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| Pace transportation workers win right to unionize National Labor Relations Board rules against Pace University April 12, 2006 ALBANY, N.Y. April 19, 2006 - The National Labor Relations Board, overruling objections from Pace University, has ruled that 19 transportation workers at the college's Westchester and New York campuses have the right to unionize and be affiliated with New York State United Teachers. The NLRB certified a Jan. 30 election by full- and part-time drivers and mechanics working for Pace University in New York City, Briarcliff Manor, Pleasantville and White Plains. The three-member NLRB panel named NYSUT, the state's largest union with 525,000 members, as the workers' exclusive collective bargaining representative. "The NLRB has now formally settled, once and for all, the right of these workers to have a voice in their workplace. Salaries and benefits, as well as schedules and other workplace issues, will be settled through reasonable discussion and negotiations, not imposed on workers from administrators at the top," said NYSUT President Richard C. Iannuzzi. Iannuzzi criticized administrators for spending tens of thousands of dollars on legal fees to block the union. "Instead of wasting money in a futile effort to deny workers a voice, Pace could have redirected those funds to enhance programs for students or provide better salaries and benefits for its hard-working staff," he said. Pace administrators had objected to the way the NLRB investigated allegations that NYSUT organizers rallied transportation workers and urged them to vote for unionization. The full NLRB panel rejected those objections as without merit. NYSUT and the Pace workers will now set to work on bargaining a first contract with the university. NYSUT, the largest union in New York state, represents more than 525,000 classroom teachers and other school employees; academic and professional faculty at the state's community colleges, State University of New York and City University of New York; and other education and health professionals. NYSUT is affiliated with the American Federation of Teachers, AFL-CIO. |
CONTACT: NYSUT Media Relations and Communications. (518) 213-6000, Ext. 6313. E-Mail: mediarel@nysutmail.org. |
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