Graduate employees at the University of Minnesota ? for the third time in 15 years ? have rejected union representation.
The vote was 1,779-1,296 against representation by Graduate Teaching and Research Assistants Coalition/UE Local 1105. Nearly 69 percent of eligible graduate employees cast ballots during in-person voting April 11-15 at the university?s St. Paul, Minneapolis and Duluth campuses. Results were released Monday by the state Bureau of Mediation Services.
GradTRAC's Ryan Murphy said activists are both shocked at the defeat and determined to continue the fight against what he called "a worsening employment situation" for graduate students at the university.
"We have built a tremendous network of activists ? a network we never had before of people committed to addressing fundamental job issues," said Murphy, a graduate fellow in American Studies. "We need to address the economic issues of the whole university."
Murphy said key decisions facing the university ? including the administration's strategic positioning paper, plans for a new campus football stadium, and budget and health-insurance revisions ? will demonstrate the administration's true priorities and indicate how much of a financial burden it expects to add to employees and students.
"We care about the issues, not just the rhetorical point of having a union," he said.
Union Advocate photo
Erosion and intimidation?
Rafael Ortiz, rank-and-file organizer for GradTrac, and a graduate employee in the Geography Department, monitors vote counting April 18. Behind him are UE staff organizer Leanna Noble; Jason Stahl, a rank-and-file organizer and research assistant in History; and Pamela Butler, a rank-and-file organizer and teaching assistant in American Studies.
GradTRAC expects to spend the next few days analyzing why the vote turned out the way it did, Murphy said, including apparent erosion among employees who at one point supported the union. "We thought we were going to win," Murphy said. "We're very disappointed."
The administration's public campaign against the union ? which came primarily through emails and web postings ? stressed that a union would interfere with the "collegial" relationship between grad employees and their advisers, and that the university had taken significant steps to address the wage, health-care and job security concerns of grad employees.
Murphy said it now seems clear there also was significant internal pressure applied through professors, department chairs and others who directly oversee grad employees. "There was a lot more going on in the resistance than we recognized," he said.
That includes reports of intimidation and of professors leading entire departments of employees to the polls. Ryan said the union would investigate those reports to determine whether such irregularities occurred and would qualify as labor law violations.
Results identical to 1999
The election margin ? 57.85 percent against a union, 42.15 percent in favor ? was virtually identical to results in 1999, when graduate employees defeated representation by an affiliate of the American Federation of Teachers. Grad employees had rejected an earlier representation attempt by AFT in 1990, by a much larger, 2-1 margin.
In a statement, the university's Office of Human Resources said: "The University is pleased with the election outcome because it allows graduate assistants to continue to enjoy a competitive employment package without paying union dues or negotiating through a third party. The decision supports the partnership between graduate students and their faculty mentors, a relationship the University feared could become more adversarial if a union were elected."
UE ? the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America, is an independent union based in Pittsburgh. Its 35,000 members include graduate employees at the University of Iowa.
"Hundreds of graduate employees voted for our union," GradTRAC said in a statement on its website, gradtracue.org
"Our growing support sends a clear message to the administration that graduate employees endorse our program for Quality, Affordable Health Care; Fair Salaries, Annual Raises and Full Fee Waiver; Job Security; Value and Respect for our Work; Fair Treatment of all RAs and TAs Regardless of Citizenship.
"These issues brought RAs, TAs and GAs together in GradTRAC/UE Local 1105. As grad employees, we see that there is still work for us to do.
"We want to thank all of our members, friends and supporters for their hard work in bringing this campaign forward and creating the biggest pro union vote for the unionization of grad employees in the history of the University of Minnesota. Over the next few days, we will be evaluating the election results and questionable administration conduct during the election. We will be announcing our plans for the future."
Michael Kuchta edits the Union Advocate, the official publication of the St. Paul Trades & Labor Assembly, AFL-CIO. E-mail him at advocate@mtn.org
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Graduate employees at the University of Minnesota ? for the third time in 15 years ? have rejected union representation.
The vote was 1,779-1,296 against representation by Graduate Teaching and Research Assistants Coalition/UE Local 1105. Nearly 69 percent of eligible graduate employees cast ballots during in-person voting April 11-15 at the university?s St. Paul, Minneapolis and Duluth campuses. Results were released Monday by the state Bureau of Mediation Services.
GradTRAC’s Ryan Murphy said activists are both shocked at the defeat and determined to continue the fight against what he called “a worsening employment situation” for graduate students at the university.
“We have built a tremendous network of activists ? a network we never had before of people committed to addressing fundamental job issues,” said Murphy, a graduate fellow in American Studies. “We need to address the economic issues of the whole university.”
Murphy said key decisions facing the university ? including the administration’s strategic positioning paper, plans for a new campus football stadium, and budget and health-insurance revisions ? will demonstrate the administration’s true priorities and indicate how much of a financial burden it expects to add to employees and students.
“We care about the issues, not just the rhetorical point of having a union,” he said.
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| Rafael Ortiz, rank-and-file organizer for GradTrac, and a graduate employee in the Geography Department, monitors vote counting April 18. Behind him are UE staff organizer Leanna Noble; Jason Stahl, a rank-and-file organizer and research assistant in History; and Pamela Butler, a rank-and-file organizer and teaching assistant in American Studies.
Union Advocate photo |
Erosion and intimidation?
GradTRAC expects to spend the next few days analyzing why the vote turned out the way it did, Murphy said, including apparent erosion among employees who at one point supported the union. “We thought we were going to win,” Murphy said. “We’re very disappointed.”
The administration’s public campaign against the union ? which came primarily through emails and web postings ? stressed that a union would interfere with the “collegial” relationship between grad employees and their advisers, and that the university had taken significant steps to address the wage, health-care and job security concerns of grad employees.
Murphy said it now seems clear there also was significant internal pressure applied through professors, department chairs and others who directly oversee grad employees. “There was a lot more going on in the resistance than we recognized,” he said.
That includes reports of intimidation and of professors leading entire departments of employees to the polls. Ryan said the union would investigate those reports to determine whether such irregularities occurred and would qualify as labor law violations.
Results identical to 1999
The election margin ? 57.85 percent against a union, 42.15 percent in favor ? was virtually identical to results in 1999, when graduate employees defeated representation by an affiliate of the American Federation of Teachers. Grad employees had rejected an earlier representation attempt by AFT in 1990, by a much larger, 2-1 margin.
In a statement, the university’s Office of Human Resources said: “The University is pleased with the election outcome because it allows graduate assistants to continue to enjoy a competitive employment package without paying union dues or negotiating through a third party. The decision supports the partnership between graduate students and their faculty mentors, a relationship the University feared could become more adversarial if a union were elected.”
UE ? the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America, is an independent union based in Pittsburgh. Its 35,000 members include graduate employees at the University of Iowa.
“Hundreds of graduate employees voted for our union,” GradTRAC said in a statement on its website, gradtracue.org
“Our growing support sends a clear message to the administration that graduate employees endorse our program for Quality, Affordable Health Care; Fair Salaries, Annual Raises and Full Fee Waiver; Job Security; Value and Respect for our Work; Fair Treatment of all RAs and TAs Regardless of Citizenship.
“These issues brought RAs, TAs and GAs together in GradTRAC/UE Local 1105. As grad employees, we see that there is still work for us to do.
“We want to thank all of our members, friends and supporters for their hard work in bringing this campaign forward and creating the biggest pro union vote for the unionization of grad employees in the history of the University of Minnesota. Over the next few days, we will be evaluating the election results and questionable administration conduct during the election. We will be announcing our plans for the future.”
Michael Kuchta edits the Union Advocate, the official publication of the St. Paul Trades & Labor Assembly, AFL-CIO. E-mail him at advocate@mtn.org