On Friday, November 13th, a Broadcast Message was sent by the Administration that was entitled IMPORTANT THINGS TO CONSIDER BEFORE YOU CAST YOUR VOTE. In this communication, the Administration listed their statements, which argue for why you should not vote for collective representation. In this e-mail, our last electronic communication before the election, we will respond to these statements.
Administration Statement: Collective bargaining is just that – collective. With a faculty union you and your individual interests would be pooled with those of over 500 others. The voice of individuals is diminished.
AAUP Response: Politically or economically, it is well established that the individual voice has much less power than the group voice. As of now, individualization of issues of the work environment has not produced effective representation of collective faculty. At the same time, the assertion that collective representation would diminish the voices of individuals is incorrect. In our view, it would strengthen the voice of the individual since it provides collective support to individual negotiations, needs and grievances.
Administration Statement: In addition, individual circumstances can't be addressed without a third party present.
AAUP Response: The role of a collective bargaining agreement is to establish minimum terms. Individual faculty, without any third party, can negotiate directly with administration for anything the administration is willing to negotiate and would be free to enhance their own conditions of employment and level of compensation. The only role a union would play would be to ensure that administration did not violate contractual agreements or set compensation for an individual faculty member below the minimum.
Administration Statement: You can't try on a union for size, then discard if it doesn't fit. Decertifying a union requires signatures from at least 30% of an existing bargaining unit and filing a petition with the Labor Board for another election. None of this can happen for at least a year.
AAUP Response: Decertifying a collective bargaining unit, has the exact same requirements as forming a collective bargaining unit, i.e. (1) obtain signatures on cards supporting decertification from at least 30% of the eligible faculty, (2) filing the cards with the Labor Board, and (3) conducting a decertification election by secret ballot. If the union is not fulfilling the expectations of a majority of the faculty, it can be decertified after one year has passed.
Administration Point: You already get the same health insurance and pension benefits as unionized employees, but currently you don't have to pay union dues for the privilege. By longstanding state law and practice, whatever benefits SEBAC negotiates for the state's unionized employees are applied to non-unionized employees.
AAUP Response: Yes, the State Employees Bargaining Agent Coalition (SEBAC), a collective of all the unionized state employees, negotiates these benefits, but as a non-collective bargaining unit we have no voice in these negotiations. If we have collective bargaining, we will be at the table participating in these decisions. In addition, SEBAC negotiated for a resumption of scheduled pay increases for its members following the imposed furlough period; UCHC faculty was not in a position to receive such guarantees. In addition, SEBAC also plays a key role in statewide policies through their effective lobbying effort with the State legislature. If the UCHC faculty chooses collective bargaining, the Faculty Association will participate, as a part of SEBAC, in influencing Health Center and health care-related policy.
Administration Statement: If faculty unionize, you must pay dues or an agency fee regardless of whether you personally chose the union or not. Union dues could be approximately 1% of salary, as they are in Storrs.
AAUP Response: Any union dues/fee structures are established by UCHC faculty playing an active role in the formation of the constitution and governance of the faculty union. Connecticut is not a right-to-work state and, all members of the class would be subject to union dues or an agency fee. If union dues are seen as burdensome, consider that UCHC faculty would be substantially ahead had they paid a 0.9% fee and received even a fraction of the raises enjoyed by our colleagues at Storrs. At New Jersey the union dues are less than $500.00 per year for all faculty per year regardless of specialty.
Administration Statement: A faculty union means outsiders (e.g., local and national union organizations, arbitrators, labor boards) may insert themselves into issues that have been the domain of our faculty.
AAUP Response: First, while a UCHC AAUP Faculty Association would be able to draw on technical and advisory support from the national AAUP (and from Storrs), only UCHC faculty would negotiate with UCHC administration. No outsiders would insert themselves into faculty matters. The track-record of the AAUP is quite clear and accessible on this point. Second, the domain of our faculty has been extremely limited over the last decade. Faculty advises, administration rejects and the process of negotiation ends. Unionization would change that equation.
Administration Statement: A union will be involved in all interactions between faculty and administration on matters related to wages, hours, and other conditions of employment. Unless explicitly agreed to by the union and the administration, no faculty members can negotiate on their own behalf.
AAUP Response: The fact is that the elected representatives of the UCHC faculty union would seek to negotiate MINIMUM TERMS of employment conditions and compensation. No individual faculty member can establish lesser terms and compensation below the minimum (why would they want do so?). Keep in mind that the UConn basketball coaches are members of the AAUP, but they and their agents negotiate further terms on their behalf.
Administration Statement: Don't be misled by promises of greater influence in formulating policy if you vote for a union. Unions cannot set policy for the Health Center.
AAUP Response: Collective bargaining can and does influence institution-wide policy, direction and resources by providing a voice for the faculty to UCHC administration, the UCHC Board of Directors, the University Board of Trustees and the State Legislature. The UConn AAUP at Storrs has been an effective spokesman for the faculty and the University and they have worked to develop positive policies and funding (UConn 2000/2010) that have benefited both the faculty and the University.
Administration Statement: Only a handful of the nation's academic medical centers have unionized faculty. As such, the presence of a faculty union at the Health Center may be a deterrent to recruiting quality faculty.
AAUP Response: Only a handful of academic health centers actually have the opportunity to have unionized faculty. Private schools of medicine and dentistry cannot, as a matter of law, form a collective bargaining unit. Many public medical centers are in states in which the law does not allow the formation of a faculty union. Many public academic health centers have instituted a stronger faculty voice and a more responsive administration through vehicles like a faculty senate. In any case, there is simply no evidence to suggest that the presence of a unionized faculty would hamper recruiting efforts
Administration Statement: Unions cannot guarantee higher salaries. Please see the attached comparison of our median salaries with those of other unionized academic medical centers.
AAUP Response: See the UCHC AAUP memo ) on the comparison of UCHC salaries for clinical and basic science medical faculty. This memo raises a number of points that question the validity of such a comparison.
On November 17th and 18th from 6:00 am to 7:30 pm, faculty will vote in secret ballot to choose the status quo or collective representation. We believe that both the evidence and the arguments we have presented over the past weeks call for the need for collective representation and that collective representation will serve the best interests of the faculty, the students, our patients and the institution. Academic medical centers face many challenges. It will be those academic medical centers, which develop innovative solutions that will prevail. We believe that a faculty union can make a major contribution to that innovation.
UCHC AAUP Faculty Association
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Visit www.uchcaaup.org FAQ to read AAUP is a No Strike Union
Please visit the following links for information:
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Frequently Asked Questions
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