AAUP Combines Forces With Union in New York

The AAUP and New York State United Teachers (NYSUT) reached an agreement in June to combine forces to provide faculty in New York State with new possibilities in collective bargaining. Under the three-year agreement, the two organizations will engage in a joint effort to organize faculty at campuses in the state. The agreement will not affect the AAUP's traditional assistance to chapters that are not involved in collective bargaining.

NYSUT, with 460,000 members, is an established presence in New York. It represents faculty at the State University of New York (SUNY), the City University of New York (CUNY), community colleges, and several private institutions. It has been a leading advocate for education in the legislative arena for decades. NYSUT is affiliated with the American Federation of Teachers, AFL-CIO. Two NYSUT higher education affiliates—the Professional Staff Congress at CUNY and United University Professions at SUNY—have previously established relationships with the AAUP.

"With our two organizations joining forces in New York, we'll be in a stronger position to bring faculty who choose it the benefits of collective bargaining," said Larry Glenn, the chair of the AAUP's Collective Bargaining Congress.

Although the agreement is not specifically limited to organizing at private colleges, the first joint ventures are at two private institutions, Manhattanville College and Manhattan College. The AAUP and NYSUT are committed to overcoming the obstacles to private-sector organizing established by National Labor Relations Board v. Yeshiva University, a 1980 decision of the U.S. Supreme Court that ruled that faculty members at Yeshiva University, a private institution in New York City, were "managers" and therefore ineligible to unionize under the National Labor Relations Act, which governs collective bargaining at private colleges and universities. Recent National Labor Relations Board decisions, including a 1999 ruling that Manhattan College faculty are entitled to organize, suggest some loosening of the legal structures.

Future organizing campaigns will be jointly determined and may include full-time faculty, part-time faculty, academic professionals, or graduate teaching assistants. "With the AAUP as our partner, we're excited at the prospect of making collective bargaining a realistic option for increasing numbers of faculty in our state," said NYSUT president Thomas Hobart, Jr

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