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Thousands of Higher-Education Workers Urgently Need Your Help
Quality higher education and the right to collective bargaining are essential to building a more just, democratic and equal society. All teachers, graduate employees, researchers, technicians, support and service staff and construction and building maintenance workers—whether they do full-time, part-time, temporary or contract work—deserve the right to lift themselves from poverty and to improve their lives and the institutions in which they work through collective bargaining.
Over the past decade, access to affordable, quality higher education has diminished and workers’ freedom to form unions and bargain collectively for living wages has eroded. This is a direct result of the cost-cutting, corporate model of academic management that stifles education’s historic mission to enrich community life, advance social justice, guarantee academic freedom and provide opportunities for individual fulfillment.
We need a clear set of principles to guide the behavior and treatment of higher-education institutions towards workers. Please take action right now: Sign the Declaration of Principles and send the letter below to university presidents NOW.
| Sample Letter for Campaign |
Subject: Respect Workers' Rights
Dear [ Decision Maker ] ,
I strongly urge you to adopt and abide by the Declaration of Principles for collective bargaining in higher education at the institution you represent.
All workers at institutions of higher education must have the right to organize and bargain collectively. Freedom of association and the opportunity to act together to advance our lives and secure our futures are firmly established public standards of international human rights. The National Labor Relations Board's recent decision to strip graduate research and teaching assistants of their right to bargain is a striking example of the downward spiral in labor relations.
All higher-education employers must remain neutral in unionization efforts and be prohibited from using tuition, tax dollars or research funds to fight unionization. Employees should be allowed to form unions through a simple and democratic majority sign-up process. We cannot permit questionable maneuvers or our own money to be used to undercut freedom of expression and association.
Contracting and procurement by higher-education institutions, both public and private, must adhere to human rights, prevailing wage and responsible contractor standards. We cannot permit higher-education institutions, guardians of democratic principles and traditions, to circumvent laws that protect prevailing wages, community standards and the right to organize and bargain collectively.
Steady employment in higher education is a precondition to providing quality education and services and to guaranteeing a reasonable quality of life to academic employees. Job instability leads to inconsistency of service to students.
Sincerely,
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Campaign Launched:
April 14, 2005
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Declaration of Principles
for
Collective Bargaining in Higher Education
We are higher-education workers, joined by community members and elected officials, who believe quality higher education and the right to collective bargaining are essential to building a more just, democratic and equal society. We support all those—teachers, graduate employees, researchers, technicians, support and service staff and construction and maintenance workers, whether they do full-time, part-time, temporary or contract work—who seek to improve their lives and the institutions in which they work through collective bargaining.
We are particularly alarmed that access to affordable, quality higher education has diminished and that the right of workers in higher education to unionize and bargain collectively for a living wage has eroded. We have fallen victim to a cost-cutting, corporate model of teaching and learning that denies education’s historic mission to enrich community life, advance social justice, guarantee academic freedom and provide opportunities for individual fulfillment.
We believe that:
All workers at institutions of higher education must have the right to organize and the right to bargain collectively. Freedom of association and the opportunity to act together to advance our lives and secure our futures are firmly established public policy and standards of international human rights. The National Labor Relations Board’s recent decision to strip graduate research and teaching assistants of their right to bargain is a striking example of the downward spiral in labor relations.
All higher-education employers must remain neutral in unionization efforts and be prohibited from using tuition, tax dollars or research funds to fight unionization. Employees should be allowed to form unions through a simple and democratic majority sign-up process. We cannot permit legal maneuvering or our own money to be used to undercut freedom of expression and association.
Contracting and procurement by higher-education institutions, both public and private, must adhere to human rights, prevailing wage and responsible contractor standards. We cannot permit higher education institutions, guardians of democratic principles and traditions, to circumvent laws that protect prevailing wages, community standards and the right to organize and bargain.
Steady employment in higher education is a precondition to providing quality education and services and to guaranteeing a reasonable quality of life to academic employees. Job instability leads to inconsistency of service to students. “Casualizing” employment has a heavy impact on women, immigrants and people of color. We cannot accept jobs segregated by race and gender, jobs that carry little security and offer no voice.
We resolve to work together to achieve these principles to ensure quality higher education and the right to collective bargaining.
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