Dear Colleagues,

I hope you’re having a good week. By now you should have all received your ballots for the SEIU unionization election in the mail. Alternatively to voting by mail-in ballot, you may also vote in person at the NLRB Office at 810 Broadway, Suite 302, Nashville, TN 37203, Monday – Friday from 8:00 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. prior to June 6.

As you know, the election will be decided by a majority of votes cast and doesn’t require a threshold of participation. Your vote matters. We know there are still a lot of lingering questions and uncertainties, so we wanted to share some of the most frequently asked questions, as well as some of the questions asked most recently.

If NTT faculty unionized, what topics would we no longer be able to discuss with department chairs and the university administration?

If NTT faculty unionized, the union would serve as the faculty’s exclusive collective bargaining agent. This means that department chairs and university administration could be prohibited from dealing directly with the NTT faculty regarding their pay, benefits, course assignments, leaves of absence, accommodations, and all other terms and conditions of employment.

I assume that as a right to work state, I can opt out of the union. Is that correct?

No. If the union is certified, all members of the bargaining unit, whether they vote in the election or not, will be represented by the union. This means that all faculty in the unit will be represented by the union and covered by the terms of any union contract. Faculty members in the certified bargaining unit may not “opt out” of union representation or the terms of any union contract.

As a right-to-work state, bargaining unit members in Tennessee do not have to join a union or pay union dues as a condition of employment. However, bargaining unit members who decide not to join the union will still be represented by the union and may not “opt out” of union representation.

Who will determine what issues a union would address prior to voting?

The bargaining demands made by a union during contract negotiations are set by the union bargaining committee. The bargaining committee may be elected or appointed by the union and is made up of dues-paying members. Contract negotiation proposals are determined by the union after it is selected by the eligible voters to represent the bargaining unit. Once in bargaining, all terms and conditions of employment – wages, benefits, teaching responsibilities, etc. – are subject to negotiations. As a result of the bargaining process, these may stay the same, improve, or get worse.

Please continue to ask questions and vote. Our goal is simple: we want to make sure all voices are heard. More information is available on our website, http://vu.edu/faculty-unionization.

Thank you.

Susan R. Wente

Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs