Efforts to organize adjunct faculty at St. Catherine University have failed by a single vote.
After an eligibility battle, the National Labor Relations Board on Monday counted 106 ballots in favor of forming a union and 107 against.
The initial count, in July, was 105-96 in favor, plus 15 contested ballots. Labor organizers argued, with little success, that the board should not count the ballots of online instructors from other states, adjuncts who had not recently taught a class and those who had merely advised students.
But enough of the contested ballots were decided in the university’s favor to change the outcome.
“Using an endless reservoir of money, St. Kate’s was willing to spend unlimited money on lawyers to make sure people who don’t teach on the campus and have no interest in our community could vote against the union,” said Carol Nieters, executive director of SEIU Local 284.
St. Kate’s administrators lobbied hard against the organizing effort, warning of high union dues.
At the same time, the school increased its payments to $5,000 per class this fall from $4,000 last fall, and granted parking privileges and shared office space.
Peter Morales, who voted for the union, was dismayed by the outcome.
“I think there’s a recognition that changes need to happen, that adjuncts need to be better compensated,” he said, but a union would have ensured the latest pay increase is not a one-off concession.
Morales said the lack of health benefits is a problem for many.
Another adjunct, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to protect her job prospects, said the school’s reliance on a cheap workforce in which women and people of color are overrepresented contradicts its mission as a Catholic women’s school devoted to social justice.
“What we really want is job security. I want to be paid commensurate with the work I’m doing,” she said. “I’m doing all the work of a tenure-track teacher but there’s this second tier that’s just held to a different standard.”
St. Kate’s President Becky Roloff called the vote “an affirmation of the way our adjunct faculty and university leadership have worked closely with one another over the course of the last year to achieve real progress.”
The SEIU has had mixed success with its four-year Twin Cities campaign to organize adjunct and contingent college faculty.
Local 284 now represents adjunct faculty at Hamline University, Augsburg College and the Minneapolis College of Art and Design.
But Macalester College and University of St. Thomas leaders warded off adjunct unions by agreeing to improve working conditions.
And organizers at the University of Minnesota gave up when the Minnesota Court of Appeals ruled contingent faculty may not form a single union with tenure-track faculty.
