On December 1-2, 2017, the National Center will be holding a regional conference at California State University Long Beach.  

 

Among the topics to be examined at the regional conference will be:

 

The Impact of Immigration Enforcement on Higher Ed  

Unionization and Bargaining Regarding Adjunct Faculty

 

Current Labor-Management Issues for University and  College Classified Staff

 

Strategies and Challenges in Higher Education Funding 

 

Current Labor-Management Issues at Community Colleges

 

Workshop Training: Collective Bargaining and Labor Relations for 

Administrators and Labor Representatives  

The National Center is pleased to announce the availability of five podcasts from presentations given at our 2017 annual conference in New York City.  We encourage you to share the podcasts with your colleagues.  

 

University of Southern California, 365 NLRB No. 89 (2017)

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) issued a decision on June 7, 2017 finding that the University of Southern California (USC) engaged in an unfair labor practice by refusing to negotiate following the certification of SEIU as the exclusive representative of an adjunct faculty unit.  In response to the charge, USC admitted that it refused to bargain but asserted that the certified adjunct unit is improper because the faculty are managerial, and therefore excluded from the rights and protections under the National Labor Relations Act.  

USC will likely commence litigation in federal court seeking to have the NLRB decision and certification overturned.  The litigation will lead to judicial precedent concerning whether adjunct faculty at private colleges and universities can be found to be managerial under NLRB v. Yeshiva University , 444 U.S. 672 (1980), and Pacific Lutheran University, 361 NLRB No. 157 (2014). 

The following is the at-issue adjunct faculty bargaining unit at USC: 

Included: All full-time and part-time non-tenure track faculty who are employed by us and who teach at least one credit-earning class, section, lesson, or lab within the academic unit known as the USC Roski School of Art and Design at our instructional facilities at the University Park Campus or at the Graduate Fine Arts Building, located at 3001 South Flower Street, Los Angeles, California 90007.

Excluded: All tenured or tenure-track faculty; all faculty whose primary teaching responsibilities are within an academic unit other than the USC Roski School of Art and Design; all faculty whose primary area of practice and/or scholarship is outside the following areas: ceramics, critical studies, design, intermedia, painting and drawing, photography, printmaking, or sculpture; all faculty regularly employed by us at any location other than the University Park Campus or the Graduate Fine Arts Building; all faculty teaching online courses exclusively (regardless of location); all emeritus faculty; all registrars and librarians; all Athletic Department coaches; all graduate students; all postdoctoral scholars; all lab assistants, graduate assistants, clinical fellows, teaching assistants, and research assistants; all mentors who do not have teaching responsibilities; all department chairs, regardless of their faculty status; all administrators, including those who have teaching responsibilities; the President of the University; the Provost; all Associate Provosts, Vice Provosts, and Vice Presidents; all Deans, Associate Deans and Assistant Deans, regardless of their faculty status; all non-faculty employees; all volunteers; all other represented employees; and all managers, supervisors, and guards as defined in the Act.

Northwestern University, NLRB Case No. 12-RC-177943

Following a recount of ballots in a representation election involving a petition by SEIU seeking to represent 678 adjunct faculty at Northwestern University, the Region 13 Director issued a supplemental decision and certification on May 26, 2017 certifiing SEIU as the exclusive representative of the adjunct faculty unit.

The recount found that 229 faculty members voted in favor of unionization, 219 voted against, with an additional 25 unresolved ballot challenges.  In response to the certification, Northwestern University filed an expedited request for review and a motion to stay the Regional Director's decision and certification.

The following is the at-issue Northwestern University adjunct faculty unit:

Included:  All full-time and part-time graduate and undergraduate non-tenure-eligible faculty (including the following titles: Adjunct Faculty; Adjunct Instructors; Adjunct Lecturers; Adjunct Assistant Professors; Adjunct Associate Professors; Adjunct Professors; Clinical Assistant Professors; Clinical Associate Professors; Clinical Professors; Artists-in-Residence; Instructors; Lecturers; Senior Lecturers; Distinguished Senior Lecturers; Visiting Assistant Professors in the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences; Assistant Professors of Instruction; Associate Professors of Instruction; Professors of Instruction; and Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences Advisors who hold teaching-track appointments) employed by Northwestern University and have taught at least one credit bearing course in a degree granting program at Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences, McCormick School of Engineering & Applied Sciences, Bienen School of Music, the School of Communication, the School of Education & Social Policy, Medill School of Journalism, and the Graduate School.  

 

Excluded: All tenured faculty, tenure-eligible faculty, emeritus faculty, Postdoctoral Fellows, Visiting Postdocs, All Other Postdoctoral Job Classifications, Visiting Faculty, Visiting Lecturers, Visiting Scholars, Visiting Associate Professors, Visiting Professors, Research Assistant Professors, Research Associate Professors, Research Professors, faculty in non-degree granting programs, the Feinberg School of Medicine faculty, the Pritzker Law School faculty, the Kellogg School of Business faculty, the School for Professional Studies faculty, Northwestern in Qatar faculty, all faculty teaching only at the Chicago or Doha campuses, all administrators (including deans, directors, provosts, and chairs who may have teaching assignments), other administrators and staff who have teaching assignments, faculty who are paid directly or indirectly by other entities including governments, other academic institutions and other organizations, graduate students, athletic coaches, all other employees employed at the University, including those who teach a class or course and are separately compensated for such teaching, managers, confidential employees, office clerical employees, and guards and supervisors as defined in the Act. Those eligible to vote in the election are employees in the above unit who were employed during the payroll period ending May 31, 2016, and who have taught at least one credit bearing course in a degree granting program in the Spring 2016, Winter 2016 or Fall 2015 quarters, and who were also active in the University's HRIS system as of May 31, 2016.