St. John’s Faculty, Students Rally After University Ends Union Recognition
On Thursday, February 19, President Rev. Brian J. Shanley, O.P. informed St. John’s University faculty via email that the university will no longer recognize its two unions that were formed in 1970—the St. John’s University Chapter of the American Association of University Professors (SJU-AAUP) and the Faculty Association (FA). This union-busting "religious exemption" move was abruptly announced on the faculty’s 234th day of working without a contract, following the administration’s prolonged stalling of contract negotiations and hiring of the notorious union-busting firm, Proskauer Rose LLP.
Over 200 St John’s University faculty and students rallied on campus Wednesday afternoon to protest against the university’s decision, gathering outside the D’Angelo Center to argue that the university’s refusal to recognize the two unions based on would lead to program elimination and academic contraction. Protesters held placards blasting St. John’s over the decision, including slogans such as “union busting is unholy” and “decision makers who can’t be challenged make terrible decisions.”
"We are certified by the State of New York and St. John's is going to have to honor that legal relationship that it has consented to for over half a century," said Christopher Denny, a theology and religious studies professor who serves as president of the university's Faculty Association, who added that the unions' attorneys "are going to be fighting this, at whatever level of the judiciary."
"We are prepared for a long-term legal battle should that be necessary, but it would be far better for the administration to realize that a productive forward-thinking university would be far better served by withdrawing its unilateral declaration," Denny said.
Read more in the National Catholic Reporter and QNS.com, and click here to call on the university Board of Trustees to send President Brian J. Shanley, O.P. back to the bargaining table with St. John’s faculty unions!
