|
NATIONAL CENTER
for the
S
tudy of
C
ollective
B
argaining in
H
igher
E
ducation and the
P
rofessions
|
|
|
|
Follow us on Twitter @HigherEd_CB
|
|
Thank You for A Successful 2017 Annual Conference
|
|
The National Center's 44th Annual Conference
The National Center extends its many thanks to the speakers, sponsors, attendees, staff, and volunteers who made our annual conference last month a major success.
We encourage conference attendees to complete and submit the 2017 Conference Evaluation and Survey that was emailed on March 28, 2017 at the conclusion of the conference.
We are also pleased to announce that our 45th Annual Conference will take place on April 15-17, 2018 at the CUNY Graduate Center in NYC.
|
The 2017 conference was underwritten with a grant from
TIAA.
|
  |
|
|
Photographs from the 2017 Annual Conference
|
|
|
Keynote Presentations
(l-r) National Center Executive Director William A. Herbert, former NLRB Chairman Wilma Liebman, Acting NLRB Chairman Philip A. Miscimarra, and former NLRB Chairman and current NLRB Board Member Mark G. Pearce.
|
|
|
The Impact of Anti-Intellectualism on the State of Higher Education
(ccw) Susan Jacobi, author,
The Age of American Unreason
, Frederick P. Schaffer,
Chair, New York City Campaign Finance Board, and Lynn Pasquerella, President, Association of American Colleges and Universities.
|
|
|
|
Professional Development for Adjunct and Tenure-Track Faculty
(l-r) Gary Rhoades, Director of the Center for the Study of Higher Education, University of Arizona, LaGuardia Community College President Gail Mellow, Malini Cadambi-Daniel, SEIU Director of Higher Education, and Barbara Madeloni, Massachusetts Teachers Association President.
|
|
|
|
Legal Issues in Higher Education: Annual Review of Developments
(l-r) Juditra Burgess, Boston University Labor Relations Director, Richard Griffin, NLRB General Counsel, Kristin Klein Wheaton, Goldberg Segalla,
John Wirenius, NYS Public Employment Relations Board Chairperson, and Aaron Nisenson, AAUP Senior Legal Counsel.
|
|
|
|
The Role of Endowments in Financing Higher Education
(l-r) Danielle Douglas-Gabriel, Washington Post, Kenneth Redd, Director, Research and Policy Analysis, NACUBO, Elizabeth Parisian, Assistant Director, AFT Research and Strategic Initiatives, and Peter M. Rup, Founder & Chief Investment Officer, Artemis Wealth Advisors, LLC.
|
The Capital Markets and Higher Education
(l-r) Jacob Apkarian, York College, Susan Fitzgerald, Associate Managing Director, Moody's Investor Services, Charlie Eaton, Stanford University, and Tim Coffin, Senior Vice President, Breckinridge Capital Advisors.
|
|
|
Lincoln, Labor, and Race
(l-r) James Oakes, Distinguished Professor, CUNY Graduate Center, Harold Holzer, Jonathan F. Fanton Director, Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute, Hunter College, and Edna Greene Medford, Chair, Howard University Department of History.
|
Photographs by Daniel Stein.
|
|
Register Now for Webinar on Current Immigration Issues in Higher Ed
|
A free one-hour webinar on current immigration issues in higher education will take place on April 26, 2017, 1 p.m.-2 p.m. EST. The webinar is being co-sponsored by the National Center and the New York State Bar Association Labor and Employment Section.
Speakers:
Claire R. Thomas, Director of Training, Safe Passage Project and
Adjunct Professor,
New York Law School
Thomas Shea,
Staff Attorney, CUNY Citizenship Now!, CUNY Express Immigration Center.
The Executive Orders issued by President Trump since January 20, 2017, and the federal efforts to enforce them, have major implications and repercussions for faculty, administrators, and students in higher education. These executive actions have caused a great deal of fear and anxiety.
The two presenters in this webinar are experienced immigration attorneys located at two institutions of higher education: City University of New York and New York Law School. They have joined forces to provide an expert primer on immigration issues in higher education, to explain the recent changes and status of the resulting litigation. Among the topics they will explore is the impact the changes in policy will have on non-citizen scholars, faculty, administrators, and students, and the use of sanctuary campuses as a means of responding to the new executive actions.
Moderator:
William A. Herbert,
Executive Director, National Center for the Study of Collective Bargaining in Higher Education and the Professions, Hunter College, City University of New York.
To register for the webinar email your name and contact information to Beth Gould at bgould@nysba.org.
|
|
April 13: Webinar on Higher Ed Digital Accessibility Requirements
|
|
On April 13, 2017 at 1:00 p.m. EST, there will be a free one-hour webinar presented by Seyfarth Shaw examining statutory and regulatory mandates for
colleges and universities to make their websites, mobile apps, and other digital properties accessible to individuals with disabilities.
Speakers:
Minh N. Vu, Kristina M. Launey, and Mary Kay Klimesh, Seyfarth Shaw
Click here to register for the webinar on digital accessibility in higher education.
|
|
Vanderbilt University: SEIU Files to Represent FT-PT NTT Faculty Unit
|
Vanderbilt University, NLRB Case No. 10-RC-195750
On March 29, 2017, SEIU filed a representation petition seeking to represent approximately 135 full-time and part-time non-tenure track faculty at Vanderbilt University.
The following is the description of the proposed bargaining unit set forth in the petition:
Included: All fulltime and parttime nontenuretrack faculty (including but not limited to the following titles : Lecturers, Senior Lecturers, Principal Senior Lecturers, Adjunct Faculty, Adjunct Instructors, Adjunct Lecturers, Adjunct Assistant Professors, Adjunct Associate Professors, Adjunct Professors, Adjunct Artist Teachers, Adjunct Senior Artist Teachers) employed by Vanderbilt University and currently teaching at least one course in the Blair School of Music or the Peabody College of Education & Human Development.
Excluded: All tenured faculty, tenure track faculty, all assistant professors, all associate professors, and all full professors, all senior artist teachers, emeritus faculty, research faculty, adjoint faculty, clinical faculty, and faculty of the practice, the College of Arts & Science faculty, the Divinity School faculty, School of Medicine faculty, the School of Nursing faculty, the Law School faculty, the Owen Graduate School of Management faculty, the School of Engineering faculty, all administrators (including deans, directors, provosts, and chairs who may have teaching assignments); faculty who are paid by entities other than Vanderbilt University (including governments, and other organizations), visiting faculty paid by their home institutions, athletic coaches, all other employees employed by the University, including those who teach a class or course and are separately compensated for such teaching, managers, confidential employees, office clerical employees, professional employees, guards, and supervisors as defined in the Act.
|
|
Fordham University: SEIU Withdraws Petition for NTT FT-PT Unit
|
|
Fordham University, NLRB Case No. 02-RC-195101
On March 30, 2017, SEIU withdrew a recently filed petition that sought to represent a faculty unit composed of 900 full-time and part-time non-tenure track faculty at Fordham University. The withdrawal followed the university's filing of its statement of position concerning the representation petition, which raised a series of legal issues it sought to litigate including whether the NLRB should defer asserting jurisdiction because of the school's religious affiliation.
The following was the proposed unit set forth in SEIU's representation petition:
Included: All full-time and part-time non-tenure track faculty who teach at Fordham's Rose Hill Campus, Lincoln Center Campus and Westchester Campus including: Adjuncts; Adjunct Instructors; Adjunct Lecturers; Adjunct Assistant Professors; Adjunct Associate Professors; Adjunct Professors; Lecturers; Senior Lecturers; Clinical Professors; Assistant Clinical Professors; Associate Clinical Professors; Artists in Residence; Visiting Professors; Visiting Assocate Professors; Visiting Assistant Professors; Writers in Residence; Instructors (non-tenure track); Postdoctoral Fellows: Coordinators.
Excluded: Graduate Assistant; Research Assistant; Graduate STudents; full-time and part-time non-tenure track faculty in the Department of Theology; full-time and part-time non-tenure track faculty who teach in American Catholic Studies; full-time and part-time non-tenure track faculty who teach in the Graduate School of Religion and Religious Education; full-time and part-time non-tenure track who teach in Religious Studies; all tenure and tenure-track faculty; all faculty who hold other full-time employment with the Employer; all faculty who hold positions of Directors, Associate Directors, and Assistant Directors, Professors Emeriti, Associate Professors Emeriti, Professors of Military Science and other faculty of Military Science, Reserve Training Corps full-time and part-time non-tenure ftack faculty, Research Professors, Research Associate Professors, Research Assistant Professors; full-0time and part-time non-tenure track faculty who teach only online; full-time and part-time non-tenure track faculty who hold the position of Chair, Associate Chair, or Assistant Chair; all managerial, supervisor, and guards as defined in the Act. Eligible voters are those included who currently are teaching at least one credit hour in the Spring 2017 semester.
|
| Saint Xavier University: NLRB Asserts Jurisdiction Over Non-Faculty Unit |
Saint Xavier University, NLRB Case No. 13-RC-092296
On April 6, 2017, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) issued a decision concluding it would assert jurisdiction over a question of representation concerning a non-faculty bargaining unit composed of full-time and part-time housekeeping employees at Saint Xavier University, a religious educational institution.
The decision focused on the proper standard to be applied concerning non-faculty bargaining units in light of the Supreme Court's decision in NLRB v. Catholic Bishop of Chicago, 440 U.S. 490 (1979), which held that the assertion of jurisdiction over representation issues involving lay teachers at a parochial school should be declined because of the potential for excessive governmental entanglement in religious affairs in violation of the First Amendment.
In Saint Xavier University, the NLRB majority concluded that the proper jurisdictional standard concerning a non-faculty unit at a religiously-affiliated institution was the one
adopted by an earlier NLRB Board that was judicially affirmed in Hanna Boys Center, 284 NLRB 1080 (1987), enfd. 940 F. 2d 1295 (9th Cir.1991), cert. denied, 504 U.S. 985 (1992). Under that standard, the NLRB will assert jurisdiction over a representational issue involving a non-faculty unit "unless the actual duties and responsibilities" of the non-teaching personnel "require them to perform a specific role in fulfilling the religious mission of the institution." Saint Xavier University, 365 NLRB No. 54 (2017), slip op., p. 1.
In reaching its decision, the NLRB majority rejected the application of the two-step test it articulated in Pacific Lutheran University, 361 NLRB No. 157 (2014) for determining jurisdictional issues involving faculty units at religiously-affiliated institutions of higher learning. First, it noted that the NLRB Board in Pacific Lutheran University "clearly did not intend for the decision to extend to non-teaching employees, such as the housekeepers at issue in this case." Saint Xavier University, 365 NLRB No. 54 (2017), slip op., p. 4. In addition, it emphasized its view that the Supreme Court's Catholic Bishop decision was applicable only to those who teach at religious schools, and was never intended to deprive all employees at such schools of the associational rights guaranteed by the National Labor Relations Act.
|
|
Loyola University Chicago and Duquesne University:
NLRB Excludes Theology Faculty from Bargaining Units
|
Loyola University Chicago, NLRB Case No. 13-RC-164618
On March 16, 2017, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) issued a decision
granting, in part, a Request for Review filed by Loyola University Chicago, challenging the certification of a non-tenure track faculty unit following an election in which the faculty voted 142-82 in favor of representation by SEIU. The NLRB majority found that the Region 13 Director erred by including the university's Department of Theology adjunct faculty in the bargaining unit because the evidence demonstrated that those faculty members are held out as performing a specific role in the the university's religious educational environment under the two-step test articulated in Pacific
Lutheran University, 361 NLRB No. 157 (2014).
Duquesne University of the Holy Spirit, NLRB Case No. 06-RC-080933
On April 10, 2017, the NLRB issued a similar decision granting, in part, a Request for Review filed by Duquesne University of the Holy Spirit challenging a decision by the NLRB Region 6 Director concerning a non-tenure track faculty bargaining unit following a 2012 election in which the faculty voted 50-9 in favor of USW representation. The NLRB majority found that the Region 6 Director erred by including the Department of Theology's part-time faculty in the bargaining unit because the evidence demonstrated that those faculty members are held out as performing a specific role in the university's religious educational environment under Pacific Lutheran University, 361 NLRB No. 157 (2014).
|
|
New School: Election Ordered for Representation of Student Employees
|
New School, NLRB Case No. 02-RC-143009
On April 7, 2017, NLRB Regional Director Karen P. Fernbach issue a second supplemental decision and direction of election concerning a petition filed by the UAW seeking to represent all student employees at the New School. The Regional Director's decision followed a remand of the case by the NLRB Board following its decision in Trustees of Columbia University, 364 NLRB No. 90 (2016).
Regional Director Fernbach ordered an on-site election to take place on May 3 and 4, 2017 concerning the following bargaining unit:
Included: All student employees who provide teaching, instructionally-related or research services, including Teaching Assistants (Course Assistants, Teaching Assistants, Teaching Fellows, Student Assistants 3 at the Parsons School, and Tutors) and Research Assistants (Research Assistants and Research Associates).
Excluded: All other employees, Student Assistants at schools other than Parsons, guards and supervisors as defined by the Act.
The following student employees at the New School were found eligible to vote in the representation election:
1) All currently enrolled Course Assistants, Teaching Assistants, Teaching Fellows, Student Assistants 3 at the Parsons School, Research Assistants, Research Associates, compensated through a stipend, that received an assignment in any of the following semesters: Spring 2016, Summer 2016, Fall 2016, or Spring 2017; and
(2) All currently enrolled Tutors, and any other unit employees compensated only on an hourly basis, that have received an assignment for which at least 60 hours was worked in any of the following semesters: Spring 2016, Summer 2016, Fall 2016, or Spring 2017.
In her decision, Regional Director Fernbach found that the petitioned-for unit of student employees sought by the UAW shared a community of interest because all of the students "provide teaching, instructionally-related or research services," similar to the unit found appropriate at Columbia University. In addition, the student employees in all of the classifications at the New School are paid on a semester-basis, and regularly move between those classifications.
Regional Director Fernbach rejected the school's content that students who work less that 225 total hours per semester should not be permitted to vote in the representation election. She found "that excluding hourly employees that work fewer than 15 hours per week would disenfranchise too many voters that otherwise have a sufficient regularity of employment to share a community of interest with unit employees." Instead, she concluded that proper eligibility formula for hourly employees is a minimum of 60 hours worked in a given semester.
|
|
American University: GSE Vote for SEIU Union Representation
|
American University, NLRB Case No. 05-RC-193768
A mail ballot election concerning SEIU's petition seeking to represent a unit of approximately 761 graduate student employees at American University was conducted by the NLRB. The tally of ballots on April 10, 2017 demonstrates that 212 graduate student employees voted in favor of SEIU representation, and 40 voted against unionization.
The following is the stipulated GSE bargaining unit at American University:
Included: All Doctoral and Masters students in American University departments employed at the University's campus in Washington, D.C., who are working toward degrees offered by American University, and who are employed by American University and supervised by faculty to provide instructional or research services in undergraduate or graduate-level courses or labs, including, but not limited to Teaching Assistants, Research Assistants, Graduate Assistants, Laboratory Assistants, Teaching Apprentices, Dean's Fellows, Instructors, Graders, Preceptors, Section Leaders, and Tutors. Those eligible to vote in the election are all students who fall within the definition of the appropriate unit described above who were employed by the University and enrolled in the University's Spring 2017 semester.
Excluded: Any full-time or regular part-time American University employees and faculty, students who are working in grant funded positions where the University does not control their wages, adjunct faculty who are included in the bargaining unit certified in NLRB Case Number 05-RC-070027, managers, guards and supervisors as defined by the National Labor Relations Act.
|
|
Cornell University: Non-NLRB GSE Election Unresolved
|
On March 27 and 28, 2017, the American Arbitration Association (AAA) conducted an election among graduate student employees to determine whether they wish to be represented for purposes of collective bargaining by the Cornell Graduate Students United (CGSU), an AFT-NEA affiliate. The election was conducted under a May 2016 agreement between CGSU and Cornell University.
According to a media report, the initial tally of ballots found that 919 graduate student employees voted against representation, 856 voted in favor with an additional 81 votes subject to challenge. The final outcome of the election will await the resolution of the challenged ballots by AAA.
|
|
Penn State: Hearing Scheduled on NEA Petition to Represent GSE Unit
|
Pennsylvania State University, PERA-R-17-40-E
On February 22, 2017, the Coalition of Graduate Employees at Pennsylvania State University, an affiliate of the Pennsylvania State Education Association, filed a petition with the Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board (PLRB) seeking to represent approximately 3,724 full-time and part-time graduate assistants under that state's public sector collective bargaining law.
A pre-hearing telephonic conference was held by PLRB with the parties on April 6, 2017, and a hearing concerning the representation petition is scheduled for May 15, 2017 at the agency's offices in Harrisburg.
In 2001, PLRB ruled that graduate assistants, teaching assistants, and research assistants at Temple University were employees for purposes of collective bargaining under Pennsylvania's labor relations statute. See, Temple University, 32 PPER ¶32164 (2001).
The following is the description of the at-issue GSE unit in the pending representation petition at Penn State:
Included: All full-time and part-time Graduate Workers including Teaching Assistants and Research Assistants as well as all other Graduate Assistants and Fellows.
Excluded: All other employees.
|
|
Brown University: Graduate Assistants Vote to Affiliate with AFT
|
Members of Brown University SUGSE (Stand Up for Graduate Student Employees)
voted in favor affiliating with the AFT in an electronic election conducted in March 2017. The vote is tied with a campaign seeking representation and collective bargaining rights at Brown University.
|
Arcadia Univ.: Adjunct Faculty Unit Election Scheduled on AFT Petition
|
|
Arcadia University, NLRB Case No. 04-RC-194273
A
notice of election has been issued by the NLRB scheduling a mail ballot election concerning a petition by United Academics of Philadelphia, AFT seeking to represent a unit of approximately 303 adjunct faculty at Arcadia University in Glenside, Pennsylvania. The tally of ballots will take place on April 20, 2017.
The following is the at-issue adjunct faculty unit at Arcadia University:
Included: All adjunct faculty currently instructing for the Employer and based in the United States or those adjunct faculty who taught at least three (3) credit hours during at least one (1) semester in two (2) of the academic years 2014-2015, 2015-2016 and 2016-2017. (An academic year includes fall, spring, and summer semesters).
Excluded: All other employees: full-time faculty; guest lecturers; professional and clerical administrative staff; managers; department chairs; program directors; confidential employees; non-United States based adjunct faculty; guards; and supervisors as defined by the Act (including those employees that also taught courses as adjunct faculty in addition to their regular non-teaching duties).
|
|
Tompkins Cortland Comm. Coll.: Adjunct Unit Found Appropriate
|
|
T
ompkins Cortland Comm. Coll. and County of Cortland, NYPERB Case No. C-6307
In a representation case stemming from a petition filed by the Tompkins Cortland Community College Adjunct Association, an affiliate of AFT-NEA, a New York State Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) ruled that it was appropriate for the 250 adjunct faculty at Tompkins Cortland Community College to have a separate bargaining unit rather than being added to the preexisting unit of full-time faculty at the college. The ALJ reviewed the respective terms and conditions of employment and concluded that the adjunct faculty belonged in a separate unit because of the disparity in their benefits from the full-time faculty in terms of salary, health insurance, tuition relief for children and spouses, sick leave benefits, and tenure eligibility.
The following is the at-issue faculty unit found appropriate:
Included: All adjunct faculty.
Excluded: All other employees.
|
|
St. Petersburg College: FT Faculty Vote Against Unionization
|
St. Petersburg College of Board of Trustees, FPERC Case No. EL-2017-005
On March 21, 2017, the Florida Public Employees Relations Commission (FPERC) tallied the ballots in a representation election concerning a petition filed by United Faculty of Florida seeking to represent a unit of 375 full-time faculty members at St.Petersburg College. Adjunct faculty were excluded from the at-issue unit.
The tally demonstrated that 195 full-time faculty voted against representation, and 126 voted in favor. On April 6, 2017, FPERC issued a verification of the election results and dismissed the representation petition.
The following is the description of the at-issue bargaining unit:
Included: All full-time faculty, continuing contract counselor, and continuing contract information services librarians.
Excluded: All managerial, administrative, supervisory an confidential employees including, but not limited to, those job titles categorized as follows: administrative and professional, career service, other professional services, part-time employees, adjunct faculty, and acting or interim faculty.
|
|
Santa Fe Community College: FT Faculty Vote for AAUP Representation
|
Santa Fe Community College, NM PERLB Case No. 311-16
On March 29, 2017, the New Mexico Public Employee Relations Board tallied the ballots concerning a representation petition filed by AAUP seeking to represent a unit of full-time
faculty at Santa Fe Community College. Of the 48 eligible faculty members, 39 voted in favor of AAUP representation and 3 voted against. The certification of AAUP as the exclusive representative of the new faculty unit is expected to be issued in the next few weeks.
|
|
Comm. Coll. System of NH: Faculty Vote for IBEW Representation
|
Community College System of New Hampshire, NH PELRB Case E.-0-1653
Following a mail ballot election conducted by the New Hampshire Public Employee Relations Board, the New Hampshire Higher Education Union, IBEW 2320 was certified on March 17, 2017 to replace SEIU as the exclusive representative of the following faculty unit at the Community College System of New Hampshire:
Unit: Community College Instructor, Community College Assistant Professor, Community College Associate Professor, and Community College Professor.
Excluded: All positions listed in the Certification of Representative and Order to Negotiate PELRB Decision No. 2011-074; all positions listed in the Certification of Representative and Order to Negotiate PELRB Decision
No. 2010-210; and supervisory and other positions excluded as a matter of law.
The March 8, 2017 tally of ballots shows that of the 249 faculty members in the bargaining unit, 86 voted in favor of the New Hampshire Higher Education Union, IBEW 2320 and 72 voted for continued SEIU representation.
|
|
Moraine Valley C.C.: ULP for Firing of Adjunct Unit President Upheld
|
Moraine Valley Community College v. Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board
An Illinois appellate court recently affirmed a 2015 decision by the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board (IELRB), which concluded that Moraine Valley Community College unlawfully terminated Robin Meade, the president of an AFT-affiliated adjunct faculty union, for engaging in protected activity under the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Act. The court upheld the ILERB's determination that Meade's letter to the League for Innovation in the Community College constituted protected concerted activity because it set forth adjunct faculty unit grievances relating to health care, the reduction in hours and benefits, the limited resources available to adjunct faculty, and the disparate treatment received by full-time faculty.
Last year, Meade published an article presenting her experiences and perspectives concerning the case in the National Center's Journal of Collective Bargaining in the Academy.
|
|
Columbia College Chicago: Court Reverses NLRB Bargaining Decision
|
|
Columbia College Chicago v. National Labor Relations Board
The United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit issued a recent decision reversing an NLRB decision finding that Columbia College Chicago had engaged in an unfair labor practice when it refused to negotiate with the Part-Time Faculty Association over the effect of a change to the rollover system for scheduling courses for adjunct faculty. See, Columbia College Chicago, 360 NLRB No. 122 (2014).
The appellate court concluded that the management rights clause in the parties' collective bargaining agreement granted the college sole discretion to modify all aspects of its educational policies and practices including changes to any course. The court reasoned that the action taken by the college in the present case was within its sole discretion under the contract and, therefore, was not obligated to bargain with the union over the impact of its decision.
|
|
Governors State Univ.: Court Affirms Dismissal of TT Faculty DFR Claim
|
McKenna v. Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board
An Illinois state appellate court recently affirmed the dismissal by the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board of two unfair labor practice charges against University Professionals of Illinois Local 4100, IFT-AFT (UPI) filed by Governors State University tenure track professor Brian J. McKenna (McKenna). In his charges, McKenna alleged that UPI had violated its duty of fair representation (DFR) under that state's collective bargaining law.
The appellate decision highlights the broad discretion granted to faculty unions under the DFR standard when it is engaged in collective bargaining, as well as the differences that can arise between groups of employees, including tenure-track and adjunct faculty, during the bargaining process.
Since 1985, UPI has represented both a tenure-track faculty unit and non-tenure track faculty unit at Governors State University. In 2013 and 2014, the university and UPI engaged in multi-unit bargaining for a successor agreement, which was reached on June 14, 2014. McKenna was initially the lead negotiator, and later a negotiation team member, until he was removed from the team.
As part of his claims, McKenna asserted that that multi-unit bargaining by UPI with Governors State University constituted a per se DFR violation. In addition, he claimed that during the 2013-14 negotiations UPI subordinated the interests of the tenure-track unit to the interests of the adjunct faculty unit. To support his claim, McKenna cited the failure of UPI to pursue his contract proposal for only tenure-track faculty to receive 9 month contracts, after a majority of the bargaining team voted against the proposal.
In rejecting McKenna's challenge to the dismissal of his DFR claims, the appellate court noted that to meet the DFR statutory standard of demonstrating "intentional misconduct," McKenna had to present "substantial evidence of fraud, deceitful action, or dishonest conduct, or deliberate and severely hostile and irrational treatment." (citations omitted) The court cited to a provision of the Illinois state law that explicitly permits multi-unit bargaining in rejecting McKenna's claim that that form of bargaining is a per se DFR violation. The court also found that a statement by a UPI representative encouraging trade-offs during negotiations between the two bargaining units did not demonstrate intentional misconduct but, rather, was a call for unity at the bargaining table. Lastly, the court noted that even if UPI had made trade-offs benefiting the adjunct unit over the tenure-track unit, that fact alone would not constitute a DFR violation because a bargaining representative has wide discretion in balancing the differing interests between groups of employees.
|
|
Barnard College and Ithaca College: First Adjunct Contracts Ratified
|
In the past month, first contracts were ratified for non-tenure track faculty at Barnard College and Ithaca College. The adjunct faculty at Barnard College are represented by the UAW, and the Ithaca College adjunct faculty units are represented by SEIU. The settlements at each institution were reached in the face of concrete plans by the faculty to strike.
While the specific terms of the agreements are not yet available, public statements have outlined the basic terms of the agreement.
At Barnard, President Debora Spar sent a
message to the university community describing the agreement with the UAW
as providing an increase in compensation to $7,000 for each three-credit course taught by an adjunct faculty and additional increases to $10,000 in the next five years. She also stated that all part-time adjuncts will have have access to healthcare,
and adjunct faculty with longer terms of service will be provided with multi-year appointments or severance pay.
The adjunct faculty bargaining committee at Ithaca College posted the following highlights from the agreement reached at that institution:
- An established path towards pay parity for PT faculty. PT faculty will receive immediate raises, as well as immediate and annual raises totaling $1,025/3 credit course over the life of our contract. We believe that because of our hard work, and the support of our allies, the administration is committed to the concept of pay parity going forward.
- More stability for FT contingent faculty. FT contingent faculty will be eligible for two-year appointments after 3 years of teaching at IC and three-year appointments after 5 years of teaching at IC.
- More stability for PT contingent faculty. PT contingent faculty will be eligible for two-year appointments after 3 years of teaching at IC. In addition, if classes are cut last minute, PT contingent faculty will receive a $1,300 kill fee per class canceled.
- Part-time and full-time contingent faculty have won the right to be recognized as one union.
- Earlier notice of appointment for FT and PT contingent faculty to plan our lives.
- Guaranteed interview and consideration for minimally qualified FT and PT contingent faculty applying for any full-time faculty position.
- A grievance procedure as well as a just cause provision, so no one will be fired without just cause.
- A labor management committee which will meet regularly to discuss contingent faculty concerns.
- Contingent faculty will be eligible for the same teaching excellence awards as tenured and tenure track faculty.
- Contingent faculty will be given appropriate space to prepare for class and meet confidentially with students.
- Student evaluations will not be the sole criteria for judging the teaching effectiveness of contingent faculty.
- Earlier fall semester pay day for part-time faculty.
- Contingent faculty will have access to their personnel files.
- Contingent faculty will have access to the Mind, Body, Me program.
- Contingent faculty will no longer lose their email access between semesters or summers.
- Departments that meet consistently will invite all contingent faculty in such departments to one meeting per semester and make every effort to include contingent faculty in all academic activities, including curricular planning and development. That said, contingent faculty will not be required to participate in curricular planning and development nor any extra academic activities.
- Union representatives will have the right to present information to all new contingent faculty at their new employee orientation.
|
|
Announcement: New Study of Faculty Workplace Policies
|
The Faculty Workload and Rewards Project, which is funded by the National Science Foundation, is creating a repository of department, college or university workload policies that can help ensure fairness and equity. Examples include policy language regarding credit systems (e.g. for high enrollment classes, high number of advisees), equivalencies (supervising 5 MA capstones =1/2 a course release); performance benchmarks for merit pay and annual review (e.g. high performance in service includes x or y, low a or b), and differentiated workload policies (wherein faculty can agree to deviate from formula and teach more and be evaluated more on teaching than research), phased retirement policies, and ways of acknowledging both high and low performance.
A key issue faced by many academic departments trying to improve the retention and satisfaction of faculty is workload and equity. As departments have hired more part-time faculty, there are often fewer full-time faculty to play shared governance roles. Women and underrepresented minority faculty (URM) often find themselves asked to serve on more committees, and engage in mentoring of URM or women students. Some faculty work is invisible, and does not seem to count in reward systems. Many institutions lose good faculty because of real and perceived equity problems as they relate to workload.
The National Science Foundation program has funded the project (Advance Award:1463898) to work with departments to increase awareness of implicit bias in what work is taken up, assigned, and rewarded. Participating departments begin by creating dashboards of workload data and move toward creating organizational practice reforms to correct equity issues and proactively design workloads for greater fairness and flexibility. They then consider various policy options and put in place policy or practice reforms to ensure equity moving forward.
Please send examples of workload policies to Gudrun Nyunt, our project manager, at
ghaider@umd.edu by Wednesday, May 31st, 2017.
Joya Misra
Professor of Sociology & Public Policy
Graduate Program Director, Sociology
Department of Sociology
University of Massachusetts
|
|
The Journal of Collective Bargaining in the Academy
|
|
The
Journal of Collective Bargaining in the Academy (JCBA) is the National Center's peer review journal co-edited by Jeffrey Cross, Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs, Eastern Illinois University, and Steve Hicks, Professor of English, Lock Haven University of Pennsylvania.
We encourage scholars, practitioners, and graduate students in the fields of collective bargaining, labor representation, labor relations, and labor history to submit articles for potential publication in future JCBA volumes.
|
|
|
New Journal from CSU.: Academic Labor Research and Artistry
|
The Center for the Study of Academic Labor (CSAL) at Colorado State University has announced the launch of a new peer-reviewed open access journal titled Academic Labor: Research and Artistry (ALRA).
ALRA
encourages ongoing research on matters relating to tenure and contingency in the academy, both nationally and internationally. It offers a research home for those undertaking scholarship in areas broadly defined as tenure studies and contingency studies. To meet this objective, it invites a wide range of contributions, from the statistical to the historic/archival, from the theoretical to the applied, from the researched to the creative, and from empirical to essayist forms. Journal editors and reviewers include social scientists, artists, and theorists specializing in labor
issues
.
|
|
|
National Center for the Study of Collective Bargaining in Higher Education and the Professions
425 E 25th St.
Box 615
New York, NY 10010
|
|
|
|
|
Copyright © 2017. All Rights Reserved.
|
|
|
|
