[February 21, 2019]
Dear Quinn,
Thank you for taking the time to meet today.
As I noted in the meeting, in your February 7, 2019 letter to the Trustees, you wrote that UGSDW was “open to limiting the jobs that would be covered” if the College were willing to enter into a dialogue concerning possible expansion of the existing bargaining unit comprised of dining service workers.
As you know, the College’s position has been that campus-wide collective bargaining, with negotiation over a wide range of experiential service opportunities, could limit educational and professional development opportunities on our campus and could fundamentally alter the vital relationship between students and faculty.
At the National Labor Relation Board (NLRB) hearing last fall, I shared the College’s own analysis of student work; which concluded that although a majority of the positions that UGDSW sought to add to the existing union had a significant educational component, others did not and were more comparable in that regard to positions in dining services. And of course, you know that with no opposition from the College, dining workers were able to form the first union of undergraduate students in the United States.
With all that in mind, we are considering criteria that will be used to assess all positions not currently represented in the union. We will use those criteria to identify those positions — ones that are not primarily educational in nature — that might be considered for possible inclusion in an expanded UGSDW bargaining unit.
If the USSDW agrees, we would like to move forward with a discussion, and, within the next 10 days, we could provide the union with an initial list of suggested guidelines and related on-campus positions. I am hopeful that, based on a constructive dialogue, we will be able to agree on the parameters of any unit expansion. Then we will need to discuss the most appropriate procedure for determining the UGSDW’s majority status among the students involved.
I look forward to beginning this important new phase of our relationship with the UGSDW and hope you will be able to make time for this discussion soon. Obviously, any discussions that are opened would be without prejudice to both the College’s and Union’s legal positions, and either party could discontinue our discussions at any time if they do not appear to be productive, or for any other reason.
Please advise on how you would like to proceed from here.
Very truly yours,
Raynard Kington