The National Center's May newsletter includes links to video recordings from our 48th annual conference, which was held on May 17-20, 2021. The newsletter also announces publication of the latest volume of the Journal of Collective Bargaining in the Academy with a link to each article.

We also report on a June 1 webinar on labor rights and geospatial data that will be co-moderated by National Center Executive Director Bill Herbert, and the forthcoming publication of a book on collective bargaining in higher education, edited by Daniel J. Julius. Lastly, the newsletter reports on recent court decisions, arbitration awards, and representation filings in higher education.

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

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

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

On June 1, 2021, there will be an international and interdisciplinary webinar on labor rights and geospatial data taking place at 11 a.m.- 1:30 p.m. U.S. Eastern Time. The webinar is being sponsored by the American Association of Geographers as part of its GeoEthics series. 

The panelists will be:

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

Northeastern University v. SEIU Local 509, U.S. Dist Ct., Mass, Civil No. 20-10825-LTS

On May 24, United States District Court Judge Leo R. Sorokin issued an order denying a motion by Northeastern University for summary judgement vacating an arbitrator's decision and award finding that the university had violated the collective bargaining agreement in the compensation amount paid to SEIU-represented part-time faculty for teaching a new course in the Fall 2018 semester. In addition, Judge Sorokin granted SEIU's cross-motion confirming the arbitrator's award.

In reaching his decision, Judge Sorokin found the arbitrator's characterization of the grievance as relating to the proper compensation to be paid the faculty for teaching the at-issue course was reasonable. In addition, the judge concluded that the arbitrator's finding that the faculty should have been paid at the rate for a content course, rather than the lower ESL course rate, was a reasonable interpretation of the contract.

On May 6, 2021, Arbitrator Matthew M. Frankiewicz issued an opinion and award sustaining a grievance by the Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh, CWA challenging notices sent to 17 non-tenured faculty by Point Park University on or about February 12, 2021 informing them that their non-tenured appointments were not being renewed for the 2021-2022 academic year. The university claimed that the impact of the pandemic was the reason for its actions.

The union's grievance was based on Article 31 of the contract, which requires the university to provide faculty with notices by September 15 of the preceding year when it plans to eliminate positions. The university, however, predicated its actions on Article 18, titled appointments and renewals, which requires a notice of non-renewal be given to a faculty member in February.

In sustaining the grievance, the arbitrator found that Article 31 was the applicable provision to the university's actions because it deals with situations where multiple faculty members are losing their position for economic reasons. In contract, Article 18 was "intended to deal with individualized instances in which faculty members are separated from employment."

Based on the failure of the university to notify the 17 faculty members by September 15 that their positions were being eliminated, the arbitrator concluded that the contract had been violated and ordered the university to "retain and reinstate the 17 faculty members involved herein, and shall treat them as subject to the provisions of Article 31."

Duke University, NLRB Case No. 10-RC-276475

National Labor Relations Board Region 10 has issued a notice of election scheduling an in-person election on June 2, 2021 regarding a representation petition filed by the Washington-Baltimore News Guild, Local 32035 seeking to represent a unit of approximately 77 full-time and part-time employees at Duke University Press.

University of California, California PERB Case No. SF-RR 1022-H

On May 24, 2021, the UAW filed a petition with the California Public Employment Relations Board seeking to represent 16,741 Graduate Student Researchers and Graduate Student Assistant Researchers as well as any other Graduate Student appointed to a different academic title and performing similar work. This proposed unit would be distinct from the graduate assistant unit and the academic researcher unit, which that the UAW already represents at the University of California.

According to a media report, a lawsuit was filed earlier this month by Academic Labor United and three graduate assistants in the Circuit Court in Honolulu seeking a ruling that graduate assistants have a constitutional right to unionize and collectively bargain under the Hawaii Constitution.

Article XIII, Sec. 2 of the Hawaii Constitution states: "Persons in public employment shall have the right to organize for the purpose of collective bargaining as provided by law." If the lawsuit is successful, Hawaii would join Missouri and Florida with state constitutions that grant collective bargaining rights to graduate assistants at public institutions.

UE has filed a representation petition with the New Mexico State University Labor Relations Board seeking to represent a unit of graduate assistants at that university, according to a published report.

William D. Brice v. California Faculty Association, Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals,

Docket No. 19-56164

On April 28, 2021, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals issued a decision affirming a lower court's dismissal of a lawsuit commenced by a faculty member at California State University-Dominguez Hills on behalf of himself and others claiming a constitutional right to be reimbursed for agency fees paid to the California Faculty Association prior to the Supreme Court's decision in Janus v. American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees, Council 31 (2018).

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.