On Oct. 29, the Service Employees International Union filed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board seeking to represent some part-time and full-time non-tenure-track academic appointees who teach courses at the University of Chicago.
Under the National Labor Relations Board rules, the next step is to hold a secret ballot election, in which eligible voters will vote using mail-in ballots. The labor board will mail ballots to eligible voters on Nov. 20, and voters must return their ballots by the close of business on Dec. 8. Ballots will be counted on Dec. 9. Separately, the University is in discussions with the Service Employees International Union to help ensure that the lead-up to the election is orderly and fair.
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About 175 academic appointees are eligible to vote and will be represented by the union if a majority of voters vote “yes” on their ballots; no tenure-track faculty or graduate students would be affected. A number of teaching categories are excluded from the vote and will not be represented by the union, regardless of the outcome of the election.
Among others, the exclusion applies to: individuals who teach at the Chicago Booth School of Business, the Law School, the Graham School of Continuing Liberal and Professional Studies, the Pritzker School of Medicine, Dickson Instructors, Harper-Schmidt Fellows, instructors in the Financial Mathematics Program and Department of Computer Science, and most senior lecturers. A full listing of which groups of academic appointees are eligible to vote in the election, and which groups are excluded, can be found on the provost's website.
“Our goal is to provide factual information to help eligible voters make an informed decision,” wrote Provost Eric D. Isaacs in a message to academic appointees who are eligible to vote. He noted that a union among academic appointees would bring “inherent uncertainty,” and urged individuals to educate themselves about what it would mean to be represented by a union.
The election will be decided by a majority of votes that are cast, not by a majority of those eligible to vote. The outcome is binding, even on those who do not vote. In some union elections at other universities, the outcomes were decided by less than 50 percent of eligible voters.
“It is essential to make your voice heard by voting,” Isaacs wrote.
Eligible voters and all members of the University community can find additional resources at an informational page on the provost’s website. This site will be updated with more information in the upcoming weeks as it becomes available.
—Prof. Kunle Odunsi
