Currently the Student Workers Organizing Committee is in the very first stages of organizing a union. Union organizing is a complicated process; its ease relying greatly on the employers attitude toward unionization.
Workers attempting to form a union have two general options depending on the employers' stance toward unionization.
The first, and easiest, method is called voluntary recognition. In this case workers show that they have substantial support for a union and the employer voluntarily recognizes it. Chris Howell, associate professor of politics, said this method was common before the 1980s, but since then things have changed. "These days employers tend to make it hard," he said.
If an employer refuses to recognize a union voluntarily the workers must prove they have majority support of an officially defined bargaining unit. At this point employers and workers must determine which workers will be in the bargaining unit, a decision which can end up at National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) arbitration.
Once the bargaining unit has been defined and union organizers have shown the majority of those workers support the union the employer can still refuse to recognize the union. In this case the NLRB will run an official election.
Student workers trying to organize at colleges and universities have faced fierce opposition from their employers in the recent past, according to Howell. "Universities have been staggeringly hostile," he said.
Howell said universities, along with other public employers, tend to see student employees as more than simply workers. He also said colleges and universities know they can simply stall the process for a few years while the ringleaders graduate.
Copyright © 1998, The Oberlin Review.
Volume 127, Number 11, December 4, 1998
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