posts and bio
William Herbert
William A. Herbert is a Distinguished Lecturer and Executive Director of the National Center for the Study of Collective Bargaining in Higher Education and the Professions at Hunter College. He is also a Faculty Associate at the Roosevelt House Institute of Public Policy. His scholarship and teaching focus on labor law, history, and policy. His recent book chapter on the history of public workers in New York City appeared in Joshua Freeman (ed.), City of Workers, City of Struggle: How Labor Movements Changed New York (Columbia University Press, 2019).
As we anticipate new political chances of addressing impediments to workers power, we offer this video of a webinar that took place on October 19, 2020 with LAWCHA members Jon E. Bekken, Albright College, David Hamilton Golland, Governors State University, Nelson Ouellet, Université de Moncton, Naomi R Williams, Rutgers University.
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On November 20, 2019, National Center for the Study of Collective Bargaining in Higher Education and the Professions, Hunter College, City University of New York submitted comments to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) in response to its proposed rule to exclude graduate assistants and student employees from coverage under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA).
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Collective bargaining and unionization in higher education has a long history. In 1936, Teachers Union Local 5 President Charles J. Hendley criticized a speech by Teachers College Dean William F. Russell for his opposition to the unionization of college professors and primary and secondary teachers.
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Legal history and labor law concepts are essential tools for analyzing structures of unionization and collective bargaining, and in developing effective strategies. Reductionism concerning labor law can lead to flawed analysis. This powerpoint presentation briefly reviews the history and concepts, and provides fresh data regarding new faculty and student employee unionization, and strikes (Powerpoint, 17-28).
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An important issue in collective bargaining, with significant consequences for contingent faculty, is unit composition. At the April 3-5, 2016 annual conference in New York City of the National Center for the Study of Collective Bargaining in Higher Education and the Professions, a panel discussed the impact that faculty composition can have on collective bargaining.
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