NLRB Election Information

The Kenyon Student Worker Organizing Committee (K-SWOC/UE) filed a petition for a union certification election with the National Labor Relations Board to represent a wall-to-wall unit of undergraduate student workers at Kenyon College on October 18, 2020.

K-SWOC has asked the College to open a discussion on coming to a stipulated election agreement. 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 involved.

K-SWOC’s approach to the election process will be guided by three main principles: inclusivity, transparency, and democracy. Our positions on the election details and voter eligibility are designed to maximize inclusivity and accessibility. 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 frequent 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, listen to the work members of K-SWOC have done to improve student employment over the past year, hear about the history of the already-existing labor unions on campus, and ask any questions about those topics. 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 and decide 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, hosting 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.

What is the NLRB/NLRA?

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) is a federal agency responsible for enforcing U.S labor law, and in accordance with the National Relations Act of 1935 (NLRA) oversees elections for union recognition. The NLRA, in turn, guarantees protection for private-sector workers engaged in various organizing activities, including forming trade unions, going on strike, and collective bargaining. The NLRB is governed by a five-member board, appointed by the President, each member of which holds their position for five years, though their terms don’t run concurrently.

What is an NLRB union election?

An NLRB union election is an election for union recognition administered by the National Labor Relations Board, upholding the NLRA. It is triggered by a union petitioning the NLRB and proving that at least 30% of workers have signed union cards, after which they are certified if they reach a simple majority in the vote.

Who can vote in the NLRB election?

We encourage Kenyon to allow all student workers to have a say in union recognition and to accept the demonstrated community of interest among student workers. The method for determining who is eligible to vote will ultimately be determined in the process of coordinating the election with both Kenyon and the NLRB. A student worker’s card status with K-SWOC/UE will not have an impact on their voter eligibility. In accordance with NLRB procedure, only student workers who were in the workforce at the time of filing will be eligible to vote. Due to Kenyon’s legal delays pushing the election to the Spring 2022 semester when the Petition for Election was filed in the fall, this means that student workers who were not employed at the time of filing will not be able to vote. As we stated when we filed for election, we support rules that enable the most student workers to vote as easily as possible, and we are disappointed at Kenyon’s choice to blockade the democratic process in this manner.

Why is K-SWOC seeking recognition through the NLRB (as opposed to a community election)?

In December of 2020, the Board of Trustees declined to voluntarily recognize K-SWOC through a card check neutrality agreement. Following this, K-SWOC called for voluntary recognition through a community election, in which the College would recognize the union based on the outcome of the vote. Again, the college refused. At the time, the Kenyon administration and Board of Trustees could hide behind the Trump administration, whose anti-worker stance dominated the NLRB. Under Biden’s revised NLRB, this is no longer an option, and K-SWOC has been forced―all other options having been rejected by Kenyon―to file for an election in the fashion protected for all workers.

Can the administration stop the NLRB election?

No. Once the NLRB has determined that the union is qualified, Kenyon will be required to enter the process of coordinating the terms of the election together with K-SWOC, after which the NLRB Regional Director will arrange the vote. If the election is won by K-SWOC, Kenyon will have the opportunity to appeal the case.

When will the election be held?

The date of the election is contingent upon Kenyon’s degree of cooperation with the election process. So far, Kenyon has rejected the opportunity to work directly with K-SWOC through a stipulated election agreement and instead opted to force a hearing on the matter, thus delaying the election for months after K-SWOC’s original recommendation at the time of filing. Updates will be made to the website as determinations are made and the date of the election is finalized.

How will voting take place?

This determination has yet to be made. Updates will be made to the website as determinations are made.

Can my employer see if I vote?

No, the vote is conducted by secret ballot. Neither Kenyon College nor K-SWOC will know how workers choose to vote.

Does the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) prevent the College from complying with the National Labor Relations Board's election rules?

No. The information requested by the NLRB is an "initial list" of the number of student employees, with job titles, addresses, and minimal contact information. Most of this information is already available through the Kenyon directory. Furthermore, every instance of undergraduate and graduate student unionization, including most recently Hamilton College student workers in their admissions office, required the same information from those colleges and universities as the NLRB is requesting Kenyon, and none of them violated FERPA.

When the Union of Grinnell Student Dining Workers (UGSDW) filed for an election of a wall-to-wall unit of undergraduate student workers, they also complied with FERPA and stated they would do so in their election brief. By raising FERPA as an obstacle to a free and fair union election, the College is making a bad-faith (and expensive) legal argument in a desperate attempt to delay the election, in their words, "indefinitely." As past NLRB precedent has demonstrated, it won't work.

Are there any precedents for a student union NLRB election?

Yes! Several:

• In 2016, the NLRB ruled in favor of recognizing the Graduate Workers of Columbia (GWC-UAW), setting an important precedent for student organizing. This meant that the NLRB acknowledged student workers as employees, entitling them to the federally enforced protections set out by the NLRA (see above).

• Undergraduate student workers at Grinnell College successfully formed the Union of Grinnell Dining Workers (UGSDW), which has since sought to expand its coverage to all students and endorsed the efforts of K-SWOC.

• In 2017, library workers at the University of Chicago voted to form the UChicago Student Library Employee Union (SLEU), sparking a year and a half long legal battle in which the university administration tried―and failed―to quell their efforts as the NLRB upheld the student workers’ rights to unionize.