Hamline adjunct faculty members vote to join union

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In the first union-organizing election among faculty members at a private college in Minnesota, adjunct instructors at Hamline University in St. Paul voted to join Local 284 of the Service Employees International Union.Eligible faculty members at Hamline cast their ballots by mail earlier this month. A vote tally took place this morning at the Minneapolis office of the National Labor Relations Board, with 72 percent voting in favor of forming the union.In a press release announcing the election results, SEIU declared the election results a “victory for adjunct faculty across the nation,” noting that Hamline faculty members had joined instructors at Northeastern University, Georgetown University and a growing number schools across the U.S. in forming unions via the SEIU’s Adjunct Action campaign.Forming a union is also a step toward improving higher education for students and instructors at the 160-year-old institution, adjunct faculty members said. David Weiss, an adjunct instructor in Hamline’s Religion Department, called it a “great day for faculty, students and the whole Hamline community.”“By coming together to address the low pay and lack of benefits and stability for adjunct faculty, we are taking steps to strengthen all of higher education for students and faculty alike,” he said. “I’m confident that our success today will help empower other workers, including adjunct faculty like ourselves at schools like St. Continue Reading

Ford, finally RIP

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I owned a Ford once. It sucked. I had reasons to agree with the jokes about Ford meaning “Fix Or Repair Daily” or “Found On Road Dead.” After that Ford, I didn’t own another car for 12 years. And I became a transportation planner because I never liked having to drive in the first place and wanted to improve options and safety for people who either have to or who choose to walk, ride transit, and bike. Continue Reading

Janitors celebrate Target win

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The Centro de Trabajadores Unidos en La Lucha (CTUL) celebrated a victory June 10, as Target adopted a new policy to protect the rights of janitors who clean Target stores. The janitors work for contractors, not as direct employees of Target. Under the new Responsible Contractor Policy, Target will ensure that workers have rights to collectively bargain, to form safety committees in the workplace, and that they not be forced to work seven days a week.The Target statement said in part, “As Target enters into new service agreements with Twin Cities housekeeping service providers over the next few months, the company will include additional language in those contracts aimed at promoting positive and productive dialogue between Target vendors and their workers.”CTUL and the janitors have been organizing for four years, with actions including picketing, hunger strikes, and marches. According to Veronica Mendez, co-director of CTUL, Target’s action is the first of its kind in the retail janitorial industry. At a press conference at Bethany Lutheran Church in Minneapolis, Mendez said that the sub-contracting system has distanced retail stores from responsibility and has blocked janitors from negotiating directly with the stores who actually have the power. Continue Reading