8/20/24 Newsletter

Important USU Update: Management Stacks Voter List with Supervisors

Dear Colleagues,

We’re writing to you today with an update on the recognition process for our union bargaining unit. As you know, we reached an agreement with management last month outlining which job titles will be included in Student & Instructional Services. The next step is to count the membership cards of everyone in that unit: those who have signed cards count as YES votes for our union, and those who have not are NO votes.

As we were preparing for the count, management gave us a voter list which includes more than 70 supervisors, including such high-ranking managers as the Director of LSA Scholarships. Since it is neither appropriate nor legal for those with authority over hiring, discipline, merit pay, and other personnel matters to share a union with the staff they supervise, the effect is to stack our voter list with an extra 70 NO votes.

We can’t allow this kind of nonsense to delay our path to the bargaining table: not while we’re working so hard to welcome thousands of new students, not while so many staff still face disrespect and even bullying without the protection of a union contract, and definitely not at the very same time that our “merit” raises are still so inadequate and so arbitrary.

Of course, we’re challenging the voter list, but that can’t be all. We have to show that moves like this won’t stop us. We can’t be discouraged or intimidated. This fall, let’s take pride in our collective voice and make our union visible, to show both our management and each other that we’re determined to have our equal seat at the table. Wear your USU button at work, especially to events with fellow staff, students, and others on campus (let us know if you don’t have a button and need one!).