SARATOGA SPRINGS ? The battle between two unions and Skidmore College for members could be put to rest with an election by the National Labor Relations Board being conducted today, Aug. 1.
About 150 Skidmore College employees who work in dining and facilities services, the post office and stables are represented by SEIU Local 200 United. They will be voting on whether to stay with the same union, switch to a different union or go non-union.
In early June, the college received notice from the NLRB that another union ? UPSEU Local 1222 ? was seeking to represent college employees represented by SEIU. To force an election, UPSEU got at least 30 percent of SEIU workers ? 45 individuals ? to sign membership cards.
But some of those people say they were tricked into signing the cards. Tony Colangelo, a Skidmore housekeeper and Pat Overholt, an environmental technician, both said they signed the cards because they were told they would otherwise be without union representation.
?This has made me sick,? Colangelo said.
A July 29 letter to SEIU members by Skidmore College President Philip A. Glotzbach cites ?financial and service challenges? with the pension and health plans offered by SEIU and urges voters to go non-union.
?In the election Aug. 1, you have the opportunity to make our community even stronger by voting not to have a third-party organization come between you and the college,? Glotzbach wrote.
Since the election was announced, the college has been flooded with union fliers, and representatives from each of the competing unions have been on campus, sometimes clashing with one another.
UPSEU representative Gary Favro said the biggest difference between his union and SEIU is that UPSEU has labor representatives that service each unit rather than the internal shop stewards system used by SEIU. As a result, Favro said, employees aren?t intimidated by their employers.
Shop stewards and union representatives make monthly visits to union locations, deal with grievances and handle negligence and disciplinary matters. Continued...
SEIU lead organizer Chris Machanoff said the union has labor representatives, organizers and attorneys empowering their workers, and added that UPSEU is not recognized by two major labor organizations, the AFL-CIO and Change to Win.
?UPSEU would be better off fighting for a pay raise for the workers they represent instead of starting unproductive battles with legitimate unions,? Machanoff said.
The same people fighting to bring UPSEU to Skidmore College, Machanoff said, were recently voted off of the SEIU?s executive board in a statewide election.
Another significant difference between the two unions is that UPSEU doesn?t offer health plans or pension funds to its members like SEIU, although they do negotiate with the company for them.
If voters decide to go unrepresented by either union or switch their membership to UPSEU, they would be exiting their pension funds prematurely and Skidmore College would have to pay the pension fund its share of unfunded liability, which is about $4 million.
The results of the election are expected to be announced this evening.
Source: http://www.saratogian.com/articles/2013/08/01/news/doc51f97bcd2af7c985837009.txt
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