Word down at the faculty club is that the union now has more than the needed cards – 50% of the TTFs, NTTFs, and ORs – and plans to turn them in to the state ERB next friday. The number of tenure track faculty is considerably lower than they had hoped for, so they are still trying to get more TTF cards in order to head off the possibility of a challenge that would cut the TTF’s out of the bargaining unit, as the law school professors are already trying to do. 3/9/2012.
Dog on challenge in case the 30% rule is not
widely known:
Under the proposed Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), if the NLRB verifies that over 50% of the employees signed authorization cards, the secret ballot election is bypassed and a union is automatically formed. Introduced in the U.S. Congress in 2005 and reintroduced in 2007[1] and 2009,[2] the EFCA provides that the NLRB would recognize the union’s role as the official bargaining representative if a majority of employees have authorized that representation via majority sign-up (card check), without requiring a secret ballot election.[3] Under The EFCA, if over 30% and fewer than 50% of employees sign a petition or authorization cards, the NLRB would still order a secret ballot election for union representation.
Yes, organizers are trying to track down TTF at our homes today in an attempt to get more TTF signatures. The union at PSU has already crippled my discipline there with uncompetitive salaries. promises, promises, and the claim was that an overwhelming majority of TTF favored the union. guess not.
Is Dog aware that the United Academics organizing effort is not governed by the NLRB but by state law? Can Anonymous show evidence that UA ever claimed to have an “overwhelming majority” of TTF? Is there something immoral about trying to reach more TTF this weekend to see if they’ll sign cards?
Dog is aware
but is pretty certain that the 30% rule also applies in this case. It would be pretty bizarre if, under State Law, there is no way to challenge the
card check process. My suspicion is that less than 25% of TTF signed (its just a guess, I could be way wrong) which means that 75% of TTF would like
a pathway to challenge (of that I am pretty sure). Perhaps a lawyer can add their expertise here on the State Law issue here.
See http://arcweb.sos.state.or.us/pages/rules/oars_100/oar_115/115_025.html for full details on challenging majority authorization under Oregon law. If you want to challenge the Union, you will need to hire an anti-labor attorney.
Ultimately, any challenge on the basis of the bargaining unit composition based on the inclusion of TTF and NTTF in the same bargaining unit would fail. ERB would look at precedent set at Klamath Community college, where both were included, and they would rule that the proposed bargaining unit is valid.
dog says
thanks for this.
Is KCC the same as the UO in the eyes of the ERB? Is TTF in the context of
community colleges the same as UO -i.e. does research scholarship count
as much in the CC as in Higher Ed? I know at least 3 cases at the UO where
TTF’s have not taught for 10 years due to research time buyouts. I am not
saying this is right or wrong, just that the class exists.
I figured lawyers would be
needed for any challenge. Even if the challenge is ultimately unsuccessful, that delaying tactic might be worthwhile.
Klamath community college sets a precedent??? I love this crazy place!
lol. Couldn’t agree more. Wasn’t kcc a comparison along with UCSB and Boulder?
kcc now one of our comparators, along with LCC, PCC …. UCSB, Boulder, Virginia, Michigan… all off the list.
If they do have the votes, now comes the interesting part. It will split the teaching staff like nothing ever has at UO. The TTF almost universally do not want to be forced into a union, and are determined to fight it if it happens.
to anon just prior to dog’s post, i take your point on the ‘overwhelming’ claim, The claim by supporters in this blog was obvious that a clear majority support the union. In the same spirit of honest engagement, you may want to check if the word immoral was applied to tracking people down at home. As last anon implies, it will be a rough ride for a while on both sides. iof nothing else, we as academics ought to be able to agree that the truth is what sets us free.
Word down at the faculty club is the Union has more than 50% TTs. I guess I’m gonna have to be quiet and accept majority rule…never expected that.
You do not need to be quiet–you can take part in the process and help shape what happens. That is what this struggle was all about, acting together as a faculty to make our University a better place. How about it.