Last week, LC2 had the opportunity to go out of state to help with an organizing drive at a university in New England. I'm not being real specific about the place, since management is making the union sound like we are a marauding pack of thugs trying to take the money from their poor, defenseless employees. There has been a concerted effort to make the employees believe that they will be taken care of by the administration, with their best interest in mind. Needless to say, there are horror stories out there amongst the employees, and even though they are well paid, their benefits, especially health care are starting to be eroded. There are also issues with policy interpretation, explanations change from one hour to the next and folks really have a hard time with classification issues. It shouldn't be a surprise to know that with this kind of atmosphere, the "pseudo" process on campus for employee greivances is not very functional. Despite these issues, the employees are scared, many not wanting to be seen talking to a person from "da union". More on that....
Anyhow, to avoid being googled and this being spread all over, I'll just use this photo to tell you what state I was in:
I arrived on Wednesday and met the folks I'd be working with for the next few days. The group included 4 of us from midwest universities, coming to spread the good news of the union. The governor recently signed an exec. order allowing for organizing on campuses. The requirement is to be able to get 50% + 1 of the employees to sign a union card. As a result, there are two international unions working on organizing the campus. As a result, there is even more pressure being put on the employees to sign cards and back one union or another....in addition to being fed misinformation by the administration. Here's the office for the union I believe will best represent the employees!
The campus is beautiful with flowering trees and bushes, old buildings mixed with new, construction going on. The perfect picture of a thriving campus. But, yet, the employees are being told that there is not a lot of money to pay for generous raises AND the health insurance they have grown used to. One of the stories an HR manager used in an email to employees stated, "she didn't know how she would find the $32 a month to pay union dues, as a single parent, she'd have to make her daughter give up dance lessons". Needless to say, organizers who were single parents had real issues with that. Being a single parent trying to make ends meet is about more than dance lessons that cost a whole lot more than $32 anyhow. Another "tale" being spread by the HR department is that the union would "take away" their benefits. Hmmmmmmm......... Guess those health insurance increase don't count as taking benefits away. But, that is what the union is up against here.
The building to the left in the above photo is the library. LC2 did go there. There is support there (of course, library workers are usually pro-union). I had a great conversation with a librarian at the reference desk. The Faculty ARE represented on this campus, and the one I spoke with believed that the staff need a union. The Faculty just finished a prolonged contract negotiation, but, came out with a good settlement, both economic and benefits. This will be a great tool for the staff organizing drive.
In previous Organizing experiences, I've encountered folks who were against joining a union. This was the first time I experienced folks who were scared to even talk. We spent time leafletting the first day. This was our first taste of the problems we would face. Talking to folks as they left the parking lots (oh ya, parking fees are also a big issue), we encountered reluctance to talk with us. That reluctance grew as the day went on. Spending time in an area with the shops and IT department, we encountered real resistance to our message. At one point, we spotted employees watching out a window. It was close to quitting time, yet no one came out of the building.....until we left. The same thing happened when we tried again to talk at break time the next morning. After we left, folks came out. In the shops, usually a pretty easy place to go and talk to folks, our two blue collar brothers from the midwest were met with a very cold shoulder by their colleages. 
Other then meals, there was little time for sightseeing. But, I took a backroad to the airport to see Derry, the location of many Stephen King novels. LC1 is a big fan. Note, the play that is being done at the Derry Opera House soon---Little Shop of Horrors.
Good luck to the employees, know that the union is your best avenue for gaining a voice on campus.
