Work at Yale

Here’s a brief overview of the different workforce segments involved in the current labor conflict, including a glossary of terms.

UNITE-HERE Local 35
Local 35 is the oldest union on campus. It represents over 1,100 service and maintenance workers: the physical plant, the custodial workers, the grounds crews, and the dining hall workers. Local 35's president is Bob Proto. 98% of Local 35 workers participated in March, 2003's week-long strike (see History).

Founded in 1941, Local 35 has had a long and bitter history – 12 strikes in the past 60 years – fighting for better jobs at Yale. Many of the members working today still remember the strikes during the 1970s, when workers were attacked and beaten by police while fighting for the wages and pensions they now enjoy.

African-Americans comprise 72% of the entry-level service and maintenance positions at Yale, but only 16% of the positions in the highest labor grade – and only 6% of management. Latinos are similarly concentrated in the lowest, worst-paid jobs at Yale, but additionally face a major problem of job access at the University. Although New Haven’s population is 21% Latino, Latinos hold only about 3% of the positions in Local 35.

What they’ve won: The 40-hour / 5-day workweek (down from a 48-hour / 6-day workweek), wage increases, medical coverage, rights for “casuals” (workers intentionally hired by the University for less than 20 hours a week), and an end to split-shifts, where workers were sent home mid-day unpaid.

Most of the “generous benefits” you will read about in mailings from the University exist because Local 35’s membership has fought bitterly against the University to preserve them over the past 60 years. The settlement in September, 2003 brought terrific pension increases, wage increases, retroactive pay, and a job-access committee and community access at the table that will help to desegregate the workforce. In July, 2004, Local 35's former parent union HERE merged with UNITE, forming UNITE-HERE, a larger, stronger international union with the resources necessary to continue to achieve victories on the level of those of the 2003 contract settlement.

What they’re (still) fighting for: Despite the victories of the settlement, subcontracting still poses a serious threat not only to the economic security of countless families employed by Yale, but also, since it drags down regional and industry wage/benefit standards, to all working families in the area. In addition, the future of the union rests largely on the quality and security of un-unionized jobs at Yale. Local 35 will continue to support workers struggling to form unions all around campus, at Yale-New Haven Hospital, and in the city.

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UNITE-HERE Local 34
Local 34 is the largest union on campus. It represents over 2,800 clerical and technical workers (C&Ts) in over 350 buildings. Local 34 members are research librarians and laboratory technicians, departmental registrars and administrative assistants, piano tuners, ID Center workers, animal handlers, clinicians, autopsy technicians, master’s aides, and over 100 other job titles. Local 34’s president is Laura Smith.

Women comprise over 80% of the union, and their struggle and difficult strike to forge their union in 1984 focused the national spotlight on New Haven for over 10 weeks. “On Strike for Respect” was a major rallying cry on the picket lines, and Local 35’s “blue-collar” membership surprised many by walking off their jobs in solidarity with the largely female, “pink-collar” Local 34 workers for the duration of the strike.

What they’ve won: Before Local 34 was recognized, workers had no job security, extremely low salaries (especially for women), no retiree medical benefits, and minimal pensions. Also, without a grievance process, many C&Ts endured regular job discrimination. Through organizing, they’ve won better job security, wage increases (greatly reducing pay inequities for women), better benefits, increases in the pension plan, and more. 2003's victories brought, among other things, significant increases in pension and wages and retroactive pay. In recent months, administrators and Local 34 have been collaborating successfully in best practices.

What they’re (still) fighting for: Since the contract settlement, Local 34 has fought the University's decision to lay off about 80 employees, many of them Local 34 members, on account of supposed budget difficulties. The layoffs – pursued without any consultation with employees themselves, or with union leadership – were in direct conflict with Yale's following through on its commitment to partnership, something for which many of us were hopeful after the terrific contract settlement. As well, Many Local 34 members work directly alongside un-unionized workers at Yale-New Haven Hospital, doing the exact same work. The same situation exists among Local 34 members in academic departments and labs and graduate teachers/researchers. As for Local 35, the future of the union rests largely on the quality and security of un-unionized jobs at Yale. Local 34 will continue to support workers struggling to form unions all around campus, at Yale-New Haven Hospital, and in the city.

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Graduate Employees and Students Organization (GESO)
GESO has been organizing for over 14 years to form a union for the 2,300 graduate teachers and researchers at Yale. 60 percent of current Central Campus teachers have twice asked Yale to recognize GESO as their union within the past year. Though graduate employee unions have existed at public universities for over 30 years, GESO represented the first attempt to organize graduate workers at a private university. Since then, NYU graduates have won a recognized union and drives continue across the Ivy League. GESO’s chairwoman is Mary Reynolds, fourth-year graduate teacher in American Studies.

Yale has argued that research and teaching constitute"training" rather than work, so that graduate employees should not be allowed to form a union. However, the National Labor Relations Board has ruled in the past and the IRS has always held that graduate teachers and researchers serve as both students and employees - teaching courses, conducting lab research, grading, staffing office hours, and supervising senior essays in exchange for pay.

In July, 2004, in a decision split 3-2, the NLRB reversed its unanimous precedent of protecting the graduate employees at NYU. The Bush-appointed Republican majority argued that graduate employees at private universities are "primarily" students and therefore not subject to NLRB protections in organizing and collective bargaining. However, GESO, alongside public- and private-university graduate unions across the country, has reavowed its commitment to fight the ruling and press for recognition outside of the NLRB process (which, in fact, it was doing anyway; see below).

What they've won: In the past decade, the pressure created by GESO's organizing has moved the University to make major improvements in graduate education and compensation. These include increased stipends and wages, healthcare coverage, career services support, teacher training, ESL training, and the formation of the Graduate Student Assembly and the Office of Diversity and Equal Opportunity (ODEO).

What they're fighting for: On December 14th, 2004, and again in April, 2005, Connecticut Secretary of State Susan Bysiewicz certified that 60 percent of Yale Central Campus TAs signed GESO membership cards. With this strong majority, GESO is now seeking recognition from the University. GESO struck for recognition for one week in April, 2005, highlighting graduate employees' lack of a fair grievance procedure, lack of dependent health insurance, and pay inequity. GESO is collaborating with TA unions across the country and the world, including GSEU at Columbia University and GET-UP at the University of Pennsylvania.

In the fall of 2003, GESO launched an issue-based platform, focusing on racial, gender, and economic diversity; teaching-related issues, such as TA training; international student issues; dependent healthcare; women's issues; family-support services, such as affordable childcare; funding issues, such as TA pay equity; and career-path and casualization-related issues. The UOC's "Community in Crisis, vol. 2: In Our Classroom, On Our Streets" provides an introduction to many of these issues. "Community in Crisis, vol. 3: The GESO Strike" discusses the issues in the context of the April, 2005 strike. As well, reports by GESO on many of these topics are available. View and download reports here, and check out the discussion of related issues in the Our Academic Community section of YaleUOC.com.

In the past, GESO organizers have benn illegally arrested for passing out leaflets, and in February, 2003, GESO filed five Unfair Labor Practice charges against the University for intimidation. Read the official statement in response from the Academic Labor Panel here. The (Un)Usual Suspects, a GESO report outlining Yale's anti-union campaign, is available here.

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S.E.I.U. District 1199 – Yale-New Haven Hospital
District 1199 is a progressive union representing over 20,000 healthcare workers across New England. Currently, about 150 dietary workers at Yale-New Haven Hospital have a union contract, but 1199 is still fighting to win recognition for the other 1,850 workers there. Many un-unioized Hospital employees work alongside members of Local 34, doing the exact same work, but get paid significantly less. Check out a comparison of Hospital and University benefits.

Hospital management under the leadership of YNHH CEO Joe Zaccagnino has waged a bitter and often illegal campaign against unionization efforts. In the fall of 2002, the Hospital illegally arrested eight workers for distributing pro-union leaflets, and in response, the New Haven Board of Aldermen stripped the hospital constables of their arrest powers. There have also been frequent reports of supervisors harassing and intimidating workers for wearing union pins or expressing pro-union sentiments on the job.

What they’ve won: The union campaign scored a major victory when it revealed undisclosed millions in "free bed" funds intended to benefit low-income patients but not put to use by the Hospital. Combined with the uncovering of abusive, aggressive debt-collection practices, the fallout resulted in landmark debt-collection legislation passed by the Connecticut General Assembly, the stoppage of home foreclosures, and outright debt forgiveness for many.

What they’re fighting for: Hospital workers are struggling for a fair process to organize a union. Given the level of tension and intimidation, the workers feel that a card-count neutrality agreement is a necessary precursor to any organizing drive. In particular, healthcare remains a major issue for Hospital workers, since many are paid so little that they can't afford medical attention at the Hospital in which they work. Currently, the Hospital is making plans to build a new cancer center in the Hill neighborhood. Residents have come together as Community Organized for Responsible Development (CORD), seeking a community-benefits agreements accompanying the development. One piece of this community-benefits agreement is good jobs at the cancer center and respect for workers' right to organize.

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Glossary

Sometimes all the terms thrown around by the Union and the University can get confusing. Here's a brief guide to some contentious issues:

Card-count, or card-check, neutrality (CCN) is an alternative process for union recognition to the NLRB election advocated by Yale and YNNH. In an NLRB election, workers vote by secret ballot for or against union representation. But, as Human Rights Watch reported in 2000 (see Unfair Advantage), employers regularly use aggressive and often illegal methods to threaten or coerce employees. 91% of employers force workers to attend captive, closed-door meetings. 80% hire outside consultants to train administrators and supervisors in intimidation tactics. 31% illegally fire employees for supporting unions. Workers have endured many of these practices for years at Yale. That’s why GESO and District 1199 members have called for CCN as the best method to conduct organizing drives. Under CNN,, both sides agree not to intimidate or coerce workers, and to begin good-faith negotiations only when a majority of workers have signed membership cards.

Binding arbitration is a common agreement between employers and employees who want an alternative to deadlocked negotiations or a difficult strike. Under binding arbitration, a mutually agreed-upon third party considers both sides’ proposals and fashions a compromise which both sides agree to accept. Yale’s unions called for binding arbitration on mandatory contract issues – only Local 34 and Local 35’s contracts – in February, 2003 and again in August in hopes of achieving a just contract and averting a strike. Yale refused.

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