The organizational impact of university labor unions

Abstract

The current review presents both postulated and empirically tested consequences of university unionization and labor strikes on the North American institution's administration, faculty, and students. The review explores the impact of collective bargaining on employee working conditions including job security, academic freedom, university governance, and due process. More importantly, this review examines the much neglected issue of organizational work relationships in a unionized academic environment. The relationships discussed include those between faculty members, between the faculty and administration, between the faculty and the university as an institution, and between the faculty and their union. The threat of unionization and labor strikes to the professorstudent or mentor-mentee relationship has been a central concern of those opposed to graduate student unions, and this issue is also addressed here. The text concludes with the identification of potential areas for future research.

A Different Set of Rules? NLRB Proposed Rule Making and Student Worker Unionization Rights

“…In Canada, there is an equally rich history with abundant legal precedent and experience concerning collective bargaining for graduate assistants dating back to 1974. Canada had 22 graduate assistant collective bargaining relationships as of 2003, and a national union density rate of 41% among those employees (Zinni, et al, 2005;Wickens, 2008).…”

The Role of Graduate Student Unions in the Higher Education Landscape

“…As Rhoades and Rhoads () noted, the decade of the 1990s brought about a large increase in the unionization of graduate students, with the number of graduate student unions increasing from just five at the beginning of the decade to as many as 40 at the end of the decade. Frequently, the formation of graduate student unions depended on student leaders collaborating with other already established unions, including faculty and adjunct unions (Wickens, ). In addition, the organizers often collaborated with larger labor unions outside the higher education setting.…”

When Tenure Protects the Incompetent: Results from a Survey of Department Chairs

“… 11 Friedman (1995) characterizes unions as shielding incompetence, however, there is little research on the subject. Research indicates that unions have a limited impact on salaries, but enhance job security (see Barbezat 1989; Benedict 1999; Benedict and Wilder 1999; Hedrick et al 2011; Wickens 2008). …”