Q&A

 

Was there careful analysis of alternatives? P-fac has been working tirelessly with IEA to resolve the issues other the last three years, which include time drains caused by delays and red tape, lack of representation, conflicts of interest with the staff union, and unethical actions on the part of a uniserve director who also represents the staff union. For several months, complaints about service and even a report of sexual harassment went ignored by IEA officials.

 

How will we operate financially as a disaffiliated union? How will we be structured? Who will advise us? We will have a law firm who will be able to represent P-Fac within our budget.  Remember: P-fac has been in front of nearly every labor body (NLRA, IELAR, ILRA, STB, NRAB) and every level of court, including the Illinois Supreme Court, where we had a 9-0 victory on a case that IEA said had no merit.  They have always fought for members’ labor rights.  We will be represented by a firm that routinely fights larger and nastier employers than Columbia -- e.g., Union Pacific -- and they are conscious of our budget. Most importantly –they will be P-fac’s lawyers, answerable to our members-- not IEA.

 

As an independent union, P-fac will also have a licensed, independent CPA to oversee our books. P-fac reps discussed and agreed to elect members to a finance committee and for administrative positions. We will have the resources and manpower to have a truly member-run union, and the staff necessary to maintain all records and make them accessible to the membership, not stored away in an affiliation’s databases. P-fac will be able to swiftly challenge any actions that deviate from our CBA, which we will keep, along with our bylaws (amended to remove IEA/NEA, as we are voting on now). Even with lower dues, we will have the resources to develop a hardship fund, a strike fund, and pay stipends to members who perform duties in support of the union.

 

Where will it lead? While we are in the interim period, usually about a year, we will research possible candidates with whom to affiliate. If the membership votes to affiliate when the time comes to do so, we will. If the membership votes to remain independent, we will.

 

Can we line someone else up to affiliate with? Due to standard “no compete” agreements, no other union will touch P-fac for at least one year. Contacting any prospective affiliate now who we may want to affiliate with later would not be a sound approach as it would put us both in a precarious situation.

 

Why didn’t we hear of the letter of audit before, why is it necessary to turn this around so quickly, and why no time to debate the issue?  There is the misperception that more time means keeping the status quo. THIS IS NOT SO.

 

Just before the Christmas holidays IEA demanded that P-fac admit full time staff who teach into our union with NO time to talk it over and NO recourse. All they offered was a letter of audit -- a veiled threat to overtake our union if we didn't agree to their terms. In response, P-fac reps held a final vote (41 for, 1 against) to protect our members and save the status quo of our hard-won contract, which we will lose if at this point if we do not break from IEA. IEA forced the timing of this situation, not P-fac.

 

The letter of audit was received days before reps voted to disaffiliate. Disaffiliating is an emergency action because IEA left us no choice to debate the issues any further, as we had been trying to do for several months. We’ve also emailed our members and held meetings on the issues, most recently concerning restructuring the union. 

 

As we’ve stated in several meetings and messages: It is imperative to understand that if we fail to disaffiliate and they take us over, our contract is nullified. There will be no status quo for P-fac operate under while we “hash it out” – P-fac will be gone, along with our contract and all of its provisions.

 

​How exactly is the IEA not supporting us? IEA repeatedly said our legal claims were “without merit” —

P-fac had to fight to get legal support for ULP’s that we won. IEA trimmed our ULP about how the college had been diluting our bargaining unit in an attempt to break the union— when the staff members of USCC were often the ones getting the classes. The college did not respond to P-fac’s info requests about who was teaching the classes (another ULP victory for P-fac) when IEA knew all along who was getting much of our work while P-fac members were losing classes, jobs, houses, insurance so that full timers with benefits could get the work.

 

IEA then limited our ULP’s — for example, the two-course limit that we had evidence was college-wide but IEA only argued it for HHSS.

 

When P-fac won, and the college appealed, there was a crazy ruling that amended the ALJ’s remedy- almost unheard of. IEA could have appealed, but did NOT appeal that amendment.

 

IEA has not forwarded P-fac’s grievances to arbitration and left members hanging for YEARS— IEA now claims that IT gets to decide what cases actually go to arbitration, leaving P-fac not with a grievance procedure, but an ILLUSION of a grievance procedure.

 

IEA forces P-fac to burn precious time & energy arguing that our cases have merit. Even grievance where AAUP agreed with P-fac and said the contract had clearly been violated— IEA made P-fac spend months and countless hours, repeatedly submitting documentation, writing answers to 23 questions, conference calls, etc just to get approval to send grievance to arbitration.

 

By what measure is IEA not providing us with enough legal help? What is the whole budget? About how much in total dues has P-fac paid IEA over the years? Rounding off to make it easier: $100/semester X 2 semesters a year = $200 X 750 members (we’ll average high years with lower years) = $150,000 X 16 years = $2,400,000.
 

What do other unions spend on providing locals with legal help? What do other faculty unions spend? These accounts would vary greatly as to whether you have a decent employer or work in an environment of union animus.

 

If being independent is so great, why are so many local unions affiliated with a parent union?  When groups sign cards to organize a union, they rarely have an option to be independent since the organization they unionize with is supposed to be around for a year prior. It’s a CATCH-22. But there is a growing movement among locals in NEA to disaffiliate. Here are a few reports on locals that have successfully and happily disaffiliated from NEA.

 

What happens to an independent P-fac if someone sues us, say a disgruntled part-timer backed by a business-funded anti-union outfit? This is the reason for the bonding insurance our law firm is securing for P-Fac.

 

What if the college steps up its resources to fight us? Could they bankrupt us? IF the college is as broke as it says it is, we have nothing to worry about. On the assumption that they’re lying, consider that the college has already fought us with all they have, and we managed to beat them back with our own dues money (it was not IEA’s money. It was OURS).   Second, this is why lawyers have RETAINERS. Clients pay the money and then the lawyers DO THE WORK. They don’t bill by the hour. P-fac has a premier law firm in place to assist us.
 

Are there any examples of independent, unaffiliated unions?  Yes. There are several locals that have disaffiliated from NEA and that are better and stronger for it. Read about them here:

 

Has IEA had a chance to defend how our money is spent? IEA has patently denied support, except the one and only time they spent the famous $266K in three years, a third of what they had collected from us during that time. And we had to constantly battle to get that. P-fac has sent numerous emails requesting support and help from IEA that were summarily ignored. 

 

What your last interaction with IEA?  For 98% percent of our members, their interaction with IEA is limited to paying dues.