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³Ô¹Ï±¬ÁÏ College
Dean of the Faculty/Vice President for Academic Affairs

New FAQs regarding unionization

August 11, 2022

Dear Colleagues,

With the beginning of the fall semester about a month away, I imagine many of you are busy completing summer projects and beginning to prepare for the upcoming academic year. Voting on the election of a union for non-tenure-track faculty also lies ahead. The vote will be conducted by mail between Sept. 12 and Sept. 26, and we urge every eligible non-tenure-track faculty member to vote, since everyone will be bound by the outcome. Please be sure to participate in making this important decision about the future of ³Ô¹Ï±¬ÁÏ and its non-tenure-track faculty members.

We continue to receive questions about these matters and will continue to provide answers and post our responses on the .

 

Q: If a union is elected, and negotiating the collective bargaining agreement extends into the 2023-24 academic year, would people in that union still receive the annual General Salary Adjustment (GSA) next May? Would they have to wait until the collective bargaining agreement is agreed upon?

A: If a union is elected, ³Ô¹Ï±¬ÁÏ would be prohibited by law from making any unilateral changes to the terms and conditions of employment. Instead, any changes would have to be negotiated with the union bargaining representatives, including wage adjustments. A question of law arises as to whether or not automatic rollout of the annual GSA to faculty in a collective bargaining unit would constitute a change or a continuation of existing conditions. This is a gray area of the law, particularly in light of the varying amounts of the GSA during the past three years during the global pandemic. Thus, there is no clear answer to the question of whether or how long NTT faculty members might have to wait for future pay adjustments in the event the union wins one or both elections and bargaining extends into the 2023-24 academic year.

 

Q: If an NTT faculty member undergoes a successful promotion review this upcoming year, which would normally include promotion to a new title and a subsequent pay raise, would he or she get that new title and pay increase, or would he or she have to wait until the CBA is agreed upon?

A: Again, this would depend on a legal analysis over what constitutes a change or a continuation of existing terms and conditions of employment. As noted above, in the event of unionization, any and all changes would be subject to the collective bargaining process, meaning that no changes could take effect until the parties have reached an agreement.

 

Q: If a union is voted in and a bargaining unit or units are formed, how will this affect the participation of non-tenure-track faculty in shared governance?

A: Shared governance is a core principle of ³Ô¹Ï±¬ÁÏ College. We believe deeply that shared governance improves the life of the College, and our strong preference is for non-tenure-track faculty to continue to be eligible to participate in shared governance. However, to the extent that non-tenure-track faculty are considered members of a collective bargaining unit, opportunities for participation in shared governance may be limited. The U.S. Supreme Court has long held that participation in shared governance is generally considered a supervisory responsibility that is inconsistent with inclusion in a bargaining unit of union-represented employees.

 

Q: To what extent would unionization limit non-tenure-track faculty members’ ability to take on additional teaching responsibilities and earn HELIOS stipends?

A: If a union is established in one or both bargaining units, this issue would necessarily be subject to negotiation between the union and the College.

 

Q: If a union is formed, it has been claimed that NTT faculty would retain all of their existing benefits and that the union would bargain for additional benefits. Is this accurate?

A: Not necessarily. All terms and conditions of employment, including compensation and benefits, would be subject to negotiation. There are no guarantees in collective bargaining. As the NLRB has advised, the collective bargaining process can result in compensation and benefits that go up, stay the same, or go down. In addition, as noted above, certain legal complexities can affect what happens going forward. ³Ô¹Ï±¬ÁÏ has a long history of increasing compensation over time, and the College’s commitment to ensuring we remain competitive in order to recruit and retain talented NTT faculty members will continue with or without a union.

 

If you have additional questions you would like us to answer, please send them to me at dfaculty@skidmore.edu.

Sincerely,

Michael Orr

Dean of the Faculty and Vice President for Academic Affairs