Inside Higher Ed: Delicate Debate on Unionization

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2007/03/20/union

Delicate Debate on Unionization

A bill passed by the U.S. House of Representatives that is seen as the top legislative priority for organized labor this year is attracting attention and some opposition from college leaders.

The bill would generally make it easier for unions to be formed at private employers, including private colleges. The legislation wouldn’t affect who could unionize, so rulings by courts and the National Labor Relations Board that have stifled organizing of faculty members and graduate students at private institutions wouldn’t be affected. But where organizing drives are permitted and active — for example of custodial and clerical workers and of adjuncts — the legislation would help unions.

The bill — known as the Employee Free Choice Act — would do two main things:

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It would make it possible for workers seeking to unionize to be recognized as soon as a majority of potential union members have signed cards asking for representation. Currently, those cards are used to ask the NLRB to set up a formal election.
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It would require mediation and arbitration when the union and employer are unable to reach a first contract after a union has been formed.

While the legislation may well pass the Senate, many expect President Bush to veto it and predict that it would be difficult to override such a veto, especially in the Senate. At the same time, with the Bush administration in a relatively weak position politically these days, some hope that the bill could become law this year.

Others see this year’s debates as a preliminary fight on the issue, which could come back in a future administration that might be more concerned than the current one about support from organized labor. Looking ahead is also why some private university leaders have been nervous about the bill. Private universities have waged a strong — and successful — war against the unionization of their teaching assistants. If a future NLRB issues rulings more sympathetic to such a union drive, the law being sought by labor groups could then apply to those employees, too.

Several officials who represent or work for private universities said that there was nervousness about the bill, but also anxiety about opposing it in a prominent way. Private universities stated repeatedly during the battle over T.A. unions that they weren’t against all unions, just those for graduate students, and the institutions don’t want to be identified with other employer groups that are more actively opposing the bill. At other institutions, campus leaders are aware of strong student protest movements on campus in favor of the rights of custodial workers to unionize. Several officials who have been watching the legislation and who oppose it said that they didn’t want to be quoted, but were happy that one higher education group had publicly come out against the bill.

FULL article at link.