Updated at 4:12 p.m.
Bennington College officials declined Wednesday to voluntarily recognize a recently formed labor union at the school, and asked it to split into three separate bargaining units, according to the union organizers.
Bennington College United, which formed in mid-October, has 150 members who encompass full-time and visiting faculty, and hourly and salaried staff, including campus safety workers, said union organizers. They represent about 70% of the people eligible to join the group — the first faculty and staff union at Bennington College since the school was founded in 1932, organizers said.
Bennington College’s dining hall workers and buildings and grounds personnel are already unionized under the Service Employees International Union, according to AFT Vermont, an umbrella labor union that represents 9,000 health care and higher education professionals in the state.
After meeting with Bennington College United representatives on Wednesday, college officials issued a statement to VTDigger, saying that, while they “fully support the right of our colleagues to unionize,” they cannot give voluntary recognition until the union forms separate collective bargaining units for faculty, staff, and campus safety employees.
“We are willing to recognize BCU at Bennington with a structure that is consistent with labor law and best practice,” the college statement said. “We advised BCU that there should be three separate bargaining units — one each for faculty, staff and campus safety — with the customary process of card-check recognition, conducted unit-by-unit through the American Arbitration Association or another agreed neutral party (this is standard practice to protect the privacy of those who signed cards and those who did not).”
Officials gave union members until Thursday at 5 p.m. to decide on whether they’d take that step, said union representative Lopamudra Banerjee.
Banerjee, who teaches economics at the college, said she was “disheartened” by the administration’s request. It appears, she said, that college officials didn’t appreciate the shared concerns that brought the 150 union members together.
“We have a shared life. We are participants of a shared ecosystem,” she said. “How can they make this proposition?”
Banerjee said that, as someone who hails from India, a country that has experienced colonial rule, “I cannot help but see particular shadows of divide and conquer over here.”
Union members announced on Thursday afternoon that they would not meet the end-of-day deadline to respond to the administration’s request and instead would give their answer on Nov. 22. The union wanted more time to allow all members to weigh in, said Lua Piovano-Marcotte, a college library staffer and member of the union’s organizing committee.
“We needed a little extra time,” she said, “ensuring that our decision ensured democratic integrity.” The consequences for not meeting the administration’s deadline was not immediately clear, she said.
The college faculty and staff began unionizing around springtime. They decided to organize as one unit to get the administration to act on several pressing issues, said Renee Lauzon, the school’s social media manager and a member of the union’s organizing committee.
Those issues, she said, include low morale and high turnover among employees, lack of transparency around the college’s financial situation and absence of a uniform policy on benefits and raises.
“We have a lot of problems going on right now,” Lauzon said in an interview Wednesday afternoon, shortly before union representatives met with college officials to again request voluntary recognition of the union. “Our needs have just not been addressed by the management.”
She said the union also wanted the college administration to formalize an anti-retaliation policy.
“A lot of staff members are worried to speak up, because there’s no policy in place,” Lauzon said. “It’s been many, many months of discussions and meetings.”
College officials declined to respond to VTDigger’s question on why they asked the union to create three bargaining units.
But in a written statement sent after a reporter requested an interview, administrators said they were willing to recognize Bennington College United under a structure that is consistent with labor law and practice.
“Our willingness to voluntarily recognize the BCU in this framework means that the College is making significant, highly unusual concessions,” the college statement said. “We are doing so because we believe staff and faculty have the right to unionize — though the Supreme Court’s 1980 decision in NLRB v. Yeshiva University suggests otherwise for faculty — and because we are hopeful it will create a more positive labor environment for all.”
Union members held a rally at midday Thursday outside the college president’s office as part of their call for management to recognize Bennington College United.
“We must make ourselves visible,” Banerjee said. “What other option is left in our hand?”
Correction: Due to an editing error and inaccurate information provided by AFT Vermont, this story previously understated its membership.
