Are faculty “managerial employees”?
Do Chatham faculty ultimately have significant decision-making powers? Do faculty have control and authority over things such as policy and hiring, or do they make recommendations that can then be overruled by the administration?
The administration has chosen not to voluntarily recognize the union and instead has hired the union-busting law firm Duane Morris to help argue that faculty have substantial managerial responsibilities and therefore do not have the protected right to unionize. The administration did not have to make this argument: it is choosing to challenge the status of faculty. This is a common tactic used to oppose faculty organizing. However, there is strong local precedent demonstrating that many tenured and tenure-track faculty do not have managerial authority and Chatham Faculty United is preparing to argue just that.
More Background: Supreme Court Case NLRB v. Yeshiva University
The Supreme Court case National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) v. Yeshiva University, decided in 1980, addressed the question of whether faculty members at private universities were entitled to collective bargaining rights under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA). The case specifically focused on whether faculty members at Yeshiva University, a private institution, were considered “managerial employees” and thus excluded from NLRA protection. In its decision, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Yeshiva University, asserting that the faculty members in question were indeed managerial employees.
In Yeshiva, the Court established a standard that considered whether faculty members were significantly involved in the decision-making processes of the university, particularly in academic policies, departmental operations, and personnel decisions. Faculty members at Yeshiva University had extensive and often complete control over these decisions.
However, more recently, private university faculty have successfully demonstrated that they are not managerial – because they do not have the kind of managerial authority that faculty at Yeshiva had in 1980 – and have won union recognition. Here in Pittsburgh, faculty at Robert Morris University and Point Park University have successfully organized. Both of these unions have tenured faculty in their bargaining units.
Chatham Faculty United 