In this month's newsletter, we report on an organizing effort by graduate assistants at Indiana University, the denial of recognition to Student Researchers United, UAW by the University of California, the dismissal of a petition seeking to represent graduate assistants at the University of Pittsburgh, as well as recent court decisions and administrative agency actions.

The newsletter also includes an update on the National Center's 2022 annual conference and a reminder concerning the National Center's Academic Collective Bargaining Survey, along with video highlights from our May 2021 annual conference, and links to articles from the Journal of Collective Bargaining in the Academy.

The National Center's 49th annual labor-management conference will be taking place on April 11-13, 2022 in New York City. It will be a hybrid conference, which will permit in-person and virtual options for panelists and attendees.

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

The conference will include panels examining diverse subjects including the history and future of higher education, collective bargaining during the pandemic, pay parity for part-time faculty in community colleges, labor-management strategies for challenging racism on campus, a new study on the state of faculty authority in academic decision making, and many more timely and important topics.

Registration and hotel information, along with a list of confirmed panels, will be announced in the near future.

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

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

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

Follow this link to the Survey: Take the Survey

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

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

According to media reports, the Indiana Graduate Workers Coalition (IGWC) at Indiana University has begun an organizing campaign, supported by United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America, seeking voluntary recognition from the university.

IGWC's recognition effort is based on Indiana University's union representation policy HR 12-20, titled Conditions for Cooperation Between Employee Organizations and the Administration of IU. HR 12-20 sets forth rights and procedures that can lead to the university granting voluntary recognition to an employee organization as the exclusive representative of a unit of university staff. Indiana's public sector collective bargaining law is inapplicable to higher education.

Under HR 12-20, university staff "have the right, freely and without fear of penalty or reprisal, to form, join and assist any lawful employee organization, or to refrain from any such activity." Under the policy, the university will recognize an employee organization as the exclusive representative of a staff bargaining unit when the organization has been designated or selected by a majority of employees in the unit. Majority status of the employee organization is determined by an election, which is conducted after a petition is filed demonstrating that at least 30 percent of unit employees favor an election.

Following recognition as the exclusive unit representative, an employee organization is entitled to:

(1) speak on behalf of all staff employees in the bargaining unit and is responsible for representing all unit employees without discrimination and without regard to employee organization membership;

(2) have organizational membership dues deducted upon receipt of an employee signed written request;

(3) be given the opportunity to provide collective representation during discussions concerning grievances, staff policies and practices, or other issues impacting employee working conditions;

(4) to call for discussions with university representatives to negotiate joint written recommendations to the university trustees every three years concerning working conditions and personnel policies and annually over the allocation among unit employees of designated wage and salaries budget funds;

(5) to call for special conferences with university representatives concerning substantial new developments or changes that may have a meaningful impact on job security or working conditions of staff employees.

Under HR 12-20, AFSCME is the exclusive representative for a police staff unit and a service staff unit, and CWA is the representative for a support staff unit.

The University of Indiana's labor policy has similarities to the Nevada Board of Regents collective bargaining regulations and the policy adopted by the University of Illinois in 1945, which is described in a 2017 article published in the Journal of Collective Bargaining in the Academy. Those regulations and policies are examples of how labor representation rights and procedures can be granted by an institution in the absence of applicable statutory rights.

On August 4, 2021, California PERB Supervising Regional Attorney Ronald Pearson made an administrative determination that Student Researchers United, UAW had submitted a sufficient showing of interest for the University of California to voluntarily recognize the union as the exclusive representative for over 16,000 student researchers. According to media reports, the University of California refused to recognize the entire petitioned-for bargaining unit, arguing that 5,644 trainees and fellows should be excluded because they are not employees.

Following the university's refusal to recognize, Student Researchers United, UAW can petition California PERB for certification as the exclusive representative of the entire at-issue unit under the agency's rules and regulations.

University of Pittsburgh, PLRB Case No. PERA-R-!7-355-W

On September 21, 2021, the Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board (PLRB) issued a decision denying exceptions filed by the United Steelworkers (USW) and affirming an order dismissing a USW petition that had sought to represent a bargaining unit of graduate assistants at the University of Pittsburgh. In its decision, PLRB determined that an unfair labor practice committed by the university did not affect the outcome of the election in which the graduate assistants voted 677-716 against USW representation.

PLRB found that the record supported subtracting 28 ballots of graduate assistants from the votes in the tally against representation because of a coercive email sent to graduate assistants in the chemical engineering department during the election. PLRB, however, rejected USW's argument that the appropriate remedy for the unfair labor practice was to count the 28 ballots as being in favor of union representation.

Board of Trustees of St. Petersburg College, Florida; PERC Case No. EL-2021-027

On September 30, 2021, the Florida Public Employees Relations Commission (Florida PERC) will be tallying the mail ballots in an election to determine whether a majority of full-time faculty at St. Petersburg College want to be represented by United Faculty of Florida (UFF).

The following is the at-issue bargaining unit sought by UFF at St. Petersburg College:

Western Oregon University, OERB Case No. UP-040-21

On September 21, 2021, the Western Oregon University Federation of Teachers filed an unfair labor practice complaint against Western Oregon University with the Oregon Employment Relations Board challenging the layoff of two Philosophy professors Susan Daniel and Mark Perlman in the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies.

University of the District of Columbia Faculty Association-NEA v. Board of Trustees of the University of the District of Columbia, District of Columbia Court of Appeals, Case No. 19-CV-326

On August 26, 2021, the District of Columbia Court of Appeals issued a decision concluding that a District of Columbia Faculty Association-NEA grievance challenging the issuance of a one-year terminal contract to Professor Nikolai Ostapenko and the university's subsequent non-renewal of that contract was not arbitrable.

The court also found the university's decision to not renew Professor Ostapenko’s one-year contract was not arbitrable because after he accepted the temporary appointment, he was no longer a member of the faculty bargaining unit protected by the collective bargaining agreement. Article IV defines the bargaining unit as “[a] full-time faculty employees holding a permanent appointment from apportioned funds....”

Oregon Tech AAUP v. Oregon Institute of Technology, Oregon Court of Appeals

Case No.A173198

The Oregon Court of Appeals recently affirmed a November 2019 decision by the Oregon Employment Relations Board finding department chairs at the Oregon Institute of Technology are entitled to unionize. In reaching its decision, the court examined the duties and responsibilities of department chairs at the university within the context of the academic and administrative structure and concluded that unlike high-level administrators, chairs were not "in charge" of their departments.

Whether department chairs are entitled to unionize, and whether they should be in the same bargaining unit with faculty, are perennial issues in higher education. Generally, those questions are resolved based on the specific duties and responsibilities performed by the department chairs at each institution. For example, the Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board in 2015 ruled that Temple University department chairs were managerial employees or supervisors based on their specific duties, and therefore, were excluded from the right to unionize.

University of Illinois, Chicago, IELRB Case No. 2021-RC-0015-C

On August 30, 2021, the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board certified, following a card check, the Committee of Interns and Residents, Local 1957, SEIU as the exclusive representative of a bargaining unit of certain residents and fellows employed by the University of Illinois in the University College of Medicine's Graduate Medical Education Program.

The following is the new bargaining unit represented by Committee of Interns and Residents, Local 1957, SEIU:

Included:

All Residents and Fellows employed by the Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois who have executed a Resident Agreement that governs their participation in the University College of Medicine's Graduate Medical Education Program.

Excluded:

All Residents and Fellows whose Resident agreement reflects a primary training work site outside the Chicago, Illinois metropolitan area; and/or All Residents and Fellows whose Resident agreement governs participation in another College graduate education program besides the College of Medicine; and/or All Residents and Fellows who are sponsored through the Saudi Arabian Cultural Mission to the United States; and/or All Residents and fellows who devote at least 50% of their University employment to research pursuant to government or private grants, for which the University receives a partial or total salary reimbursement from the grant sponsor; and/or All Residents and Fellows who hold the title of "Chief Resident" and who remain employed with the University for an additional year after the completion of their residency program; and/or All Residents and Fellows whose non-ACGME Fellowship Program expressly requires the devotion of part of their University duties to service as an "attending of record"; and/or all supervisory, managerial, confidential, and/or short-term employees as defined in Section 2 of the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Act, 115 ILCS 5/1, et seq., as that statute may be amended from time to time.

The National Center's May 2021 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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The study was co-written by National Center Executive Director Bill Herbert, Jake Apkarian, Assistant Professor of Sociology, York College, CUNY, and Joey van der Naald, a PhD candidate in the program in sociology, CUNY Graduate Center.

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

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

Job Posting: TT Position n Labor Studies at CSU Dominguez Hills

California State University, Dominguez Hills

Job no: 504460

Work type: Instructional Faculty – Tenured/Tenure-Track

Categories: Unit 3 - CFA - California Faculty Association, Faculty - Letters/Humanities, Tenured/Tenure-Track, Full Time

The Program of Labor Studies at California State University, Dominguez Hills (CSUDH) invites applications for a Tenure-track position at the rank of Assistant Professor (Academic Year) with the appointment starting in Fall 2022.

At CSUDH, we celebrate and respect diversity in all forms that include every race, religion, gender, ethnicity, veterans, people with varied abilities, and members of the LGBTQ+ community. CSUDH is seeking applications from candidates who can demonstrate experience in teaching and working with individuals from diverse backgrounds and contribute to the University’s mission, vision, and core values.

For more information: Mission, Vision, and Core Values.

For more information: https://https://www.csudh.edu/labor-studies/

This is a Tenure Track position. Tenure-track faculty in Academic programs teach three to four courses per semester and engage in scholarly and/or professional activities, advising, and service to the department, college, university and the community. We invite candidates from a range of disciplines, including history, geography, applied economics, sociology, public policy, and urban planning. We are interested in candidates who understand Labor Studies as an applied as well as scholarly field. Candidates should have an interest in establishing and building collaborative relationships with labor unions, workers centers, government agencies, and community organizations in various ways, such as serving as guest speakers and working together on internships, job placements, workforce development, public events, and research projects. CSUDH faculty are represented by the California Faculty Association, a diverse and active union committed to strengthening public education, defending academic freedom, and promoting racial and social justice. https://www.calfac.org/  

A United States (US) Equivalency certification is required for earned/awarded/conferred foreign terminal degrees, which is from a foreign Academic Institution for foreign studies. The US Equivalency certification is used to validate foreign studies from an academic credential evaluation agency and is evaluated on foreign studies and deemed to be equivalent to degrees from the United States. The certification must translate the information in English, and confirm that your highest terminal degree is US Equivalent to a US terminal degree (i.e., Bachelor’s, Master’s, Doctorate’s, Doctor’s of Philosophy). The certification can be emailed to facultyaffairs@csudh.edu or mailed directly to the office of Faculty Affairs and Development, 1000 East Victoria Street, WH-368, Carson, CA 90747.

For more information: U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission

Clery Act crime statistics for CSUDH are available at Campus Security Report (Clery), or by calling University Police at (310) 243-3639.