A judge dismissed a 2024 lawsuit filed by the Rutgers unions that claimed students were deprived of an entire week of school due to a weeklong strike in 2023.
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University of St. John’s is suing the New York Public Employment Relations Board, asking the court to block the agency from hearing an unfair labor practice lawsuit filed by the university’s student union in April.
The university filed the complaint in early June, nearly three months after President Brian Shanley announced it would no longer recognize its two long-standing unions and two months after the unions filed their lawsuits. St. John’s argues that its First Amendment rights as a religious institution prevent the state board from asserting authority over the university, and it is asking the court for a preliminary or permanent injunction preventing the agency from reviewing April’s case with any other university.
Image credit: Justin Morrison/Inside Higher Ed
Image credit: Justin Morrison/Inside Higher Ed
“At St. John’s, ministry and mission are inseparable—and the faculty is entrusted with the sacred responsibility of guiding students in the Catholic and Vincentian traditions of education and wisdom,” the appeal said. “Under the negotiation agreement of St.
The bargaining rights of teachers at religious colleges have changed in recent years. The National Labor Relations Board, appointed by Trump, ruled in 2020 that religious institutions are not under its jurisdiction, reversing an Obama-era precedent in which non-religious workers at religious institutions, such as faculty members, can unionize. However, religious institutions have been able to voluntarily recognize and negotiate with student unions, as did St.
Union leaders criticized the case, calling the move a rejection of “Vincentian principles in St.
“This is yet another outlandish, misguided attempt by the administration of St. John’s University to attack our faculty and destroy our union of more than 56 years,” said Sophie Bell, St. John’s acting president. John’s University AAUP, in a statement. “It’s clear that the strength of our union and the strength of our legal case have taken Mr. Shanley’s administration by surprise. This lawsuit—which attacks the very labor board that is investigating his illegal actions—shows the lengths SJU will go to to silence faculty, take away our rights and continue this decades-old, state-sanctioned attack on our side, our labor union, and our New York union.
The legal dispute in St. John is not the only conflict of the union–institution that continued into the summer months. Read on in this month’s edition of Labor Watch for an update on the 2023 lawsuit against the Rutgers unions, Portland State University’s student rally against upcoming layoffs, the New School AAUP protest against student firings and several institutions that have achieved contract success.
RUTGERS UNION LEGAL DISMISSAL: On Wednesday, Middlesex County Superior Court Judge Ana C. Viscomi dismissed a 2024 lawsuit against the Rutgers University union in which former student Jeremy Li alleged that the union deprived students of an entire week of study during their three-union strike in 2023. Viscomi dismissed the charge with prejudice, noting that Lie spring still received a one-week lesson.
“The learning environments of our students can be similar to the working environments of the faculty and staff who support their education,” said Heather Pierce, president of the Rutgers Adjunct Faculty Union, in a statement. “Our fight is not just ours, it’s our students’. This is not just a win for workers’ rights — it’s a win for the future of public higher education.”
PORTLAND STATE UNION CONTINUES TO PUSH: Portland State University faculty, students and community members rallied June 3 to protest the university’s decision to lay off 52 unionized faculty members — including a dozen tenured professors — as part of a broader plan to address a $35 million budget shortfall.
“It’s getting harder and harder to have a sense of pride,” PSU student Isabelle Amezcua told KPTV the day of the meeting. “It seems that as they are being expelled, the students are also being expelled.”
PSU President Ann Cudd announced the proposed layoffs in May. During the meeting, a PSU spokesperson told KPTV that the cuts are “a proposal, not a final plan,” and that the plan will not be finalized until the comment period ends on June 13. On June 16, the PSU Board of Trustees approved a preliminary budget that supports, but does not end, the layoffs.
“Although the initial budget approval establishes a basic framework for operations, this is the first phase of the university’s financial planning and does not reflect the impact of any possible faculty layoffs due to the ongoing layoff process,” said a university spokesperson in a statement sent to KGW8.
WINNING THE CONTRACT: Community College of Baltimore County faculty approved their first contract this month after more than a year of negotiations, receiving a 12.6 percent pay raise over the next three years and job security protections and academic freedom, WBAL reported. Also in June, Clatsop Community College’s Full-Time Faculty Association ratified its three-year collective bargaining agreement, which secured a 3 percent cost-of-living increase for faculty members, established summer teaching incentives and faculty workloads.
NEW SCHOOL TRUTH RETURNS: Integrated Intelligence in the New School are fighting the institution’s decision to lay off 19 faculty members and 68 staff members to help solve New York University’s ongoing budget deficit. The New School AAUP chapter wants fired faculty to be reinstated or eligible for a phased retirement process. They are also asking university leaders to publicly share “terms of termination, institutional need and financial impact,” according to the news release.
Todd Wolfson, president of the national AAUP, spoke out against the firing of the release, calling it “a huge betrayal of the institution’s founding legacy as a place for critical social thinking for scholars fleeing fascism.”
