Dear Colleagues:
Tomorrow marks the beginning of the election period where you will be asked whether or not you want to be exclusively represented by the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) in matters related to your employment at Santa Clara University. Please make your voice heard by returning your completed ballot to the NLRB so it is received by the deadline of Friday, June 17. This is a historic decision, with significant cultural, operational, and financial implications.
As you prepare to vote, we encourage you to critically analyze both sides of the issue. We hope that you will consider that the formation of a union will significantly impact our collaborative governance system. If the union is voted in, you will be required to join the union and pay dues to SEIU. Issues related to wages and benefits, working conditions, and seniority will fall under a collective bargaining agreement that will be negotiated with SEIU. You will not be able to opt out of joining the union as a condition of your employment at Santa Clara, and you will be subject to union rules and discipline outlined in the SEIU constitution and SEIU Local 1021 bylaws.
We believe our process of collaborative governance offers a better path forward by providing much needed flexibility to a diverse University with a College, five distinct Schools, and a range of faculty appointment types. Since 2011, we have been working with collaborative governance to significantly improve the employment conditions of all faculty across all academic units. The many accomplishments of collaborative governance include
- Working to develop a teaching professor track, to provide more respect and security for faculty currently in renewable-term and continuing positions;
- Adding 34 renewable-term faculty lines over the past eight years;
- Increasing the per-course rate for AYALs by 24.5 to 31.3% over the past 5 years;
- Investing more than $1.1M in market adjustments for senior lecturers, renewable-term lecturers, and adjunct faculty, including a 5% market adjustment for 2022-23;
- Adding more than $250,000 in annual rental support to renewable-term faculty;
- Securing voting rights for non-tenure-track faculty serving on tenure-track search committees; and
- Securing majority representation on Senior Lecturer Promotion committees.
We have and will continue to work with all faculty to fashion a University that respects, cares for, and meets the needs of the entire campus community.
In closing, we urge you to vote and make your voice heard. The final result will be determined by the majority of those who vote, not the majority of the bargaining unit. No matter how the vote lands, we hope it reflects the true will of the majority of those whom it will impact.
Sincerely,
Kate Morris
Acting Provost
Ed Ryan
Acting Provost
Kitty Murphy
Associate Provost for Faculty Personnel and Policy