NATIONAL CENTER
for the Study of Collective Bargaining in 
Higher Education and the Professions
E-Note
  
 
   
 
http://www.hunter.cuny.edu/ncscbhep   
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June 2016
The National Center E-Note is a monthly electronic newsletter containing research and analysis relevant to unionization and collective bargaining in higher education and the professions.
  


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Save the Date: March 26-28, 2017 
44th Annual Conference at the CUNY Graduate
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Call for Papers, Presentations, and Workshops for 2017 Conference
The National Center has issued a Call for Papers, Presentations and Workshops for
our 2017 annual conference.  We encourage scholars, researchers and practitioners
to submit pr�cis to [email protected] by September 30, 2016.
 
We also welcome proposals by scholars for presentations with respect to recently published books relevant to labor relations and collective bargaining. 
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More Photographs from the 2016 Annual Conference
Below are additional photographs from our 2016 annual conference.


Friedrichs v. CTA: What the Future May Bring?:  NYU School of Law Catherine A. Rein Professor Cynthia Estlund discussing future legal issues concerning agency fees following the dismissal of the case Friedrichs v. CTA by the United States Supreme Court.  The other participants in the plenary session were: Charlotte Garden, Associate Professor, Seattle University School of Law;  Ruben Garcia, Professor of Law, University of Nevada, Las Vegas; and Frederick Schaffer, General Counsel and Senior Vice Chancellor for Legal Affairs, City University of New York, Moderator.


LGBT Issues in Higher Education Labor Relations Panel
: Sean Robinson, Associate Professor of Higher Education, Morgan State University; Elizabethe C. Payne, Interim Director, LGBT Social Science and Public Policy Center, Roosevelt House, Visiting Associate Professor, Hunter College, CUNY and Director, The Queering Education Research Institute, Moderator; Rosemary DiSavino, EEOC Senior Trial Attorney; and Rachel V. See, NLRB Lead Technology Counsel.


Affordable Care Act Update Panel
: Lawrence Singer, Senior Vice President, Segal Company, Panelist and Moderator; Maria Maisto, Adjunct in English, Cuyahoga Community College, and New Faculty Majority President; Sara Sawyer, Director, Human Resources, Community College System of New Hampshire; and John Abraham, American Federation of Teachers Benefits Department Director.



Legal Issues in Higher Education: Annual Review of Court and Administrative Developments Panel:
Kenneth Mash, Association of Pennsylvania State College and University Faculties President, Moderator; Richard F. Griffin, NLRB General Counsel; Aaron Nisenson, AAUP Senior Counsel; and Mary Kay Klimesh, Seyfarth Shaw LLP.
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The Future of Community Colleges:  A Webcast from the 2016 Conference
The National Center is pleased to present a webcast of the conference panel discussion about the future of community colleges.  Click here for the webcast.


The Future of Community Colleges Panel
: Lynette Nyaggah, Community College Association CTA-NEA President; Martha Kanter, Distinguished Visiting Professor of Higher Education and Senior Fellow, Steinhardt Institute of Higher Education Policy, New York University; David Bergeron, Senior Fellow, Center for American Progress; and Stephen G. Katsinas, Director and Professor, University of Alabama Education Policy Center, Moderator.

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USDOL Adopts Final Rule Amending FLSA Overtime Regulations 
On May 18, 2016, the United States Department of Labor (USDOL) issued its final rule updating the overtime eligibility regulations under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). 

USDOL's proposed rule was the subject of a panel discussion at the 2016 conference as it related to professional employment on campus. The conference panel included John S. Ho, Bond Schoeneck & King PLLC; Ruben Garcia, Professor of Law, University of Nevada, Las Vegas; Erica Rafford-Noyes, SEIU Higher Education Research Coordinator; and Robert Zazzali, Senior Vice President for Community Affairs and Economic Development, Rowan University, Moderator.

Below are two commentaries that the National Center solicited following USDOL's adoption of its final new overtime regulations, as well as a webcast of a hearing conducted by the House Committee on Education & the Workforce concerning the regulations.

An Overview of DOL's Final Overtime Regulations 
by John Ho, Bond, Schoeneck & King, PLLC
 
The U.S. Department of Labor recently issued its final regulations revising the white collar exemptions under the Fair Labor Standards Act.  Although the final regulations significantly raise the salary threshold for the administrative, professional, executive, and computer employee exemptions, employers can take some solace in the fact that the increase is actually lower than the one proposed by the USDOL last summer.  In addition, employers who still have extensive work to do in order to prepare for the implementation of the final regulations will have more time to do so than expected.  The final regulations will not become effective until December 1, 2016, which gives employers more than six months to make decisions regarding whether to increase salaries to retain the exemptions or reclassify formerly exempt employees as non-exempt.

The USDOL's proposed regulations issued last summer set the minimum salary to qualify for the white collar exemptions at the salary level equal to the 40th percentile of earnings for full-time salaried workers in the United States.  The final regulations set the minimum salary to qualify for the white collar exemptions at the salary level equal to the 40th percentile of earnings for full-time salaried workers in the lowest-wage Census Region of the United States.  So, instead of the salary threshold increasing to approximately $970.00 per week as anticipated, the salary threshold for the administrative, professional, executive, and computer employee exemptions will increase to $913.00 per week (which amounts to $47,476 per year) effective December 1, 2016.  Although this salary increase is slightly more palatable to employers than the proposed salary increase, it is still a significant increase from the current federal minimum salary level of $455.00 per week to qualify for the white collar exemptions and the current New York minimum salary level of $675.00 per week to qualify for the administrative and executive exemptions.  Teachers, lawyers, and doctors will continue to not be subject to this minimum salary requirement. Thus, the salary level increase and the salary basis test will continue not to apply to faculty and adjunct professors who have teaching as their primary duty.

The USDOL's proposed regulations set the minimum salary to qualify for the highly compensated employee exemption at the salary level equal to the 90th percentile of earnings for full-time salaried workers in the United States.  This did not change in the final regulations.  Effective December 1, 2016, the minimum salary to qualify for the highly compensated employee exemption will be increased from $100,000 per year to $134,004 per year.

The USDOL's proposed regulations included a provision that would have automatically raised the minimum salary levels to qualify for the white collar exemptions from year to year without further rulemaking.  The USDOL's final regulations still provide for automatic increases, but instead of occurring every year, these automatic increases will occur every three years beginning on January 1, 2020.  The automatic increases will continue to be based on the 40th percentile of earnings for full-time salaried workers in the lowest-wage Census Region of the United States to qualify for the executive, administrative, professional, and computer employee exemptions, and the 90th percentile of earnings for full-time salaried workers in the entire United States to qualify for the highly compensated employee exemption.  Although this will still force employers to evaluate their exempt workforces on a periodic basis to determine whether to reclassify employees as non-exempt, going through this process every three years instead of every single year will ease this burden slightly.

Currently, employers are not permitted to count commissions, bonuses, and other forms of incentive compensation toward the minimum weekly salary for an employee to qualify for the executive, administrative, professional, and computer employee exemptions.  However, the USDOL's final regulations allow employers to satisfy up to 10% of the new salary threshold by the payment of non-discretionary bonuses, incentives, and commissions that are paid quarterly or more frequently.  Employers should take this into consideration when deciding how to restructure the compensation of exempt employees in order to retain the white collar exemptions.

In another break for employers, although the USDOL solicited comments about whether revisions should be made to the duties tests for the white collar exemptions, the final rule leaves the duties requirements untouched.

Employers should keep in mind that they have many options when evaluating compliance with the new white collar exemption regulations.  One of those options is to convert salaried exempt employees to hourly non-exempt employees and do so at an hourly rate that will not raise the total labor expense for their business.  Of course, that means that the hourly rate will need to be set low enough to account for straight time pay for the first 40 hours per work week and overtime pay for hours worked in excess of 40 hours per work week, without raising an employee's total average weekly earnings above the current salary.  In other words, many of the 4.2 million employees, accordingly to USDOL, who will potentially be eligible for overtime pay may find that they will not earn any more than they did when they were exempt employees. In fact, as employers may likely budget overtime aggressively in setting the hourly rate to avoid exceeding budget, some employees may eventually earn less a year.

Ultimately, there is no one-size fits all approach and the decision how to comply with the new regulations will require a joint and collaborative effort from the top of the institution down including human resources, finance, legal and senior administration. Indeed, the best course of action may differ from job title to job title or department to department. Even with the longer December 1 grace period, compliance will be a challenge for institutions that have not started the process.  

Overtime Rule Updates Crucial Protections for Employees, But More Work
Needs to Be Done
 
By Trisha Pande, Law Fellow, Service Employees International Union
 
Last month, President Obama and Secretary of Labor Thomas Perez announced the publication of the U.S. Department of Labor's (USDOL) final rule updating overtime regulations for employees pursuant to the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).  The new rule's primary impact is to update the salary threshold or minimum salary that an executive, administrative, or professional worker must earn in order to be exempted from FLSA protections.  The current annual salary threshold of $23,660, set in 2004, was out of step with our current economy and allowed the vast majority of executive, administrative, professional workers-including those earning less than the poverty line for a family of four-to be excluded from FLSA protections.  Under the new rule, the threshold will be increased to $47,476 per year and will be subject to automatic updates indexed to future changes in salaries, starting in 2020.  The long-awaited overtime rule will go into effect on December 1, 2016, expanding access to overtime compensation for millions of workers.
 
As a result of the USDOL's updated rule, many employees working in higher education institutions will become subject to overtime protections at the end of this year, including approximately 40,000 postdoctoral researchers ("postdocs") who currently earn less than $47,476 per year.  Trends in higher education hiring indicate that colleges and universities increasingly rely on postdocs to perform important research and instruction.  Between 2000 and 2012, the number of postdocs specializing in the sciences grew by 150 percent. Data also shows that postdocs often work long hours for little pay.  According to the National Postdoctoral Association, more than two-thirds of postdocs earned $39,264 or less in 2013 despite working an average of 53 hours a week.
 
Long concerned with the low pay and stagnating career opportunities for postdoc researchers in colleges and universities, the scientific community has widely endorsed and celebrated broader overtime protections.  As expressed by Secretary Perez and the National Institutes of Health Director Francis Collins, expanding labor protections for postdocs under the updated rule will "encourage more of our brightest young minds to consider choosing careers in science" and "enrich...the future of our research enterprise."  Under the new rules, postdocs in higher education will finally receive the increased financial support and workplace protections already enjoyed by their counterparts working at national labs.
 
Despite this progress however, more than 40 percent of employees working for higher education institutions-including faculty, graduate assistants, and postdocs with the primary duty of teaching-will remain ineligible for overtime pay regardless of compensation.  This is due to regulations first implemented in the 1960s that exclude teachers from the salary threshold test, making them automatically ineligible for overtime or minimum wage protections regardless of their earnings.  Although there is limited legislative history indicative of the reasoning behind the teacher exemption, it is likely that the exemption (also applicable to doctors and lawyers) stemmed in part from cultural and historical perceptions of teachers as enjoying a relatively high standard of living.  Dramatic changes in higher education since the 1960s, however, and particularly the mushrooming of contingent appointments, show that the perception of teaching jobs as stable appointments with significant benefits no longer comports with reality.
 
Unsurprisingly, the teaching exemption combined with increased contingency in higher education has had devastating consequences for faculty. Almost a third of part-time, contingent faculty earn less than 150 percent of the federal poverty level and approximately one in four are enrolled in at least one public assistance program.  Based on a recent survey conducted by the Service Employees International Union, 16 percent  of part-time, contingent faculty estimated earning an hourly wage below the federal minimum of $7.25 per hour.  Given these economic realities, the teaching exemption appears to be at odds with FLSA's legislative intent.
 
By providing desperately needed updates to the salary threshold, USDOL brought overtime regulations protecting postdoc researchers in line with today's economy and FLSA's purpose of eliminating "labor conditions detrimental to the maintenance of the minimum standard of living necessary for health, efficiency, and general well-being of workers."  However, the new regulations also highlight by contrast the poor working conditions and outdated regulations governing other higher education professionals who are currently excluded from the salary threshold test. Indeed, an employee who one year worked as a postdoc researcher would enjoy greater FLSA protections (and likely a higher salary) than she would legally be entitled to in subsequent years in a faculty position combining both research and teaching. This creates a situation where greater experience and expertise may absurdly result in lower pay and longer hours, providing further incentives for professionals to leave higher education in favor of the private sector.  In order to give full effect to FLSA's intended protections in the context of higher education, the USDOL should take further action to ensure that all faculty, graduate employees, and postdocs are entitled to adequate compensation and a decent standard of living.
 
House Committee on Education & the Workforce Holds Hearing on New Rule

In related news, the United States House of Representatives Committee on Education & the Workforce held a hearing on June 9, 2016 concerning the new overtime regulations. The hearing included testimony setting forth additional commentary concerning the USDOL regulations.
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Cornell University: Agreement Reached on Graduate Student Organizing
On May 16, 2016, Cornell University and the Cornell Graduate Student Unit-Ed, NYSUT, AFT entered into a written agreement concerning the on-going unionization effort by Cornell teaching assistants, graduate research assistants, graduate assistants, and research assistants.  The terms of the negotiated agreement reflect a desire by the parties to establish written rules applicable to the current campaign in light of the NLRB's reexamination of the status of graduate students as employees under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) in two pending cases:  The New School, NLRB Case No. 02-RC-143009 and Trustees of Columbia University, NLRB Case No. 02-RC-143012

Under the negotiated agreement, the parties will "have the same rights and obligations with respect to union organizing" by graduate assistants as if the graduate assistants were deemed employees for purposes of the NLRA.  In addition, the union will be entitled to hold meetings and have access to graduate students on campus.

If the NLRB rules that graduate students are employees for purposes of collective bargaining, the parties have agreed that the issue of whether the union represents a majority of graduate student employees will be determined by an election conducted by the American Arbitration Association (AAA) rather than the NLRB.  The Cornell University-AFT agreement identifies the scope of the bargaining unit, and the eligibility requirements for voting.  The university has agreed to voluntarily recognize the union as the exclusive representative for the graduate student employees if majority status is demonstrated through the AAA election. 

The negotiated agreement also includes guidelines and limitations concerning communications by administrators, faculty, and principal investigators with graduate assistants concerning the unionization drive.  Among the restrictions is a prohibition against captive audience meetings with graduate students about union representation, and a prohibition against communications to individual graduate students "advising them on joining or supporting the Union, the benefits or disadvantages of union representation, or to discourage protected concerted activity."

In the past two years, similar negotiated agreements were reached at the University of Connecticut and New York University resulting in the UAW being voluntarily recognized as the exclusive representative of graduate student employee units at those institutions. 

A favorable ruling for graduate student employees by the NLRB in The New School and Trustees of Columbia University will substantially impact the unionization efforts at Yale, Harvard, and many other private sector institutions across the country.  Such a ruling would mean that graduate student employees at private sector institutions will have the rights and protections under the NLRA including the right to union representation for purposes of collective bargaining, and the right to engage in collective activities for mutual aid and protection.
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Portland State University: AFT-AAUP Certified to Represent GSE Unit
Portland State University, OERB Case No. CC-003-16

On May 5, 2016, the Graduate Employees Union, AFT/AAUP, AFL-CIO filed a representation petition seeking to be certified as the exclusive representative of 793 graduate assistants employed by Portland State University.  The university did not contest the petition.

On May 31, 2016, the Graduate Employees Union, AFT/AAUP, AFL-CIO was certified by the OERB as the representative for the following new bargaining unit of graduate assistants:  

All Graduate Assistants employed by Portland State University, including Graduate Administrative Assistants, Graduate Research Assistants, and Graduate Teaching Assistants, but excluding supervisory and confidential employees.
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McDaniel College: SEIU Certified to Represent Adjunct Faculty Unit 
McDaniel College, NLRB Case No. 05-RC-175386

On June 14, 2016, SEIU was certified by the NLRB as the exclusive representative of a unit of 238 adjunct lecturers and graduate adjunct lecturers at McDaniel College in Maryland.  The certification resulted from a tally of ballots that took place on June 6, 2016.  In the election, 82 faculty members voted to unionize, 36 voted against, and 3 ballots were challenged. 

The following is the composition of the new faculty unit at McDaniel College:

All Adjunct Lecturers and Graduate Adjunct Lecturers paid by the class, teaching credit earning classes in face- to- face settings (on or off campus) at McDaniel College, but excluding all Adjunct Lecturers and Graduate Adjunct Lecturers who serve only as Internship Supervisors, Adjunct Lecturers and Graduate Adjunct Lecturers who teach only on-line, office clerical employees, confidential employees, managers, guards and supervisors as defined in the Act.
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 William Patterson College: Arbitration to Proceed on Adjunct Training Pay 
William Paterson University, NJPERC Case No. SN-2016-021

On April 28, 2016, the New Jersey Public Employment Relations Commission (NJPERC) issued a decision finding that William Paterson University had a managerial right to require adjunct faculty to participate in on-line discrimination and harassment training, which was intended to satisfy the school's obligations under Title IX.  As a result, the agency blocked a contract grievance from proceeding to binding arbitration to the extent it challenged the requirement that the adjunct faculty complete the on-line courses.  NJPERC reached a different conclusion, however, with respect to the compensation sought by the grievance for the adjuncts who completed the on-line courses.  The compensation portion of the grievance was permitted to proceed to arbitration.
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University of Oregon Violated Duty to Negotiate Over Student Statements
University of Oregon, OERB Case No. UP-009-05

On June 3, 2016, Oregon Employment Relations Board (OERB) issued a decision finding that the University of Oregon violated its duty to negotiation under the Oregon Public Employee Collective Bargaining Act when it failed to pursue a good faith accommodation regarding a union's request for student statements relating to the discipline of bargaining unit employees.  The university had refused the union's request for the student reports on the grounds that they were educational records under the federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA).  OERB concluded, however, that even if the statements were covered by FERPA, the university had an obligation to engage in good faith negotiations with the union aimed at accommodating the union's need for the information.
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 Wright State University: TT and NTT Faculty Units Merged Into One Unit
Wright State University, OSERB Case No. 2016-REP-04-0043

On June 2, 2016, the Ohio State Employment Relations Board (OSERB) approved the joint petition of Wright State University and AAUP to merge the full-time tenured and tenured-track bargaining unit with the non-tenured track bargaining unit into a single unit.  The following is the description of the newly merged bargaining unit:

Included: All full-time tenured and tenured-track faculty, Senior Lecturers, Lecturers, Instructors, Clinical Assistant Professors, Clinical Instructors, and visiting faculty at Wright State University.

Excluded: All Department Chairs and Heads, Deans, Provosts, Vice-Presidents, the President, supervisor defined by Ohio Revised Code 4117.01(F), all faculty within the Schools of Medicine and Professional Psychology other than those who are tenured or tenured-track, and all other employees not included above.
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 Belmont College: Full-Time Faculty Vote in Favor of AFT Representation
Belmont College, OSERB Case No. 2016-REP-03-0026

On June 16, 2016, the Ohio State Employment Relations Board (OSERB) conducted a tally of mail ballots concerning a representation petition filed by the Ohio Federation of Teachers seeking to represent a faculty bargaining unit at Belmont College in St. Clairville, Ohio. Of the 32 faculty eligible to vote, 28 voted in favor union representation, and three voted against.  

The following is the at-issue faculty bargaining unit:

Included: All permanent full-time faculty members.

Excluded: All administrative personnel and support staff. 
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Northwestern Univ.: Election Scheduled on SEIU Representation Petition 
Northwestern University, NLRB Case No. 13-RC-177843

On June 9, 2016, SEIU filed a representation petition seeking to be certified as the exclusive representative of a bargaining unit of approximately 525 faculty at Northwestern University.   On June 21, 2016, a notice of election was issued by NLRB Region 13 for the conduct of a mail ballot election, with the ballots being mailed out on June 27, 2016, and the ballots being tallied on July 19, 2016.

The following is the description of the at-issue faculty unit set forth in the notice of election:

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.
 
Following the filing of the representation petition, Northwestern University posted an eight-page FAQs outlining its perspectives on the unionization efforts by the adjunct faculty.  
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Chatham University: USW Withdraws Petition After Election Scheduled
Chatham University, NLRB Case No. 06-RC-176958

On June 2, 2016, NLRB Region 6 issued a notice of a mail ballot election concerning a USW petition seeking to represent a unit of adjunct faculty at Chatham University in Pittsburgh.  USW's sought certification as the exclusive representative of approximately 380 full-time faculty and part-time faculty.

Ballots were scheduled to be mailed to the faculty by the NLRB on June 17, 2016, with the ballot count scheduled for July 12, 2016.  One day before the ballots were scheduled to be mailed, however, the NLRB Region 6 office approved USW's request to withdraw the representation petition.

The following is the description of faculty unit that was set forth in the notice of election:

Included: All adjunct faculty employed by Chatham University who taught at least one
three (3) academic credit course in the immediately preceding academic year (2015-2016) and/or in the 2016 Summer Session who were employed by the Employer during the payroll period ending May 15, 2016.

Excluded:  All faculty other then adjuncts as defined above, graduate student
employees, deans, department chairs, program directors, program coordinators, managerial employees office clerical employees, confidential employees, guards, and supervisors as defined in the Act and all other employees.
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City University of New York: Tentative Agreement for Successor Contract
The City University of New York (CUNY) and the Professional Staff Congress (PSC), which represents the faculty and staff at all CUNY campuses have announced a tentative agreement resolving an impasse in negotiations for a successor agreement to the contract that expired in 2010.  A summary of the tentative agreement has been posted by the PSC.
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Keene State College: NEA Certified to Represent Administrative Staff Unit
Keene State College, NHPELRB Case No. E-0189-1

On June 14, 2016,  the Keene State College Administrative Staff Association, NEA-NH was certified to be the exclusive representative of a bargaining unit of 90 administrative staff at Keene State College.  The certification followed a tally of ballot conducted by the New Hampshire Public Employee Labor Relations Board (NHPELRB) on April 6, 2016.  In that election, 50 administrative staff voted for NEA representation, 33 voted against, and one ballot was challenged.
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Northern Illinois University:  AFT-AAUP Certified to Represent TT Faculty
Northern Illinois University, IELRB, Case No. 2016-RC-0010-C
 
On June 9, 2016, the Illinois Education Labor Relations Board (IELRB) certified United Faculty Alliance of NIU, UPI, IFT-AFT, AAUP as the exclusive representative for 590 tenured and tenure track faculty at Northern Illinois University.  The certification was issued by the agency following a card check consistent with the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Act. The following is the unit description in the IELRB certification: 
 
Included:  All full-time (0.51 FTE and above) tenured and tenure-track faculty employed at Northern Illinois University.

Excluded:  All adjunct, part-time and non-tenure faculty, retirees; students; faculty of the College of Law; and all other supervisory, managerial, confidential and short-term employees as defined in the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Act. 
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Saint Martin University: Contingent Faculty Vote for SEIU Representation
Saint Martin University, NLRB Case No. 19-RC-173933

On June 17, 2016, NLRB Region 19 tallied the ballots in an election concerning a representation petition filed by SEIU seeking to be the exclusive representative of all full-time and part-time contingent faculty at Saint Martin University in Lacey, Washington.  In a unit of 129 faculty members, 63 voted for SEIU representation, 34 voted against, and one ballot was challenged. 

The following is a description of the at-issue faculty bargaining unit at Saint Martin University:

Included: All full-time and part-time contingent faculty who teach at least one credit-bearing lab or class (including online classes) or one ESL class and who are employed bythe Employer at its main campus in Lacey, Washington, or at its extension and satellite campuses, including but not limited to contingent faculty with the title of Instructor, English as a Second Language (ESL) Instructor, Educational Supervisor, Education Laboratory Instructor, Visiting Faculty, and Lecturer (Lecturer I, Lecturer II, Lecturer III).

Excluded: All regular faculty, Provosts, Academic Deans, Professors, Assistant Professors, Associate Professors, Professors Emeriti, Librarians, nonprofessional employees, all other employees (whether or not they have teaching responsibilities), Summer Cultural Exchange employees who do not have teaching responsibilities outside their Summer Cultural Exchange duties, managerial employees, confidential employees, and guards and supervisors as defined in the Act.

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The Journal of Collective Bargaining in the Academy

Journal of CBA Logo  
   
   
  
  
  
  
  
  

The National Center is pleased to announce the publication of Volume 7 of the Journal of Collective Bargaining in the Academy (JCBA).  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, Associate 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.
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Job Postings
The Professional Staff Congress is seeking to hire a Coordinator of Contract Administration, who will work closely with the union's Director of Contract Administration to increase the union's effectiveness in enforcing the instructional staff contract and expanding the reach of academic labor unionism.

The application deadline is June 30, 2016.  A cover letter and resume should be sent to
Barbara Gabriel, Professional Staff Congress, 61 Broadway, 15th floor, New York, N.Y. 10006, fax (212) 302-7815, email: [email protected]

SEIU Local 500 is soliciting applications for the newly created position of Director of Collective Bargaining and Collaborative Engagement.  With over 14,000 members, SEIU Local 500 is one of the largest and fastest growing public service unions in the Washington, DC/Maryland/Northern Virginia area. The position will be responsible for managing the union's collective bargaining program and for overseeing the union's commitment to strengthen and further develop effective, sustainable labor-management programs that are member driven and led. Applicants should submit a resume, cover letter, and salary history to: David Rodich, Executive Director SEIU Local 500, 901 Russell Avenue, Suite 300, Gaithersburg, Maryland 20879,
or by email to: [email protected] 
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Donate to Support the National Center's Work and Mission
Your generous donations to the National Center will help to enhance our national and regional programming, publications and initiatives. On-line contributions can be made here.
 
National Center for the Study of Collective Bargaining in Higher Education and the Professions 
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425 E 25th St.
Box 615
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National Center for the Study of Collective Bargaining in Higher Education and the Professions | Hunter College 425 E 25th St. | Box 615 | New York | NY | 10010