Community Message: K-SWOC Files for NLRB Union Certification Election
Dear Members of the Kenyon community,
The Kenyon Student Worker Organizing Committee (K-SWOC/UE) would like to inform the Kenyon community that a petition for a secret-ballot union certification election has been filed with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), a major step towards Kenyon student workers deciding democratically for themselves if they want to form a union and bargain as equals with the College over the conditions of our work. The decision to file to have the election this semester was made by a 137-1 vote at a K-SWOC general membership meeting held on October 14th. In accordance with NLRB procedure, and as a courtesy to the College, an official notice of filing was delivered to the administration on Monday, October 18th.
We would also like to share with the community some important next steps that will occur after filing and how K-SWOC will conduct itself during the election process. Within three weeks of our filing, the NLRB Region 08 (Cleveland) will hold a mandatory hearing to determine bargaining unit eligibility and the election date and details. However, before that hearing is scheduled, the College and K-SWOC can come to a mutually agreed upon stipulated election agreement and shared fair election principles that will allow both parties to move forward to the election without undue delays and create an environment for student workers free from coercion and misinformation, a discussion K-SWOC has asked the College to consider. It is common practice for employers and unions to agree to stipulated election agreements, even when the employer opposes the formation of the union, as recently demonstrated by the Hamilton College administration agreeing to a stipulated election agreement with its undergraduate admissions workers, who voted to unionize last week. If you support Kenyon student workers’ right to a free and fair election unburdened by needless delays, please sign this petition in support of our call for a stipulated election agreement with fair election principles: https://forms.gle/NbqfhAFES49SM7Bw6.
The College could choose to decline to participate in that discussion and instead pursue a lengthy and costly legal battle to delay the election and potentially challenge the legal status of student workers’ right to organize. If the College chooses this path of legal resistance, it will unnecessarily delay the ability for student workers to make their own decision on forming a union and will ignore the current NLRB precedent under the 2016 Columbia University decision, which affirmed the right of student workers to organize a union. Dragging out the election process would only serve to increase the chance of inappropriate employer interference in student workers’ exercise of free choice. Additionally, if it is the case that Kenyon student workers vote to form a union, delaying the election will set back the collective bargaining process and thus delay the benefits student workers will gain from bargaining. Our hope is the College will live up to its stated values and work with us to ensure a smooth, fair, and informed election process for all student workers.
K-SWOC’s approach to the election process will be guided by three main principles: inclusivity, transparency, and democracy; which is reflected in our positions on the election details and voter eligibility. Since the beginning of our campaign, K-SWOC’s goal has been to organize a wall-to-wall union inclusive of all student workers, regardless of job classification. The College may try to deprive certain classifications of student workers of their right to vote with their peers. Barring legitimate reasons based on labor law precedent, K-SWOC will oppose these efforts and fight for the right of all student workers to vote and join a union of their choice. For the election itself, K-SWOC supports rules that enable the most student workers to vote as easily as possible. As such, we will push the College and the NLRB for a multi-day voting period, remote options to vote for student workers who may be in quarantine, and an accessible and neutral location for the ballot box on campus.
Throughout the NLRB proceedings, potential discussions with the College about conducting the election, and the lead-up to the election itself, K-SWOC will share regular updates about the process with the community on social media and our website, www.kswoc.org. We will also hold public information sessions during Common Hour on Tuesdays and Thursdays where students, faculty, and staff can obtain information on the current status of the election, hear about the work members of K-SWOC have done to improve student employment over the past year and a half, learn about the history of the existing labor unions on campus, and ask questions. Further, we will continue to hold regular hybrid general membership meetings where the significant majority of Kenyon student workers who are K-SWOC members will deliberate upon strategy for the duration of the election campaign.
Filing for an official NLRB union certification election represents a culmination of over 17 months of campaigning—including countless one-on-one conversations between coworkers, public forums, weekly shop and general meetings, circulating petitions, meeting with supervisors—by hundreds of student workers for the right to sit at the table with the College as equals to improve our working lives. At the same time, we also recognize this process will be the first for everyone involved—K-SWOC, the College, and the rest of the campus community. Therefore we strongly encourage anyone to share feedback, raise questions, and propose ideas to us, even as the election process unfolds. Members of the community can reach us by emailing union@kswoc.org, signing up for office hours to talk with a K-SWOC member one-on-one here, attend one of our public information sessions, or come to a general membership meeting.
Sincerely,
The Kenyon Student Worker Organizing Committee (K-SWOC/UE)