For the Sake of Faculty, Students and Community, Stop Anti-Union Attacks
President Ski and HACC Board of Trustees
WHY IS THIS IMPORTANT?
HACC faculty know that community colleges are the lifeblood of our communities.
Our efforts to unionize are ultimately about having a voice in what’s best for our profession, our students and ultimately for the Central Pennsylvania region.
We believe in a legitimate balance of power between the faculty and administration—as opposed to the Board of Trustees’ and President Sygielski’s top-down decision making under the guise of shared governance.
We believe that a union will enable us to address and resolve power inequities, especially as they relate to race, gender, ethnicity and economic background.
We believe in the power of collective bargaining:
• as a force for building equality and diversity in higher education;
• to empower individuals to speak up and challenge injustice without fear of repercussion.
We believe that the role of educators, both as full-time and adjunct faculty, is to protect and improve higher education – a cornerstone of democracy – and promote equity in opportunities for our students of all backgrounds.
We believe that unions are essential to recruit and retain BIPOC employees because of the stability and economic equity that collective bargaining provides. 1
We believe unions don't just increase wages and benefits for workers on the job — evidence shows that union membership is also linked to diminished racist attitudes essential to eliminating racism in this country. 2
We know economic justice is social justice.
We know that supporting organized labor is to support an equitable workplace backed by years of legal decisions in support of collective bargaining.
We know that supporting an equitable workplace is to support an equitable learning space.
And, finally, we know that HACC faculty cannot and should not do this alone. Solidarity matters. We need and value support from the entire HACC community: Our cause is Central Pennsylvania’s cause.
The Board of Trustees’ and President Sygielski’s failure to respect faculty’s right to organize is undemocratic and in violation of the spirit of diversity and inclusivity that Sygielski touts as vital to the educational experience of our students and our communities.
Therefore, in the interest of HACC’s
future, its faculty, its students and its communities, we call on President
Sygielski and the HACC Board of Trustees to discontinue the anti-union campaign
and agree to support Hawk Faculty United. 2, 3
1. Unionization Important to Closing Racial Gap https://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/05/nyregion/unionization-important-to-closing-racial-wage-gap-study-says.html
3. Labor Unions and White Racial Politics https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ajps.12537
Sponsored by
To:
President Ski and HACC Board of Trustees
From:
[Your Name]
HACC President John “Ski” Sygielski, with the support of HACC’s Board of Trustees, has pledged to run an anti-union campaign against Hawk Faculty United.
President Sygielski announced at a press conference that the administration desires to keep HACC “union free.”
He has falsely accused faculty of peddling misinformation without providing an example to support his claim.
In December, full-time and adjunct professors filed for union representation with the Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board. A union election is expected in the coming months.
By attacking faculty’s unionizing effort, President Sygielski is betraying the core values of social and economic justice that he professes to embrace.
Therefore, in order to have a fair and democratic election, we call on President Sygielski and the Board of Trustees to stop the attack on unionization and support the democratic process of the union campaign.