Research Assistants' Union Rally Gets Tangled in Red Tape
By Michael Kelly Research assistants were embroiled in a dispute with Stony Brook University administration last weekend when a rally permit they submitted was held in limbo. The university's research assistants allege that the school tried to impede their attempts to unionize. The Research Assistants of Stony Brook University held a rally Monday in the Student Activity Center auditorium to drum up support as they try to join the Communication Workers of America union. The research assistants were only able to proceed after an entanglement with university red tape that caused their organizing permit to be issued, revoked, then issued again over the course of 72 hours. They said the runaround was the result of union busting tactics by the university. But the university says they revoked the permit due to confusion over what organization was actually using the auditorium—the research assistants or the CWA. There is also a state law that calls for SUNY to remain neutral in union activities, according to SBU Director of Media Relations Lauren Sheprow. According to the research assistant organization's mission statement, "Our goal is to give RA’s at Stony Brook a voice. We are interested in increasing RA benefits such as health insurance and cost-of-living allocations, as well as lowering mandatory fees and establishing a system of grievances." Research assistants work under a “project investigator,” which is a faculty member conducting research on topics like curing cancer or technological innovations. Research assistants are paid between $15,145 and $27,500, according to Jim McAsey, organizing director of the research assistants. On the Friday before the rally, McAsey received a permit to use the SAC Auditorium on Monday from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. The permit was made out to the Graduate Students Employees Union, issued around 11:15 a.m. Shortly after the GSEU received the permit, Sharon Chambliss-Alvarez, SBU’s director of employee and labor relations, called Victor Rosado, a graduate student and Stony Brook's business agent for the GSEU, to tell him that SBU would be revoking the permit. Rosado said he was told that a union-support rally could not be held on campus due to a SUNY policy that dictates schools remain neutral in all union activities, and that allowing such a rally on school property would infringe on this neutrality. Research assistants felt otherwise. “Any excuse of trying to remain neutral…is a bunch of baloney,” Rosado said. “We felt [this] was a violation of our free speech, guaranteed to us in the United States constitution.” Sheprow said that as a state university SBU was required by law to be a neutral party in any union organizing. Reiterating that the permit was revoked because there was confusion over who was actually hosting the rally Monday, Sheprow said the school questioned who was hosting the event because it saw advertisements for the rally put out by the Communications Workers of America, the union the research assistants are looking to join. “I think it was a matter of who was actually holding the event,” Sheprow said. “One organization secured a permit, and another one was advertising that they were using the room.” She said she thought it was mostly a paperwork issue, and that the university had not been engaging in union busting tactics. Rosado said there were “heated discussions” between the university and the GSEU on Friday over the permit, but that nothing was resolved. It wasn’t until Monday, shortly before the rally was set to take place, that the GSEU and the university ironed out an agreement that allowed the rally to take place. The agreement allowed the union-support rally to occur, but forbade third party participants in the rally from distributing union organizing materials. “There are stipulations for reserving space [on campus],” Sheprow said. While Rosado admitted that the GSEU had been “vague” in the reason they were requesting a permit, Sheprow said the space request was for a “broad-based educational discussion of work-life conditions." Rosado thought the university knew of the event’s intention weeks prior to Monday. Rosado believed the university knew since early September because of communication with the university by politicians who were set to speak at the event or who were supporting the research assistants’ attempt to unionize. Rosado claimed that Congressman Tim Bishop (D-Southampton) had personally called President Shirley Strum Kenny about the event, though this could not be confirmed with Bishop’s office. A letter from Congressman Bishop was sent to President Shirley Strum Kenny on Sept. 1, voicing his support for the research assistants’ intention to join the CWA. The letter made no mention of the rally held Monday, though, and he did not personally attend. Sheprow said she was unsure about communication between elected officials and President Kenny. She said the university only took special notice of the event when it saw the CWA’s flier the Friday before it was to occur. |
