Shame on Quinnipiac!

[Omaha Steve]

http://blog.aflcio.org/2006/09/08/shame-on-quinnipiac/

Shame on Quinnipiac!

Most people who have heard of Quinnipiac University connect it with the public polling generated through the private institution’s Polling Institute.

But now, according to AFT, the university is getting another name: Union buster.



As the Bush-backed National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) considers a series of cases that could expand the legal definition of supervisor—taking away the federally protected right to join unions from up to 8 million workers—Quinnipiac management went to the NLRB claiming the faculty are managers and should not have the right to bargain.

Never mind that they’ve been doing so for 31 years. This spring, Qunnipiac President John Lahey used a loophole in federal law and decertified the union, the Quinnipiac Faculty Federation/AFT, which represents 240 full-time faculty.

According to Free Exchange on Campus, a coalition of groups seeking to protect the free exchange of speech and ideas on campus:

Quinnipiac president John L. Lahey claims that faculty unions at a university create an “adversarial structure and culture.” This view ignores a 31-year history of good and productive relations with the Quinnipiac Faculty Federation. Furthermore, it ignores the changing conditions of faculty work. Nationwide, faculty tenure and job-security continue to be eroded through the explosive hiring of contingent and contract faculty and faculty continue to be attacked by right–wing ideologues. Under these circumstances, unions are quickly becoming the only institution protecting the rights of faculty to do their jobs researching and presenting new and, at times, controversial ideas without fear of retribution.

The 3,000 delegates to the 2006 AFT convention this summer approved a resolution calling for the censure of the Quinnipiac University administration, full restoration of collective bargaining rights for the faculty and, if necessary, a political and publicity campaign to win back the rights faculty lost.

Take action. Send an e-mail to protest Lahey’s move and tell him union-busting has no place at Quinnipiac.


by Tula Connell