As the historic unionization wave continues on our campus, especially as Penn graduate student workers in GET-UP gear up to vote for their union this spring after a highly successful organizing campaign, now is a crucial time for faculty as well as Penn employees across job categories to educate ourselves and each other on the right to organize.
AAUP–Penn is honored to host a lecture and conversation on February 27th with an expert on the subject, Janice R. Bellace, Samuel Blank Professor Emerita of Legal Studies in the Wharton School and past Chair of the International Labor Organization’s Committee of Experts, who will discuss freedom of association and unionization as human rights. Join us on 2/27 at 4pm ESTon zoom to hear Janice R. Bellace speak on “Graduate Student Workers’ Human Right to Organize.”
We invite all faculty to attend our third and final faculty conversation on unionization at Penn on Friday, October 20, at 12 noon on Zoom. This is a chance to learn about unionization and about how anti-union campaigns operate, and to discuss questions and concerns that faculty might have and/or to equip yourself to answer colleagues’ questions about GET-UP.
This Wednesday, October 4th, Penn graduate student workers in GET-UP will publicly announce that they are filing for an NLRB election to officially win their union, now that a majority have signed authorization cards. This exciting news comes close on the heels of an overwhelming 142-22 win by RAs United in their own union election.
GET-UP members will be calling on the Penn administration to remain neutral and to agree to a fair election process. They are counting on a strong show of support from faculty, staff, and students across Penn and allies in the Philly community to amplify that call. So, can you come out to rally with GET-UP on Wednesday at 12 noon at the Button in front of Van Pelt?
Hope to see you there! AAUP–Penn Executive Committee
P.S. To discuss any questions you or your colleagues may have about grad unionization and about what a fair election would look like (as distinct from the anti-union campaigns Penn has been running against GET-UP, RAs United, and other recently organized unions), please join us for a faculty information session Tuesday at noon in Fisher-Bennett 135 or October 20th at noon on zoom (register via the QR code below for a meeting link).
Our campus is in the midst of an extraordinary wave of organizing, with RA’s United holding an election next week and GET-UP preparing to file the following week. Since Penn’s central administration has launched anti-union campaigns against student workers (crafted by the law firm Cozen O’Connor) and is attempting to enlist faculty in their anti-union messaging, this is an important time for faculty to educate ourselves and each other about unionization.
To that end, AAUP–Penn is holding a series of fall conversations with faculty to offer some background on the nature of unions in higher ed and on the process of unionization, address any questions or concerns you may have (or that you’ve heard expressed by colleagues), and clarify some misleading information coming from the administration. The next two sessions will take place on October 3 at noon in Fisher-Bennett 135 and on October 20 at noon on zoom (register via the QR code on the flyer below for the meeting link). Please come to one and bring a colleague!
This spring, we have been inspired by the growth of union organizing at Penn. Resident advisors who work in the dorms filed for a union election in March; graduate research assistants and teaching assistants in GET-UP went public with their organizing drive in April; and residents at Penn Medicine won their union election in May. Meanwhile, Penn Museum Workers United is pushing ahead with their campaign to win a first contract.
The university administration has launched anti-union campaigns in response to all these mobilizations and is now trying to enlist faculty in anti-union activity. Just last week, all standing faculty in the School of Arts and Sciences received an email from administrators directing us to websites that present anti-union talking points for us to pass along to graduate student workers. It is wrong for the administration to attempt to make us conduits for anti-union messages. Moreover, it is wrong for the administration to run anti-union campaigns at all.
Our Response
This week we delivered a letter to administrators calling on them to take down all anti-union websites and end the anti-union campaigns. We hope you’ll read and share it.
Together over the next several months, we will work to educate colleagues about anti-union campaigns to make sure that we do not pass along anti-union messages. As many of us know, anti-union campaigns can be subtle: employers present their communications as purportedly neutral answers to frequently asked questions. As a result, even faculty who support unions might not immediately recognize these websites for what they are.
To educate ourselves and our colleagues, we have created an annotated version of the Provost’s guidance to faculty. Please read it, share it with colleagues, and stay tuned for upcoming information sessions and opportunities to get involved.
