In the final months of the school year, the Cornell Democrats, the Cornell Organization for Labor Action (COLA), and the Bully Pulpit became involved with the UAW Local 2300’s efforts to secure a fair contract with Cornell University. We rallied, raised awareness on campus, and petitioned to make our voices heard. We left campus for the summer before the negotiations began. In spite of this, we formulated a way to continue to express our view that the Cornell workers are part of our community and deserved a fair contract – a contract that would be even more difficult to secure in this economic climate.
We built a massive banner and arranged to have it stand on Ho Plaza during the entire month of June, during the UAW-Cornell contract negotiations.
From Fil Eden, a member of the Cornell Organization for Labor Action, he updates us on the final status of the contract:
The Local and the workers I’ve spoke with wanted me to extend their thanks for your continued support and the effort you’ve put in to helping them achieve a fair contract. Those involved in the negotiations were confidant that our pressure played a huge role in getting Cornell to seriously consider the living wage issue.
The wage scale and raises that the contract settled on were not what many of the workers we’ve talked to were hoping for, and the University dismissed out of hand the weekly stipend to laid-off workers like Columbia pays.
However, the contract was approved this week by a 3-1 margin, with higher turnout than in past elections.
To me, this overwhelming approval is a reflection of two things. First, though not thrilled with the contract, the workers realize that Cornell is facing large budget cuts right now. When it comes down to it, this is the workers fight, and while we can and should stand with them, they have agreed to stand down. With very real fears about job losses and unemployed spouses in need of steady income, many workers simply weren’t willing to risk more radical action at this time, and we must be supportive of their decision.
Secondly, and more positively, the contract had many changes that will go a long way in improving the quality of life of our workers and their working environment.
The most important of these, which was in large part due to our efforts, was the establishment of a committee with representation from the Local and the administration with the goal of finding summer employment for all workers who want to work. If the committee accomplishes this goal, every full-time worker will be earning a living wage. As you know, committees at Cornell have a tendency to stagnate, and so it will be the Local’s responsibility to make sure the administration follows through on their end of the bargain. We will definitely have a role to play here, and should be ready to build up pressure quickly if the Local reports that the administration is failing to meet its commitment. We’ll keep you posted on this front, your help may very well be crucial.
There were other positive components in the new contract, too.
While wages will not rise for the coming year, every worker earning less than $40,000 will get a one time lump sum, which the Union agreed to scale based on annual salary. So while some of the higher paid workers will be forgoing a raise for only $360 (foregoing about $700 compared to a standard 3% raise), the lowest paid workers will get a one time payment of $1,000, which is even higher than a 3% wage increase. This is a tremendous testament to the selflessness of the workers in our community and their understanding of the hardships their fellow workers face. That higher paid workers were willing to demonstrate such solidarity is a very positive signal in terms of the potential strength of the Union. The workers care very much about each other and will be willing to stand together in future contracts if a more aggressive stance is warranted.
Statler workers, who had been forced to by no-slip shoes each year, will now get an annual shoe allowance so that this doesn’t come out of their pay checks. Other workers had been getting this shoe allowance for years, and this was one of the major concerns of Statler workers entering the negotiations.
The administration has agreed to give greater consideration to seniority when scheduling for shifts and when hiring for open positions, which helps older workers secure daytime shifts and helps workers who have deidcated much of their lives to our University move up and take on more responsibility. There are also new protections against arbitrary schedule changes, which had previously made it difficult for workers, especially those with families, to schedule their time outside of work.
Significantly, managers must now actively seek out Union representation for workers during disciplinary meetings. While workers always had the right to ask for Union representation during disciplinary meetings, many did not know this or simply forgot under the stress of potential disciplinary action. That managers must now request Union representation for the workers will help ensure more balanced outcomes and discourage arbitrary punishments.
So, while we did not get everything we asked for, and there will still be workers on campus earning less than a living wage, there were some very positive changes. We brought the living wage issue to the forefront of the discussion and let the administration know we are watching very closely. We will continue to work with the Local and push the administration to honor its commitment to fuller employment.
We’ve also demonstrated that even on short notice, the students at Cornell are willing to respond quickly and forcefully to support our workers, and we’ve showed the Union that we will always be there to stand with them. The Local will regroup, expand it’s membership outreach initiatives, and will, three years from now, be stronger even more united for the next contract negotiations.
Cornell Democrats, COLA, and Bully Pulpit continue to support the UAW.
Mike Schillawski is the President of the Cornell Democrats.
