Temple University Graduate Students' Association (TUGSA) gets another boost

The Temple University Graduate Students' Association (TUGSA) got another boost in November in its campaign to win recognition from Temple University. On Nov. 2, the Philadelphia City Council voted overwhelmingly to adopt a resolution calling upon Temple University to recognize the union of 1,100 graduate employees and bargain in good faith.

The resolution notes TUGSA's three-year campaign for a union, the growth of graduate employee unions nationwide, and the ruling of the Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board, which found that Temple's graduate teachers are university employees and have the right to bargain.

After the resolution passed, a copy was sent to Temple University's new president, David Adamany, and the members of the Temple board of trustees.

AFT, AAUP in joint N.Y. campaign

As the winter semester got under way at Manhattan College, faculty began a new organizing campaign for collective bargaining. The organization, United Manhattan Faculty, is the product of a joint effort between the American Association of University Professors and the AFT.

Manhattan College got an historic ruling from the National Labor Relations Board last June. The NLRB found that the 150 faculty at the private college were covered by the National Labor Relations Act and had the right to unionize. The issues of greatest concern to faculty are salary inequities, teaching loads, health insurance and contractual retirement agreements.

Keep an eye on Manhattanville

Also in New York, two-thirds of the faculty at Manhattanville College have signed cards to petition the NLRB for an election there. Formerly a Catholic college for women, Manhattanville is now a secular and liberally progressive institution that also admits men.

The Manhattanville Faculty Alliance, affiliated with the New York State United Teachers and the AFT, should be ready to file for an election to be held this spring.

New locals in N.M., Calif.

A union of more than 100 instructional technicians and tutors voted 99-to-1 to follow in the footsteps of the full-time faculty at Albuquerque Technical-Vocational Institute in New Mexico. Despite the New Mexico Legislature's and governor's decision to allow the collective bargaining law in the state to sunset last year, Albuquerque TVI faculty and staff have kept their union because they asked the board to provide recognition.

In California, full-time and part-time faculty at Palomar College voted in December to form a wall-to-wall unit. The vote was 559 to 352 for the AFT to represent approximately 300 full-timers and 860 part-timers. We will have more on this story in the March AFT On Campus.