Tell Smith College to Stop Union Busting!
In the time since the student dining workers at Smith College announced the formation of the United Smith Student Workers (USSW - OPEIU 153) in November, Smith College has launched an anti-union campaign and repeatedly violated the National Labor Relations Act in an attempt to suppress votes, spread misinformation about unions, and intimidate workers.
Some of Smith’s union-busting actions include:
Not responding to our letter for voluntary recognition
Refusing to agree to our proposed election date in December and instead pushing the election all the way to February 2024
While there are 270 student dining workers who signed the petition for voluntary recognition, Smith refused to grant voluntary recognition, meaning that workers must go to an election to win their union. In this election, Smith claims that only 139 of the nearly 400 student dining workers are eligible to vote under the rule that workers that meet a minimum average # of hours worked per week in order to cast a ballot (these workers are only allowed to work a maximum of 10 hours/week total)
Sending us an incomplete voter list that fails to include 45+ workers who the union believes meets Smith’s criteria
Missing the deadline to serve the union with their Statement of Position
Failing to post the Notice of Petition for Election in conspicuous places, and failing to distribute the Notice via email
Launching a union-busting “Student Worker Unions FAQ” page on their website filled with misleading and false claims that, were the workers to unionize, they could not legally give workers time off or make schedule changes because of the union (they also used this FAQ to spread intimidating messaging around union dues and to repeatedly refer to the union as a third party)
Hosting a “tabling session” with management and HR to “highlight” organizing efforts and solicit feedback from workers about the organizing campaign
…and more
Several of these actions violate federal labor law - and we are taking action by filing an Unfair Labor Practice (ULP) charge and Cemex Bargaining Order against the college.
Please help us by sending the Smith administration a message: stop interfering with student workers’ right to unionize!