The AFT scored another great victory in higher education organizing on April 18 when full-time professors at the University of Vermont voted for union representation and collective bargaining. The victory for the joint AFT/AAUP local was achieved despite an active "no" vote effort by the university administration, including clear administrative support for a "Vote No" committee of faculty that developed during the organizing drive. The intense interest generated by this hard-fought campaign was reflected by the 93 percent turnout among the 612 eligible faculty for the two-step vote, first for collective bargaining, second for the AFT-AAUP as bargaining agent. The vote for bargaining agent was 298 for AFT/AAUP; 269 for no agent. AFT national representative Norm Holsinger coordinated the campaign effort along with state federation leadership and staff and Northeast region project staff.

The Vermont vote comes on the heels of other recent victories in higher education organizing. These include wins for the AFT among 552 graduate teaching and research assistants at Temple University in Pennsylvania, 1,050 non-teaching professionals at the University of New Mexico and 453 part-time faculty at Citrus Community College in California. [Barbara McKenna]

April 23, 2001