The University of Minnesota (UMN) administration has just been given a huge opportunity to respect democracy in the workplace.
Graduate student activists just announced that a majority of all 4,500 UMN Graduate Assistants have signed cards choosing Graduate Student Workers United/UAW (GSWU/UAW) as their Union. Now the only thing standing between Graduate Assistants and moving quickly into bargaining for a first contract is university administrators' agreement to a simple request: that they join the Union in asking the state to certify the Union by verifying that a majority of all Graduate Assistants have signed cards asking to be represented by GSWU/UAW.
The reason UMN should do this is plain and simple: majority sign-up is a more democratic, fair, and efficient method for workers to decide whether to have a union. It allows the employer and the workers to engage in campaigning and it requires support from a majority of all workers, whereas so-called representation elections allow the employer to have an unnecessary, and often costly, second campaign against unionization and the outcome is determined by a majority of only those who vote in the election.
After thousands of private and public conversations among Graduate Assistants about GSWU/UAW, as well as UMN administrators' widespread dissemination of their opposition to unionization (through a University-run town hall forum and a lengthy University FAQ made available to all Graduate Assistants), the democratic will of Graduate Assistants should be respected.
In other words, university administrators have exercised numerous opportunities to have their say against unionization; they should now let the workers' voices be heard by letting the state count the cards. If a majority of all Graduate Assistants have said they want a union, they should have a union.
Employers often reject this democratic majority sign-up process, instead forcing workers to go through costly and time-consuming representation elections. In this case, UMN administrators have already campaigned for over a year and apparently failed to dissuade Graduate Assistants from wanting to engage in collective bargaining through GSWU/UAW. During the lead up to representation elections, employers often intimidate and pressure workers to vote against the union in the hopes more workers will vote "no" rather than "yes" on unionization. But, unlike majority sign-up, often neither vote in these elections surpasses a majority of all eligible workers.
Dragging out their campaign any longer will make clear not only that UMN is undemocratic and determined to prevent unionization, but also that they are willing to waste scarce resources engaging in a longer fight against their employees' wishes.
At the University of California, my 6,000 postdoctoral scholar colleagues and I understand very clearly where Graduate Assistants at UMN are coming from. We formed our Union in 2008 through a majority sign-up process, probably for many of the same reasons UMN Graduate Assistants have formed GSWU/UAW.
Having worked as postdoc without union representation (at Yale University and UC) prior to working under our new contract, I have a clear sense of the advantages that come with a union contract in the academic workplace. The added rights, respect, security and predictability that come with a collective bargaining agreement -- knowing in advance when you will receive salary increases, that you cannot be terminated arbitrarily, that you are entitled to a specified amount of time off, and numerous other contractual rights and protections -- allow us to focus more effectively on our groundbreaking research projects.
Through the democratic process of collective bargaining -- which for us involved electing a bargaining committee comprised of postdocs, gathering thousands of bargaining surveys, and voting to ratify bargaining demands and the final agreement -- our Union at UC negotiated a contract that establishes minimum standards for pay, benefits and working conditions while also maintaining flexibility where we had a mutual interest with the University in doing so. Compensation is a good example. Our contract language on compensation guarantees minimum experience-based salaries and annual increases for all postdocs, which puts postdoc pay at UC among the best in the nation, but also maintains flexibility by making clear that "nothing shall preclude the University from providing compensation to Postdoctoral Scholars at rates above those required."
Hopefully, UMN administrators will move swiftly to respect the choice made by Graduate Assistants to engage in similar negotiations there.
1) The university is a non-proft run by a left-leaning, very large bureaucracy. How would adding yet another left-leaning bureaucracy to the many layers of leftism already in charge of our lives help/address the concerns of conservative or libertarian students?
2) The union states that it will bargain for non-discrimination and anti-harrassment rules in contract negotiations. The left-leaning, non-profit university bureaucracy already (I believe) over-enforces these rules. What non-discrimination and anti-harrasment rules will the union negotiate for in particular?
3) The cultural politics of university administration is already leftist. Will union advocacy work further entrench the already-existing leftist cultural politics of the university?
4) Will grad students have to participate in sympathy strikes in support of auto workers? How will the union discipline me for crossing the picket line in such strikes?
5) The UAW spends a good deal of their money on political advocacy. Will my union dues be used to support political positions and politicians I may or may not agree with?
When I initially posted here and on the grad student union Facebook page with concerns about the honesty of organizers regarding the purpose of the cards, I was responded to immediately by many organizers. Since asking these other questions, I've heard nothing. Why?
2) Wow, so you think that the existing anti-harassment rules are over enforcing!!? That's very unfortunate about what you think, and I don't have anything to say.....do you have any example of someone who got "harassed" because of these anti-harassment rules...lol!
4) Now that's a genuine serious question - 98% of contracts are approved both by the union and the universities **without any strikes*. If in case there is a strike, there will be a survey, and at least 2/3 of the union members have to approve the strike before it is actually done. Don't you think that if the matter is so serious that 2/3 or more want to go for a strike, so be it. It is perfectly democratic!! Let me know know other facts you are seeking..
5) Another good question: UAW cannot spend any of our union dues to support any political candidate. There have been many achievements of UAW which have increased funding through NIH. Check out these things in the GSWU website.
Well now you have your answers. Bring it on!
I was interested in giving the union a chance to make its case and hold an election. I believe in elections. To submit these cards as a mandate is to imply that an election has taken place. It hasn't. It should.
Union organizers are concerned because in 2005--with a 75% turnout!--graduate students voted against a union. That's why you all want to bypass the election. 75% of graduate students is probably most of the graduate students who weren't so close to finishing that they didn't care.
I don't know you were told in training. In real life, I was told I was signing in favor of a union election. I was not told that I was voting for a union and that my signature would be submitted as a vote.
Here's what I do not want: 1) my union dues going to UAW, which will use my funds to support politicians and causes that I don't believe in or agree with; 2) a collective bargaining contract that favors seniority over merit; 3) student representatives whose politics both in and outside of the classroom I disagree with having even more influence within the university; 4) mandatory strikes for contracts I don't need or want; our current contracts are great; 5) the institutionalization of the kind of complaining and moaning I've heard from graduate students; 6) people whose academic and research record isn't competitive dictating the terms of my employment.
These are the issues that need to be debated and aired before an election.
I hope the Administration will do the right thing and join GSWU is filing a joint petition. If they don't, I'll proudly vote for OUR union as I know will most of my colleagues. Again, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to all of the volunteers and organizers who made this historic card drive possible. Keep it up and let's bring our union to UMN!