Labor Relations Commons^™

It’S Been A Great Career: Legendary Labor Attorney Reflects On 50 Years Of Change In Academic Collective Bargaining, Karen Stubaus

Journal of Collective Bargaining in the Academy

Nick DiGiovanni, legendary labor and employment attorney, reflected on over 50 years of academic labor relations and collective bargaining work in a recent conversation with Journal of Collective Bargaining in the Academy Co-Editor Karen Stubaus, as he prepared to retire from Morgan, Brown & Joy. Nick’s son and colleague Damien DiGiovanni, also a partner at the firm, joined in the conversation to bring his perspective to some of the issues currently confronting the field.

Forcing The Issue: Nebraska’S Collective Bargaining Stand-Off, Shannon Cummins

Journal of Collective Bargaining in the Academy

This paper describes the unusual collective bargaining landscape for public academic institutions in the state of Nebraska where state legislation has mandated both pay transparency and limits to the collective bargaining process. Specifically, it explores the unprecedented 2024-2025 bargaining cycle which relied on innovative union tactics of nationwide freedom of information requests (FOIA) to reach contract agreement in the face of twelve years of administration stonewalling tactics. The case study of Nebraska is important as it provides an actual account of negotiations where state limits on collective bargaining have yet to be tested in the courts.

Every Grain Of Sand: 2024 Changes To The Scope Of Higher Education Unionization, William A. Herbert, Joseph Van Der Naald, Jacob Apkarian

Journal of Collective Bargaining in the Academy

In this research note, we supplement the findings presented in the National Center’s 2024 Directory of Bargaining Agents and Contracts in Institutions of Higher Education. We aggregate and analyze data on changes in academic collective bargaining relationships for faculty, postdoctoral scholars, and graduate and undergraduate student employees in the year 2024. Our findings demonstrate that the growth in academic collective bargaining over the past decade that we documented in the 2024 Directory has continued. However, we find some significant contractions in faculty unionization through institutional closures and the revocation of bargaining units in the state of Florida. The research …

Navigating Harassment And Discrimination At University Of California Through Uaw 4811'S Abusive Conduct Contract Provisions, Sarah Arveson, Emily Weintraut

Journal of Collective Bargaining in the Academy

The Respectful Work Environment (RWE) provisions in the recent University of California labor agreements with graduate students and postdocs have proven useful in addressing harassment and discrimination in new and perhaps more effective ways than either previous contract provisions or university policies and procedures. The authors describe how the new RWE provisions work and provide several illustrative case studies.

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).

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.

Labor Law's Impact On The Post-Dobbs Workplace, Jeffrey M. Hirsch

Employee Rights and Employment Policy Journal

The Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision has left many workers, especially in states with restrictive abortion-related laws, in a precarious position. Labor laws and unions, however, provide one avenue for providing these workers with more protections. Unions can demand bargaining to protect or expand health care, leave, and other terms of employment that give workers with means to obtain abortion-related care. Unions can also provide members legal defense and other support if they face prosecutions. Additionally, both union and non-union workers who make up the vast majority of workers in states with restrictive laws may have labor law protection for discussing …

Whither The Wagner Act: On The Waning View Of Labor Law And Leviathan, Brandon R. Magner

Employee Rights and Employment Policy Journal

The National Labor Relations Act’s (NLRA) well-documented weaknesses in substance and enforcement, combined with legislators’ inability to adapt the Act to the modern economy, have understandably created many cynics in the field of labor law. For several decades, legal scholars have almost unanimously derided the NLRA and the agency which administers it, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), for failing to prevent rampant anti-union conduct by employers and the collapse of the union formation process through the Board’s election machinery. This “ossification” of the law, as it has come to be known, is considered to be a key contributor to …

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.

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, …

College Athlete Unionization, Roberto L. Corrada

Sturm College of Law: Faculty Scholarship

The U.S. Supreme Court's landmark 2021 decision in NCAA v. Alston has opened the door to serious consideration of the potential for college athlete unionization and collective bargaining. The ruling, highlighted by Justice Kavanaugh's concurring opinion, suggests collective bargaining as a potential solution to the National Collegiate Athletic Association's ("NCAA's") antitrust vulnerabilities. This Article delves into the initial legal and strategic questions surrounding the prospect of unionization, focusing particularly on NCAA Division I football and basketball, due to their significant revenue generation making them prime candidates for unionization efforts.

The National Labor Relations Board ("NLRB" or "Board") is positioned to …

Protecting Academic Freedom Through Collective Bargaining: An Aaup Perspective, Michael Mauer

Journal of Collective Bargaining in the Academy

AAUP’s turn to collective bargaining grew out of a more expansive view of unionization than is typical for American labor unions. The mission of the AAUP incorporates addressing economic matters, as does the purpose of unions generally. But the AAUP adopted collective bargaining as a means of protecting and expanding the professional interests of the profession. This paper surveys the various approaches that AAUP chapters have used to accomplish the safeguarding and expansion of academic freedom.

Asymmetries In The Bargaining Process, Margaret E. Winters

Journal of Collective Bargaining in the Academy

Although both sides in academic collective bargaining state that they are interested in the best interests of the institution, there are, of course, differences as to what these interests are and how they are to be achieved. Some of the divergences are differences of degree (the union may look for much larger raises for the economic good of their members and the administration team may look to maintain economic viability for the institution), while others are differences of kind, asymmetries in the process. The present paper considers the latter kind of difference, considering the teams, their planning processes, and their …

Working In Coalition, And Wall-To-Wall: The New Progressive Normal, Gary Rhoades

Journal of Collective Bargaining in the Academy

As the U.S. starts to come out of the pandemic, public declamations about and private deliberations within colleges and universities are framed in part by negotiating getting back to some form of “normal.” At the center of and delimiting these labor/management negotiations is an all-too-familiar master narrative articulated by management invoking a “new normal,” a time of conditions and challenges borne of, transmitted by, and/or accelerated and amplified due to Covid-19. Yet, I suggest that yet another iteration of disaster/disastrous academic capitalism is neither called for nor does it offer a compelling future for higher education. In addition, there is …

Post-Pandemic Collective Bargaining In Higher Education: An Irresistible Force Meeting And Immovable Object?, James Ottavio Castagnera

Journal of Collective Bargaining in the Academy

Rider and the AAUP were last at the table for a full-fledged renegotiation of their contract during the summer of 2017.The bargaining was concessionary, as my university --- like so many small-to-medium sized private colleges --- struggled with a looming deficit. Last year, no doubt, the union and its members looked forward to a return to the table with high hopes of recuperating some of those 2017 concessions. But, as Humphrey Bogart once famously observed, fate took a hand.

Organizing Of Teaching Faculty In Private Higher Education Bucks A Long-Standing Historical Trend In American Unionization, James Castagnera

Journal of Collective Bargaining in the Academy

No abstract provided.

A Different Set Of Rules? Nlrb Proposed Rule Making And Student Worker Unionization Rights, William A. Herbert, Joseph Van Der Naald

Journal of Collective Bargaining in the Academy

This article presents data, precedent, and empirical evidence relevant to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) proposal to issue a new rule to exclude graduate assistants and other student employees from coverage under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA). The analysis in three parts. First, the authors show through an analysis of information from other federal agencies that the adoption of the proposed NLRB rule would exclude over 81,000 graduate assistants on private campuses from the right to unionize and engage in collective bargaining. Second, the article presents a legal history from the past half-century about unionization of student employees …

Runaway: A History Of Postwar New York In Four Factories, Andy Battle

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

At midcentury, New York City was among the preeminent manufacturing centers in the United States. Within a generation, this manufacturing economy suffered an extraordinary collapse. Beginning in the 1950s, workers and their unions began to use the term “runaway” to describe factories that pulled up stakes in New York and set them back down in other climes. This dissertation explores the deindustrialization of New York City through case studies of “runaway” plants, or factories that left New York for the American South or abroad between the years 1945 and 1975.

In general, the manufacturers that remained in New York at …

Negotiating The Great Recession: How Teacher Collective Bargaining Outcomes Change In Times Of Financial Duress, Katharine O. Strunk, Bradley D. Marianno

Educational Psychology, Leadership, and Higher Education Faculty Research

This article examines how teacher collective bargaining agreements (CBAs), teacher salaries, and class sizes changed during the Great Recession. Using a district-level data set of California teacher CBAs that includes measures of subarea contract strength and salaries from 2005–2006 and 2011–2012 tied to district-level longitudinal data, we estimate difference-in-difference models to examine bargaining outcomes for districts that should have been more or less fiscally constrained. We find that unions and administrators change critical elements of CBAs and district policy during times of fiscal duress. This includes increasing class sizes, reducing instructional time, and lowering base salaries to relieve financial pressures …

Bargaining For Adjuncts: An Assessment Of Adjunct Union Growth In The Saint Louis Region, Jameson Ramirez

Journal of Collective Bargaining in the Academy

Minimum-wage labor is no longer confined to sectors once associated with low-skill occupations. In college classrooms across the United States, we are witness to the rise of a “gig-economy” among faculty positions where highly skilled work is being completed by part-time workers known commonly as adjuncts. Despite performing highly-skilled work, adjuncts are compensated at the levels of low-skilled workers. Lack of access to benefits, capricious contract agreements, and a general sense of feeling dispensable are common themes to the adjunct experience. The aim of this paper is to address the concerns of adjuncts and suggest some workable solutions to their …

The History Books Tell It? Collective Bargaining In Higher Education In The 1940s, William A. Herbert

Journal of Collective Bargaining in the Academy

This article presents a history of unionization and collective bargaining in higher education during and just after World War II, decades before the establishment of statutory frameworks for labor representation. It examines the collective bargaining program adopted by the University of Illinois in 1945, along with contracts negotiated at other institutions, which demonstrated support for employee self-organization. It will also presents counter-examples of institutions using the courts and congressional investigators to defeat unionization efforts. . Lastly, the article will examine the role of United Public Workers of America (UPWA) and its predecessor unions in organizing and negotiating on behalf of …

Saying Goodbye To Unions In Higher Education: The Yale Hunger Strike In Perspective, Raymond L. Hogler

Academic Labor: Research and Artistry (2017-2022 archives)

No abstract provided.

Monetary Compensation Of Full-Time Faculty At American Public Regional Universities: The Impact Of Geography And The Existence Of Collective Bargaining, Stephen G. Katsinas, Johnson A. Ogun, Nathaniel J. Bray

Journal of Collective Bargaining in the Academy

This paper examines monetary compensation of 127,222 full-time faculty employed by the 390 regional universities in the United States who are members of the American Association of State Colleges and Universities. Compensation data published by the U.S. Department of Education and organizations concerned with faculty, including the American Association of University Professors and others, typically lump all four-year public university faculty together, ignoring well-known differences in teaching workloads at different types of public four-year universities (four instead of two courses taught each term, etc.). Further, many compensation studies do not examine fringe benefits, which are 30 percent of total monetary …

Panel Handout: Microaggressions And Implicit Bias On Campus - Microaggression Theory: A Selected Bibliography 2016, Barbara Diamond

Journal of Collective Bargaining in the Academy

No abstract provided.

Panel Handout: Microaggressions And Implicit Bias On Campus - Implicit Bias: A Selected Biography 2016, Barbara Diamond

Journal of Collective Bargaining in the Academy

No abstract provided.

Workshop: Microaggressionsand Implicit Bias On Campus - Microaggressions And Disability, Barbara Diamond

Journal of Collective Bargaining in the Academy

No abstract provided.

Panel: Dual Credit And Enrollment Issues At Community Colleges - A Case Study: Erie Community College, Kristin Klein Wheaton

Journal of Collective Bargaining in the Academy

No abstract provided.

Panel: Dual Credit And Enrollment Issues At Community Colleges, Alec Thomson

Journal of Collective Bargaining in the Academy

No abstract provided.

Panel Handout: Best Practices In Arbitration Of Higher Education Issues, Rosemary Townley

Journal of Collective Bargaining in the Academy

No abstract provided.

Panel Handout: Year In Higher Education, Jerry Cutler

Journal of Collective Bargaining in the Academy

No abstract provided.