Who is organizing this campaign?
Workers for Justice is a worker-initiated, worker-directed campaign. A group of Pomona’s dining service workers began meeting weekly, consulting with their coworkers about the possibility of forming a union to address injustices and improve their situation. Shortly after the first meetings, workers approached a small number of students, asking them for assistance in organizing students and finding outside legal and organizing consultation. Following that consultation, workers decided to attempt to form an independent union through the card-check process. The role of students has been to organize students and to assist workers with issues of organizational capacity, such as transportation, translation, media use, and website development.
The website itself was created and is maintained by students. The website is a resource for anyone interested in learning about the campaign and to provide campaign updates; it is not a voicebox specifically for either workers or students.
What is card check neutrality?
***Understanding the “Secret Ballot” in light of President Oxtoby’s e-mail***
A card-check is a unionization method that grants workers the power to bargain collectively when over 50% of workers sign union cards. Employers are asked to sign a card-check neutrality agreement in order to assure recognition of the results of the card check, and to guarantee that they will not intimidate workers or employ other union-busting techniques. Workers sign cards on their own time in the privacy of their homes and a neutral third-party agreed upon by both parties verifies whether or not a majority is reached. Without such a card-check neutrality agreement, Pomona would have no obligation to recognize a union, even if 100 percent of their employees submit their written support. Instead, Pomona could demand an election process, monitored by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), which takes years to implement and invariably favors the employer. Very few unions are successfully implemented through the NLRB process, since it does not prevent management from intimidating, harassing, and even terminating workers who support unionization. Under a card-check neutrality agreement, workers are assured that their decision will be recognized by management, and that the process can take place in a safe environment and in a timely manner.
Has the college responded?
President Oxtoby sent an e-mail yesterday indicating that the college would only allow a ‘’secret ballot” vote, which the workers have explicitly decided against. This method provides opportunities for employers to delay a vote for up to five years. Endorsing the NLRB “secret ballot” procedure is a strategy for assuring that a vote never occurs, or if it does, that it is held after support and resources have eroded away. There’s also no mechanism for enforcing non-intimidation, so there’s no way to stop employers from having anti-union propaganda leading up to the vote. Because this type of vote happens in the workplace, it leaves workers vulnerable to intimidation and undue influence.
In contrast, the card check method that the food service employees have selected would allow them to undergo a collective bargaining procedure in a timely way, and to conduct that procedure outside of the workplace, in a safe environment such as their home. As a Senator, President Obama co-sponsored the Employee Free Choice Act, a bill that would federally mandate employers to recognize the card check agreement. President Obama recognized the flaws with the NLRB-sponsored “secret ballot” process and fought for a sound alternative, but President Oxtoby’s e-mail indicated that Pomona is trying to deny that alternative to their employees.
Does this have anything to do with Sodexho?
Very little. Dining hall staff are employees of the college, so it is up to the Pomona administration to recognize the card check process, and if it succeeds, to ultimately recognize the union. For this reason, it is important to focus pressure on President Oxtoby.
Isn’t this how things are everywhere?
Yes, but as students we have a unique opportunity to work to change that status quo. There have been a handful of instances where workers at colleges and universities have entered into collective bargaining agreements, in large part due to the organization and advocacy of students. At Georgetown University, for example, students and workers successfully demanded that their university administration remain neutral as janitorial workers organized a union. It took a 21-day hunger strike and a sit-in at the University of Miami, but they were able to gain card check neutrality as well.
Students have also spoken out in support of workers’ right to organize at the University of Wisconsin, the University of Maryland, the University of North Carolina, Swarthmore College, Wesleyan University, Brown University, and others. Students in colleges across the country have let workers know that they are committed to holding administrators accountable to their campus communities.
*************************************************************************
¿Qué es el proceso de “neutralidad de verificación de la tarjeta”?
Un tarjeta-cheque es un método de la sindicalización que le otorga a los trabajadores el poder de negociar colectivamente cuando más de 50% de trabajadores firman tarjetas de unión. Los trabajadores le piden a sus empleadores que firmen un acuerdo de la “neutralidad de verificacion de la tarjeta” para asegurar reconocimiento de los resultados del voto y para garantizar que ellos no intimidarán a trabajadores ni emplearán otras técnicas para prevenir la sindicalizacion. Sin el acuerdo de “neutralidad de verificacion de la tarjeta, Pomona no tendría la obligación de reconocer una unión, incluso si el 100% de sus empleados someten su apoyo por escrito. En vez de eso, Pomona podría demandar un proceso de elección, vigilado por el Comite de Relaciones Nacionales del Trabajo (NLRB), que toma años para aplicar y favorece, invariablemente, al empleador. Muy pocas uniones son implementadas exitosamente de esta manera, desde que no previene que los empleados usen intimidacion, acosacion, e incluso el desempleo de trabajadores que apoyan la sindicalización. Bajo un acuerdo de “neutralidad de verificacion de la tarjeta”, los trabajadores son asegurados que su decisión será reconocida por el empleado, y que el proceso puede suceder en un ambiente seguro y en una manera oportuna.
¿Ha respondido el colegio?
Todavía no. Sin embargo, en anunciar una nueva campaña para recaudar fondos, “Mentes Audaces”, Pomona y el Presidente Oxtoby nos ofrecen una idea de los tipos de esfuerzos que el colegio apoya, enfatizando “la disposicion de estudiantes y facultad de tomar riesgos intelectuales para crear algo nuevo, y su ansia de retarse a sí mismos no sólo en el aula y en su investigación, pero también en sus esfuerzos de hacer una diferencia en el mundo”. Esta designación ciertamente aplica a trabajadores también, como ellos muestran valor y fuerza tremenda en su exigencia a su empleador por tratamiento justo. Nosotros le preguntamos, ¿qué es más audaz, creativo, y desafiante, que exigiendo justicia a su empleador?
¿Tiene esto algo que ver con Sodexho?
Muy poco. Los trabajadores de las cafeterias son empleados de la universidad, por lo que le corresponde a la administración de Pomona a reconocer el proceso de “neutralidad de verificacion de la tarjeta”, y si tiene éxito, en reconocer al sindicato. Por esta razón, es importante centrar la presión sobre el Presidente Oxtoby.
¿No es esto cómo cosas están por todas partes?
Sí, pero como estudiantes nosotros tenemos una oportunidad extraordinaria para trabajar para cambiar ese statu quo. Ha habido un puñado de casos donde trabajadores en colegios y universidades han entrado en acuerdos de negociación colectiva, en la parte grande debido a la organización y el apoyo de estudiantes. En la Universidad de Georgetown, por ejemplo, los estudiantes y los trabajadores demandaron exitosamente que su administración de la universidad se queda trabajadores neutral como de portero organizó una unión. Tomó una huelga de hambre de 21 días y un sitin en la Universidad de Miami, pero ellos pudieron ganar la neutralidad de cheque de tarjeta también.
Los estudiantes también han hablado francamente en el apoyo del derecho de trabajadores para organizar en la Universidad de Wisconsin, la Universidad de Maryland, la Universidad de Carolina del norte, del Colegio de Swarthmore, de la Universidad metodista, de la Universidad de Brown, y de otros. Los estudiantes en colegios a través del país han permitido que trabajadores supieran que ellos son cometidos a tener a administradores responsables a sus comunidades del campus.
*******************************************************************************************
About Unions/Sobre las Uniones
Economic Policy Institute
Workplace Fairness
About Unionization/Sobre la sindicalización
Economic Policy Institute
Workplace Fairness
About Card Check/Sobre la verificación de la tarjeta
UNITE HERE
American Rights at Work
About Current Law/Sobre las leyes actuales
American Rights at Work
Workplace Fairness
_____________________________________________________________________