Collective Bargaining Commons^™

The Limits Of Law: Lessons For Collective Bargaining, Eric J. Scarffe, Daniel Saunders

Journal of Collective Bargaining in the Academy

This paper elucidates some features of law that generally go overlooked in collective bargaining. Using examples from collective bargaining agreements at universities in Florida, we unearth how assumptions about the nature of law (championed by the conservative legal movement) may undermine the ability for unions to influence the material working conditions at their universities. We believe negotiators need to reject these assumptions, and embrace an approach to ‘bargaining as pedagogy,’ which emphasizes the need for faculty and administrators alike to arrive at shared understandings of what the law means (be it the collective bargaining agreement, university policy, or state statute).

How Do Collective Agreements Stack Up? Implications For Academic Freedom, Tim Ribaric, Rahul Kumar

Journal of Collective Bargaining in the Academy

Abstract Academic freedom, a cornerstone of higher education, is formally codified within the enforceable language of collective agreements (CAs) between universities and faculty unions in Canada. While the Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT) provides an exemplar framework for academic freedom clauses, institutional interpretations and implementations vary significantly. This study comprehensively analyzed CAs from 44 Canadian universities using computational text analysis methods, specifically Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) and Term Frequency-Inverse Document Frequency (TF-IDF). The analysis revealed that approximately 27% of institutions closely align with the CAUT exemplar, while 57% incorporate additional limiting factors that qualify the exercise of academic freedom. …

A Beautiful Mind Meets Harsh Reality: Practical Tips For Negotiators When Bargaining Strays From Ideal Conditions, Christopher C. Douglas, Ellen Grachek, Allyson Strickland, Marie Waung

Journal of Collective Bargaining in the Academy

Bilateral bargaining theory developed by mathematician and Nobel Laureate John Nash predicts that when both parties have full information, a deal is quickly reached without a strike. Such a situation represents ideal conditions, which the real world does not match. However, Nash Bargaining presents a useful baseline for bargaining teams. We discuss deviations from ideal conditions that bargaining teams are likely to face and tactics for overcoming them with the goal of reaching an agreement while avoiding a strike. This paper’s focus draws from our experience negotiating a contract for non-tenure track faculty across the three University of Michigan campuses, …

Faculty Views About Their Covid-19 Layoffs From A Public University In The Us Midwest, Susan E. Ramlo

Journal of Collective Bargaining in the Academy

In July 2020, a public university in the US Midwest announced it would lay off 96 bargaining unit faculty based on a force majeure clause in the union contract. Most of the faculty held tenure and some were distinguished professors. The layoffs occurred with no faculty input and immediately following a major university reorganization. This study uses Q methodology [Q] to examine the Perceived Organizational Support [POS] of these laid off unionized faculty within an agency theory framework. Q allows us to reveal and describe the divergent views of the laid off faculty based upon analyses of their sorts of …

Who Benefits From A Faculty Union During A Pandemic?, Mary Ellen Benedict, David Mcclough, John Hoag

Journal of Collective Bargaining in the Academy

This paper examines the effect of unions on instructional staffing at public institutions during the pandemic. Using IPEDS data for 2018-2021, we find that tenured faculty benefited from a union while tenure track and non-tenure track faculty were unaffected.

Jcba's Origins, Evolution, & Future, Gary Rhoades, Karen Stubaus

Journal of Collective Bargaining in the Academy

This article traces the origins and history of the Journal of Collective Bargaining in the Academy, and celebrates its founder, Dr. Jeffrey Cross, as well as noting the significant contributions of National Center directors Richard Boris and William Herbert.

Why Do Teachers Stay Or Leave?: The Relationship Of Administrative Support, Peer Perceptions, Satisfaction Of Salary And Student Behavior On The Big Career Decision, Thomas Kanwischer

Dissertations of Practice

This study explores the impact of teacher retention on the education system and possible reasons that teachers decide to leave. Exploring working conditions of salary satisfaction, student behavior, administrative support and peer perceptions, this study draws correlations between these conditions to see the impact on a teacher's decision to stay or leave. The results of this study help build a picture of the complex decision-making process that a teacher may go through in their career to stay or leave the profession. This information can be used to inform districts, boards, administrators and unions to build policy and practice that is …

Negotiating The Future: The Role Of Labor Unions In Responding To Automation And Technology Developments In The Entertainment Industry, João Branco Chaves

Student Publications

The entertainment industry has undergone profound changes due to the rapid advancement of automation and technology, significantly impacting the labor force behind its productions. Labor unions, such as the Screen Actors Guild‐American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) and the Writers Guild of America (WGA), have been at the forefront of negotiating contracts and protecting workers’ rights amidst these changes. This paper examines the pivotal role that labor unions play in shaping the negotiation processes within the entertainment industry, focusing on their contributions and challenges in responding to technological shifts. It also identifies gaps and contradictions in the research, …

Starbucks Workers United And The Future Of American Labor Activism, Sophia Drake Braymen

Honors Projects

This essay explores the goals, motivations, and methods of Starbucks Workers United (the campaign of the labor union Workers United that is aimed at organizing Starbucks employees), as well as the Starbucks Company’s response to it. The analysis is informed by the author’s interviews with both a Workers United organizer and a Starbucks corporate employee. This essay explores the position of Starbucks Workers United within the broader history of American labor activism and our current epoch of union decline, as well as what the recent breakthrough in cooperation between Workers United and Starbucks means for American workers going into the …

Some Thoughts Of Faculty Strikes, Margaret E. Winters, William Connellan

Journal of Collective Bargaining in the Academy

William Connellan is a long-time administrative-side academic labor specialist who spent much of his career at Oakland University (Michigan). What follows here is the result of an interview with him carried out by the author. After a general introduction to Bill, the institution, and to Michigan labor relations, the article focuses on Bill’s involvement in the many strikes called by the faculty union at Oakland during his tenure there. The article closes with Bill’s broader comments, that is, advice on negotiations and the handling of strikes from the administrative point of view.

Taup's 50-Year Collective Bargaining Story, Arthur Hochner

Journal of Collective Bargaining in the Academy

In the half-century history of faculty collective bargaining at Temple University, the Temple Association of University Professionals has faced numerous challenges. As a union leader for 31 of those years, I took part in many contract negotiations with tough-minded management representatives, including two long strikes. As universities have shifted away from tenure-track faculty toward more contingent ones, both full- and part-time, TAUP has made key adjustments and has grown. While I am now retired from Temple and the union, my successors continue to maintain faculty voice.

Analyzing The Upward Trend In Academic Unionization: Drivers And Influences, Andrea Clemons

Journal of Collective Bargaining in the Academy

Over the last decade, the discourse on collective bargaining has evolved, shaped by the multifaceted challenges confronting contemporary higher education, including shifts in public perception and financial constraints. This article delves into the dynamic landscape of academic labor, highlighting its impact on tenured faculty, contingent faculty, and graduate students. The analysis encompasses the historical context of unionization, the transformation of academic labor structures, and present-day factors such as dissatisfaction with higher education, legislative mandates, and threats to academic freedom. The examination of recent legislative efforts in Florida, the article illustrates an ongoing trend and emphasizes the need for meaningful dialogues …

The 50 Year History Of Collective Bargaining At Hofstra University, Herman A. Berliner, Peter C. Daniel, Bernard J. Firestone, Estelle S. Gellman, Elizabeth J. Ploran, Liora P. Schmelkin

Journal of Collective Bargaining in the Academy

The timeline of collective bargaining at Hofstra mirrors the timeline of the 50 National Center annual conferences. And the details of the Hofstra timeline, from organizing, to bargaining, from global issues to procedural details, from a bitter strike to collegiality, in an environment that respects both collective bargaining and shared governance, in a world without and then with COVID, provide a microcosm of the collective bargaining world over the decades. This article will start at the beginning of collective bargaining at Hofstra, reflect on social and economic changes during these 50 years, view the changing University aspirations, assess the impact …

The Role Of The Chief Negotiator In Academic Collective Bargaining, Nicholas Digiovanni Jr.

Journal of Collective Bargaining in the Academy

Regardless of which side he or she is on, the chief negotiator is the face of the team, the representative of the institution or of the union. The negotiator must persuade, cajole, and otherwise advance his or her client’s proposals. He or she is responsible for assessing the impact of proposals, crafting effective contract language, judging the importance of different concessions, and, perhaps most important of all, maintaining the absolutely critical perspective as to what is crucial at the table and what is just noise. And finally, the chief negotiator sets a tone for the discussions, and his or her …

The Persistence Of Separate And Unequal: Debunking Myths Of The Market In Bargaining For Faculty Gender Salary Equity, Johanna E. Foster, Jen Mcgovern

Journal of Collective Bargaining in the Academy

The Persistence of Separate and Unequal:

Debunking Myths of the Market in Bargaining for Faculty Gender Salary Equity

ABSTRACT

For over a century, feminists have challenged occupational gender segregation as a mechanism to rationalize the devaluing of work assigned to women. The social movement momentum in the second half of the twentieth century helped narrow gender pay gaps both within and across occupations. Recently, apologists for gender discrimination have gained ground in obfuscating the role of gender segregation in reproducing salary inequity, pointing to a black box of “market forces” that presumably account for the devaluing of feminized fields, inside …

Collective Bargaining Among Undergraduate Students, Daniel J. Julius, Nicholas Digiovanni Jr., Jai Abrams

Journal of Collective Bargaining in the Academy

The questions we are focusing on in this essay concern; 1) to what extent are undergraduate students being organized for purposes of collective bargaining or covered by labor agreements (there are two major formats, first, unions comprised of only undergraduates and, secondly, where undergraduates are hired into employee classifications already represented by bargaining agents; the latter more common than many might expect) and 2), what impact, if any, does membership or involvement in unionization influence the undergraduate student experience (graduation and attrition rates, alumni involvement, positive or negative attitudes toward faculty or the institution, compensation, tuition, class time, shared governance, …

Containerization Of Seafarers In The International Shipping Industry: Contemporary Seamanship, Maritime Social Infrastructures, And Mobility Politics Of Global Logistics, Liang Wu

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation discusses the mobility politics of container shipping and argues that technological development, political-economic order, and social infrastructure co-produce one another. Containerization, the use of standardized containers to carry cargo across modes of transportation that is said to have revolutionized and globalized international trade since the late 1950s, has served to expand and extend the power of international coalitions of states and corporations to control the movements of commodities (shipments) and labor (seafarers). The advent and development of containerization was driven by a sociotechnical imaginary and international social contract of seamless shipping and cargo flows. In practice, this liberal, …

Review: A Working Model For Contingent Faculty, Courtney L. Werner

The Writing Center Journal

In his book A Working Model for Contingent Faculty, Robert Samuels presents multiple ideas for helping contingent faculty organize to gain equity on campus: in their careers, working conditions, and pay. Samuels critiques current prominent, negative discourse on contingent faculty, offering instead ways to emphasize contingent faculty’s diverse and positive experiences and opportunities. I offer additional insights spurred from Samuels’s ideas, including connecting with student government and finding ways to make writing center work and research more public and apparent to institutional stakeholders (e.g., students, faculty, donors, administrators, boards/trustees).

Discourses That Undermine Union Movements: A Multimodal Analysis Of Union-Busting Videos, Theresa A. Catalano, Julia Schleck

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Faculty Publications

Labor unions in the United States have experienced decades of decline, but recent years have seen a rebirth of union campaigns and successes. Because unions are once again becoming a threat to large companies, it is reasonable to assume that efforts to discourage organizing efforts will increase and become even more robust in the near future. Although traditionally, companies have worked to suspend union organizing through captive audience meetings in which unions were discussed via verbal or written modes, more recent means of reaching workers with anti-union messages incorporate a variety of communication strategies to get the message across. As …

Unions’ Impact On Firms’ Financial Decision Making: A Look At Right-To-Work Laws And Their Impact On Firms’ Leverage Decisions, Rachana Muvvala

CMC Senior Theses

I study the impact of unions on firms’ financial decision making by exploring their capital structure, specifically leverage. I test two opposing hypotheses to understand the relationship between unions and firms’ leverage: (1) the bargaining hypothesis which suggests that firms use higher leverage as a bargaining device with unions, and (2) the crowding-out hypothesis which suggests that firms have lower leverage because unions crowd out their debt capacity due to their perceived riskiness. Focusing on the 2007 to 2022 period, I examine right-to-work (RTW) laws, since they are exogenous shocks that decrease union power in five different states. Then, I …