by Eleanor Miller, Ellen Kaye and Rachel Wallace-Brodeur Union-busting is a tradition as old as organized labor. Historically, the managerial class attempts to disrupt and divide its workforce through stalling, intimidation and manipulation. The goal is for employees to return to their jobs as quickly as possible without management being forced to improve working conditions. The less impact to the bottom line, the better. So what if workers are unhappy?
While union-busting in America is commonplace, it’s traditionally been a tactic in the corporate realm. Under the administration of President Garimella, however, the University of Vermont, a public university, has come to resemble a corporation in its leadership and governance.
Instead of seeing employees as partners with a shared mission, this administration doubles down on its authoritarian tendencies, making hasty, costly decisions without consulting the faculty, staff and students affected. Instead of honoring its collective bargaining agreements with its unions, this administration flouts them with tactics borrowed directly from the corporate playbook.
In March, the CEO of Starbucks appeared before the U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, which is led by our U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders, to answer questions about Starbucks’ attempts to shut down its workers’ unionization efforts. During testimony, Sen. Sanders offered the following criticism:
“What is outrageous to me is not only Starbucks’ anti-union activities and their willingness to break the law, it is their calculated and intentional efforts to stall, stall and stall. What Starbucks is doing is not only trying to break unions, but even worse. They are trying to break the spirit of workers who are struggling to improve their lives. And that is unforgivable.”
This is what’s happening at UVM.
For background, the Garimella administration has a pattern of implementing uninformed, unilateral decisions at the expense of workers’ rights. In response, UVM campus unions are strengthening. Four unions now represent the vast majority of non-students employed by UVM.
This pattern of poor administrative decisions includes cutting courses and academic departments in 2020 on the brink of an enrollment boom – which led to months of protest from students, employees and community members, who recognized it as an attempt to renege on the promise of a quality educational experience. Now, UVM management is investing in so-called efficiency over actual effectiveness by implementing a time tracking system that doesn't synchronize with staff’s diverse work schedules and conditions. Dozens of similar examples have prompted hundreds of UVM employees to join a union, or vote to form new ones.
But while labor appears strong, the premise of collective bargaining relies on good faith from both bargaining parties. UVM demonstrates its contempt for the process through Starbucks-like stalling. Under Garimella, UVM is slow to bargain with its unions – the administration’s team often shows up to scheduled meetings completely unprepared, and some agreements have taken more than 18 months to finalize.
Yet the administration frequently ignores the legally binding agreements it signs. This past year, staff and faculty unions have had to respond to repeated violations of our collective bargaining agreements. Each violation becomes a drawn-out grievance process: last year, UVM’s faculty union United Academics filed a record 17 grievances, and UVM Staff United, in its first year as a union, filed over 30 grievances.
These cases require a tremendous amount of time and resources. The capacity for dealing with them is inherently uneven: while union members must fight for just treatment and fairness in addition to their work obligations, the university has entire departments dedicated to managing legal and labor matters.
The administration has nothing to lose by stalling and wasting our time. If in the end the administration is found at fault, there is no consequence other than implementing the practice that was already in our collective bargaining agreements.
Faculty and staff are the lifeblood of UVM. We are directly responsible for delivering the knowledge and training UVM promises its students. We mentor and support students, and help students hone skills for lifelong critical thinking and inquiry. We’re proud of our expertise, and our work inspires us. In addition to our professional roles, United Academics, UVM Staff United, and our fellow union leaders work to improve our jobs and our lives. And we must also summon the spirit to respond to the obstruction and stalling tactics of an administration that wishes to break us.
As leaders of our state university, the UVM administration and Board are beholden to the people of Vermont. The University of Vermont is not a corporate behemoth, though it is behaving like one. To borrow Bernie’s words, it’s unforgivable. The Garimella administration must be held accountable.
Eleanor Miller (South Burlington) is the president of United Academics, the faculty union of the University of Vermont. Rachel Wallace-Brodeur (Grand Isle) and Ellen Kaye (Barre) are co-presidents of UVM Staff United.