and leadership development. This work is performed in collaboration with the Representation Team and CFA organizers assigned to CSU campuses.
The ideal Representation Specialist will have experience as an advocate and be skilled in identifying contract violations, filing grievances, representing employees facing discipline, representing members in arbitrations, and writing post-hearing briefs. Experience handling unfair labor practices is also useful in this position. Excellent research and writing skills are required.
The ideal candidate will also possess the ability to work and thrive in a team environment. These abilities include communicating effectively with others, and recognizing, understanding and respecting different viewpoints.
Applicant must be a self-motivated, deadline-oriented individual with a willingness and desire to learn new skills and work with people in academia and in labor unions.
Essential Job Duties
- Represent members and the union in contractual grievances and discipline matters at the Level II and arbitration stages.
- Possess excellent verbal and written communication skills.
- Write and file post-hearing arbitration briefs.
- Draft and agree to settlement agreements with the CSU.
- Capacity to work independently, handle multiple projects simultaneously, and meet strict deadlines.
- Demonstrated ability to infuse anti-racism and social justice work into the everyday work of CFA.
- Work collaboratively and strategically with CFA officers, members, interns, and staff on membership and bargaining campaigns as well as political campaigns that require Get Out The Vote (GOTV) duties at election time.
- Work remotely primarily (home office with union-provided computer, printer, phone, etc.) with occasional travel and weekend work.
The ideal candidate will have the following degrees and experience:
- Juris Doctor degree is preferred, but applicants with bachelor’s degrees and/or other graduate studies and degrees shall be considered if other experience equips applicant to perform the assigned work.
- Previous union experience and/or experience with worker representation and advocacy.
Other Requirements:
- Possess valid driver’s license, an automobile for business use, and proof of minimum insurance coverage.
- Proficient with MS Word, Excel, Outlook as well as Zoom and other teleconferencing platforms.
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Financial and Administrative Services Support Coordinator
SUMMARY: This position is responsible for providing administrative support to the CFA financial and administrative operations. Specific duties may include, but are not limited to, the following:
Duties and Responsibilities include:
- Ensure timely payments of accounts payable by posting routine invoices; promptly forwarding all financial mail; posting approved invoices; processing staff expense forms; printing checks; and mailing payments to the appropriate parties; assists with bank reconciliations.
- Maintain accurate records of accounts payable by properly recording all payments; ensuring that staff expense claims are accurate and are accompanied by appropriate documentation; matching checks with the necessary back-up documentation before presenting them for signature; filing all documentation appropriately.
- Compile information and generate reports, including but not limited to the following: Affiliate reports, American Express reports, lobbying and political reports, staff activity reports, and chapter reports. Assist with government and tax reports, and annual audit.
- Ensure proper distribution of CFA funds by calculating and preparing monthly chapter dues rebates; preparing checks, as necessary, in the appropriate amount for the various programs maintained by the organization.
- Ensure accurate and prompt collection of CFA’s funds by preparing invoices and sending them to affiliates, outside agencies, staff, chapters, and any other necessary parties;
- Ensure successful small group meetings by scheduling; tracking attendance; duplicating materials; arranging meetings logistics; and providing administrative support at the meeting site;
- Other duties as needed.
The ideal candidate will have the following knowledge, skills, and abilities:
- A strong commitment to advancing racial and social justice transformation in the union movement, the university, and beyond;
- Skill and experience in strategic thinking, organizational development and long term planning;
- Ability to work independently, handle multiple projects simultaneously and meet strict deadlines;
- Excellent time management and communication skills;
- Ability to work collaboratively and strategically with CFA officers, members, interns and staff;
- Ability to travel for extended periods (up to 1 week) during events; and
- Ability to work long and irregular hours, including evenings and weekends.
Requirements:
- Three years accounting or bookkeeping experience; demonstrated proficiency in using QuickBooks and Excel
- Excellent verbal and written communication skills
- Must demonstrate discretion in handling sensitive information.
- Ability to be a “team player” and work with a variety of administrative/professional staff and elected member volunteers.
- Ability to operate generally used office equipment and to use familiar computer software (i.e. word processing, spreadsheets, web browsers, email)
- Ability to learn and communicate CFA organizational structure and policies
- Ability to handle a heavy workload in a fast-paced environment with minimal supervision
- Ability to lift 25 lbs; occasional travel and weekend work required.
- Must authorize and pass background check.
- Typing proficiency of 50 wpm
- Strong commitment to racial equity and social justice.
Other Requirements:
- Valid driver’s license, an automobile for business use, and proof of minimum insurance coverage.
- Ability to lift 25 lbs.
Salary/Benefits/Location: CFA offers a fully paid benefit package including medical, dental, vision, SEIU defined benefit pension plan, and generous paid leave. This position is covered by a collective bargaining agreement; salary range is $62,201.35 – $83,175.41 commensurate with experience.
To apply send cover letter, resume, and references to searchcommittee@calfac.org.
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Campus Service Representatives – NorCal & SoCal
The CSR responsibilities are communicated by the CFA campus Field Representative and will work in coordination with the CFA Chapter Executive Board’s, which organizes and represents approximately 29,000 faculty, librarians, counselors, and coaches.
General Summary
The CSR is a non-exempt part-time position.
The position ensures that the California Faculty Association’s (CFA) new member recruitment and organizing goals are executed through the work of the CSR and chapter that they are assigned to support. Overall, the position will support and help add capacity to well-functioning ongoing priorities for new member recruitment and organizing support.
Rate of Pay: $25.00 hour
Hours Per Week: 19 hours per week.
Working Days/Hours: Monday-Thursday 10am – 2pm, Fridays 2pm-5pm
**Any alterations to the scheduled days/hours must receive prior approval by the Field Rep
Job Functions and Essential Duties
Recruitment of new members:
- Daily hall walking campus buildings to engage in recruitment discussions with non-members – nonmember target lists and tracking form provided during bi-weekly check ins
- Provides welcoming experience and exceptional service to non-members
Required meeting attendance:
- Attends monthly membership organizing committee meetings
- Attends monthly luncheons, workshops, and other activities – coordinates with OM to identify rsvp’s of non-members to engage with during the event
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Attends 2nd Executive Board meeting of each month to provide report progress made in chapter goal of recruitment
- Events/activities in which membership organizing committee has scheduled for the upcoming month
- What has been successful for recruitment and what has not
Optional meeting attendance:
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1st Executive Board meeting of the month
- Events, workshops and activities where no nonmembers have rsvp’d
Reporting:
- Friday bi-weekly – turn in tracking form from prior weeks and workplan for upcoming week to field rep and chapter president
- Friday 3pm bi-weekly check in with field rep (and occasionally chapter president) – meeting will be to discuss and review progress on recruitment goals using tracking form, workplans and hall walking scheduling for the upcoming weeks, overcoming any obstacles to recruitment
- Weekly check-in with regional organizing director and team meetings
Office Organization and Administrative/ Clerical Duties (when needed):
- Keeps track of all conversations with nonmembers with dates, times, issues/concerns and follow up, if any, that is needed
- Communication with Executive Board members who have volunteered to assist in activities as to time, date, location i.e. tabling event, appreciation event, etc.
- Communicates to Field Representative if supplies are needed i.e. membership cards, pens/pencils, paper, binders, etc.
- Updates and maintains the CFA bulletin boards in each campus building with membership recruitment materials
Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:
- Excellent verbal, written and interpersonal communication skills.
- Ability to work independently and under general supervision, and to handle multiple projects simultaneously. Effective organization and time management skills.
- Ability to work collaboratively, creatively and strategically in a team environment, including CFA officers, members, interns and staff.
- Ability to learn and communicate CFA organizational structure and policies
- Attention to detail and problem-solving skills.
- Ability to communicate professionally with nonmembers, members, staff, students and leadership.
- Ability to follow verbal and written instructions.
- Ability to work independently and under general supervision to meet required tasks/duties.
- Possess high integrity and demonstrated ability to handle highly confidential information
- Effective and appropriate communication with members, staff, administrators, and supervisors.
- Ability to lift 25 lbs. (subject to reasonable accommodation).
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