|
Unionization In
The Classroom: GW's Response To Organizing Part-Time Faculty
|
Back
to Index
|
MEMORANDUM
TO ALL PART-TIME FACULTY, RE: UNION ELECTION (printer-friendly
version)
May 12, 2004
As
you have probably heard by now, Local 500 of the Service Employees
International Union (Service Employees or SEIU) has filed a petition
with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to represent GWs
part-time faculty. I would like to provide you with some preliminary,
but critical, information about the representation election so that
you can begin to think about the potential implications of unionization
for you and for the University.
Although the Service Employees does not have a majority of the part-time
facultys support of its petition for an election, SEIU met
the NLRBs minimum jurisdictional requirement to hold an election
by garnering support only from 30% of the part time faculty teaching
in the Spring 2004 semester. The election, which will determine
whether the Service Employees should be permitted to represent the
Universitys part-time faculty as its exclusive agent, will
be by mail ballot and eligible voters will have from October 4 through
October 19, 2004, to complete and return their mail ballots. The
vote will affect all GW part-time faculty and regular part-time
faculty, with few exceptions.
You will likely receive a number of communications from the Service
Employees between now and the election. You may also see SEIU flyers
and posters around campus that attempt to demonize the University
as a means of convincing you to vote for the Service Employees union,
which they have recast as an adjunct union. I have confidence
that you will be able to parse through the rhetoric and focus your
attention on the relevant facts, as the results of this election
will significantly affect your conditions of employment at the University.
The University too will be communicating with you over the coming
months to explain in more detail why, in its view, voting for the
Service Employees union would not be in your best interests or in
the interests of the students we serve. For now, however, I wish
primarily to impress upon you the importance of these issues, and
the need for you to voice your position and cast your vote during
the election in October. This is because under federal labor law,
a majority of those voting -- not a majority of those in the unit
sought to be represented -- will determine whether the Service Employees
will represent GWs part-time faculty. Do not let a small minority
of part-time faculty choose a representative to speak for you. Please
vote in October!
In the interim, to learn more about the issues involved in union
representation, I encourage you to speak to your deans and department
chairs, and to visit the Universitys website at www.unionization.gwu.edu
(where you will also find more information about the events that
led to the direction of an election by the NLRB). I too would appreciate
hearing from you. Thank you, and have an enjoyable summer.
Donald R. Lehman
Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs
|