The newsletter also includes links to articles in the latest volume of the Journal of Collective Bargaining in the Academy, and a link to the recent webinar No Direction Home: Labor Rights and Geospatial Data. In addition, we report on recent representation cases along with court and administrative decisions, and a new job posting.

The National Center has commenced 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 collected 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.

Please have the survey completed by August 27, 2021 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 is pleased to announce that our 49th annual labor-management conference will take 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.

The National Center's 2020 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 and all of the attendees.

We are grateful to TIAA, SEIU, AAUP, AFT, and NEA/NCHE for sponsoring the conference, to the organizations and law firms that purchased conference program advertisements, and to the individuals who made donations. The sponsorships, advertisements, 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 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 is very pleased to announce publication of the latest volume of the Journal of Collective Bargaining in the Academy, with 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.

An international and interdisciplinary webinar on labor rights and geospatial data took place earlier this month, sponsored by the American Association of Geographers as part of its GeoEthics series. Download the video here

The panelists were:

We are pleased to announce the forthcoming publication of a book edited by Daniel J. Julius titled Collective Bargaining in Higher Education: Best Practices for Promoting Collaboration, Equity, and Measurable Outcomes. The book will be published by Routledge and will contain contributions from a diverse group of scholars, practitioners, and advocates, many of whom have been active in National Center programming. 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 through August 31, 2021. Use this discount code at checkout: code AET21

District Board of Trustees of Valencia College, Florida, FPERC Case No. RC-2019-019

The June 16, 2021 tally of mail ballots by the Florida Public Employees Relations Board demonstrated that the contingent faculty at Valencia College in Florida voted to unionize with SEIU. The ballot count showed that in a unit of 1,299 faculty, 343 voted in favor of SEIU representation and 308 voted against.

The following is the new SEIU represented faculty bargaining unit at Valencia College:

Included: All part-time teaching faculty and part-time instructors employed by Valencia College.

Excluded: All other employees of Valencia College, regardless of whether or not they have teaching responsibilities. Dual-function employees who are also employed in a different capacity at Valencia College are excluded.

University of Vermont, VLRB Docket No. 21-12

University of Vermont, VLRB Docket No. 21-08

On June 16, 2021, the Vermont Labor Relations Board (VLRB) conducted an election concerning a petition filed by UVM Staff United, AFT Vermont, AFT, AFL-CIO seeking to represent a bargaining unit of exempt employees at the University of Vermont. According to a news story, the bargaining unit voted 394-99 in favor of representation by UVM Staff United, AFT Vermont, AFT, AFL-CIO.

The recent election involving university exempt employees followed the June 2, 2021, certification by VLRB of AFT Vermont, AFT, AFL-CIO as the exclusive representative of a separate unit of 688 clerical and technical employees at the university. The certification followed an earlier election in which the bargaining unit voted 333–122 in favor of representation by AFT Vermont, AFT, AFL-CIO.

University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology,

NLRB Case No. 04-RC-277865

On May 28, 2021, AFSCME District Council 47, Local 397 filed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board seeking to represent a unit of 79 workers at the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. The following is the bargaining unit sought by AFSCME:

Included: All full-time and regular part-time professional and nonprofessional employees employed by the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology.

Excluded: All other employees already represented by other labor organizations, employees who are employed by third party contractors; managerial employees, guards and supervisors as defined in the Act.

Stephens College, NLRB Case No. 14-RC-278362

On June 10, 2021, Laborers' Local 955 filed a petition to represent a unit of 14 food service workers at Stephen College in Columbia, Missouri.

Uradnik v. Inter Faculty Organization, Case No. 19-3749, United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit

On June 16, 2021, the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit issued an opinion affirming the dismissal of constitutional claims filed by Cloud State University political science professor Kathleen Uradnik challenging the exclusive representation model under Minnesota's Public Employment Labor Relations Act (PELRA). In her lawsuit, Uradnik argued, inter alia, that exclusive union representation violated her rights of free speech and free association protected by the First Amendment. In affirming the dismissal of the lawsuit, the Eighth Circuit relied on the Supreme Court decision in Minnesota State Board of Community Colleges v. Knight, 465 U.S. 271 (1984) that had previously upheld the Minnesota law.

Like the National Labor Relations Act and other state labor relations statutes, after a union is certified or voluntarily recognized it becomes the exclusive representative for the entire bargaining unit, both union members and non-members. As National Center Executive Director Bill Herbert and Georgetown University historian Joseph McCartin explained in a 2019 American Prospect article, the exclusive representation model for workplace governance was intentionally designed to follow our democratic system of elected federal, state, and municipal representatives who are responsible for acting on behalf of residents in a defined geographic area.

Service Employees Int’l Union Local 503 v. University of Oregon,

On June 16, 2021, the Oregon Court of Appeals reversed and remanded a decision by the Oregon Employment Relations Board (OERB), which had found that the University of Oregon breached its duty to bargain with SEIU Local 503 when the university failed to provide the union with an unredacted copy of an investigatory report. The report was prepared after the university investigated a complaint of age discrimination and a hostile work environment filed by a university library employee represented by SEIU. The university initially refused to provide SEIU with an unredacted copy of the report asserting that it included confidential information about the supervisor. The university later agreed to allow SEIU to review the unredacted report but under strict conditions including the union agreeing to a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) with a liquidated damage clause.

Professional Transportation, Inc. NLRB Case No. Case 32‒RC‒259368

In a June 9, 2021 decision, the National Labor Relations Board ruled that in a mail ballot election conducted by that agency, a party's offer to help and collect mail ballots from employees constitutes objectionable conduct that may warrant the setting aside of an election. The prior rule was that a party engages in misconduct if it collects or otherwise handles mail ballots. See, Fessler & Bowman, Inc. 341 NLRB 932 (2004).

Maryland Governor Larry Hogan has vetoed a collective bargaining bill, HB 894, aimed at granting unionization rights to community college faculty in that state. The bill would have required community college bargaining units for full-time faculty, and separate bargaining units for part-time faculty and eligible non-exempt employees under the Fair Labor Standards Act.

The National Center's recent 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.

It analyzes data regarding new bargaining units, bargaining agents, and contracts in higher education for the period 2013-2019 The study includes a listing of all new bargaining relationships concerning faculty, department chairs, librarians, postdoctoral scholars, academic researchers, and/or graduate student employees.

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

This position within the Extension Outreach Division of the ILR School is responsible for developing and delivering accessible education, practical research and policy applications to address the persistent problems of inequality in America, utilizing Western New York as a field operation for innovation. They will provide substantial expertise and collaborative guidance to the Greater Buffalo community and advance the field of equitable community change through national professional and advocacy networks. Position rank will be determined by qualifications and experience.

Background

Cornell ILR Buffalo Co-Lab is seeking candidates for an extension associate position based in Buffalo to add experience and expertise specifically in overcoming racial and economic inequality. This position will complement and strengthen the Buffalo ILR organization which has a record of tackling immense challenges of economic change for 75 years. From post-war industrial strife and peacetime conversion, through decades of economic prosperity and social change, through deindustrialization and economic decline, to the much-celebrated revitalization of recent years. ILR has had a hand in the advancements marking these eras-a strong labor movement, progressive human resource and workforce development practices, innovative collective bargaining and labor-management cooperation, civil rights and women's rights at work, robust occupational safety and health protections, adjustment to industry change in a global economy, union-community collaborations for economic justice, innovative living wage and workers' rights policies, diversity and inclusion in the workplace, accountable economic development with public benefit for public subsidies, a voice for community organizations in a dynamic civic and cultural infrastructure-all giving meaning to ILR's land grant mission to promote knowledge for the public good.

And yet, Buffalo's economic rejuvenation has been no match for national trends of growing economic and racial inequality. Low-wage jobs, persistent poverty, and racial segregation discriminately limit the opportunities of individuals and impair the economic vitality and promise of the region as a whole. This position will focus directly on ways to promote equality, from community measures to combat racism to state and national policies to assure for all Americans an equal chance in the economy and an equal say in the democracy.

This position provides opportunities to develop equality-focused initiatives within ongoing work of the Buffalo Co-Lab as well as to create new programs and methods for understanding and reducing racial and economic inequality. As its name indicates, the Co-Lab is based on collaboration, and ILR encourages cooperation within and among extension and resident faculty on research, teaching, and policy projects that advance ILR's mission.

This is a full-time, academic non-tenure track, term position with an initial three-year appointment. The position may be reappointed on the basis of recommendations by the appropriate Director and Associate Dean as well as available funding and work. This position of Extension Associate reports to the Director of ILR Buffalo Co-Lab.

Responsibilities

Cornell University embraces diversity and seeks candidates who will contribute to a climate that supports students, faculty and staff of all identities and backgrounds. We strongly encourage individuals from underrepresented and/or marginalized identities to apply.

More information about the ILR School can be obtained at our web site, http://www.ilr.cornell.edu and the ILR Buffalo Co-Lab at https://www.ilr.cornell.edu/buffalo-co-lab

Qualifications

Preferred Qualifications:

Visa sponsorship is not available for this position.

Rewards & Benefits:

Cornell provides great benefits that include educational benefits, access to a plethora of wellness programs, employee discounts with local and national retail brands, health care options to choose from, generous paid leave provisions and superior retirement contributions.

Cornell has also been nationally recognized as an award-winning workplace for our health, well-being, sustainability, and diversity initiatives. For more information click here.

To Apply:

Interested parties should submit a vita and letter of application describing qualifications and research agenda, and teaching experience. Application materials should be submitted through Academic Jobs Online: https://academicjobsonline.org/ajo/jobs/1874

This is a full-time, academic non-tenure track, benefits eligible term opportunity located in Buffalo, New York.