Dear members of the Mercy College faculty:
I am writing to update you about recent events relating to the College’s adjunct faculty.
The College learned last week that a labor union called the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) filed a petition to represent the College’s part-time adjunct faculty. A hearing was set for earlier this week at the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to address issues relating to this petition. Early in the morning, just a few hours before the hearing was to take place, SEIU suddenly withdrew its petition with no explanation. SEIU then re-filed the petition the following day.
It came to my attention that SEIU and its supporters circulated a letter a few days ago suggesting that the College was to blame for supposedly engaging in questionable maneuvers to block their unionization effort and was somehow responsible for the withdrawal and refiling of the petition. All the College did was respond as required by law to a legal proceeding that was initiated by the SEIU.
Moreover, contrary to statements made in the letter, the College is not “anti-union,” nor is it interested in “union busting.” These accusations are contradicted by the Mercy’s longstanding and cordial working relationship with the UAW, of which many of our nonmanagerial staff are members.
This doesn’t mean the College has no position about whether unionizing our adjuncts would be a good thing for them or for the College itself. I frankly believe it would not be. We have been moving adjunct salaries upwards virtually since the moment I began serving as Mercy College’s President. In April 2018 I made the case to our Board for why we needed to continue on this path, and we made the financial plans to do so. Now, Mercy has a pending arrangement with the College of New Rochelle (CNR) to begin serving CNR students and to employ significant numbers of CNR faculty (both full and part-time) to do so. Since CNR adjunct salaries are in some cases higher than those paid by Mercy, I expect us to move quickly to equalize these salaries, and I believe the revenue from the increased enrollments will give us the resources to do so. I promise to provide you with more information as it becomes finalized.
Let me be clear about the College’s objectives in connection with SEIU’s campaign to unionize a large segment of our faculty. First, we want to insure that everyone’s rights are respected, including the rights of those individuals who may not want the union; second, we want to insure that a fair election process is followed for an appropriate voting group; third, we want to encourage members of the voting group to make an informed decision; and lastly, we want to advise members of the voting group why the College believes that maintaining a direct working relationship between faculty and administration based on mutual respect and collegiality is in everyone’s best interests. At the end of the day, Mercy College is committed to the principle that the final decision should be made by a majority vote of the part-time faculty, and we fully intend to respect whatever outcome they choose.
I will try to keep our academic community apprised of developments concerning this issue and wish you a productive end to the academic year.
Sincerely,
Tim Hall
President