Union-Busting Bingo

And so it begins…..

Given Duke’s history of union-busting, it is no surprise that on Monday, March 6th, Ph.D. students and faculty got an email from the office of the Provost that was classic union-busting rhetoric. Whether perusing the email or their anti-union website masquerading as “timely, factual information”, we have a fun game for you all to play: Union-Busting Bingo!

The language they use is so predictable that, with the Provost email alone, you can easily get 4 of these, and are more than likely to get a bingo when you skim the website.

Union-busting isn’t original, but we can organize together as grad workers and see through the charade. Play with your pals, your lab mates, your department, whomever, just remember #UnionBustingIsDisgusting

Want to know our responses to the text in the card above? Just look below:

1. "The Union will be your sole channel of communication about working conditions"

That may sound scary. But currently, without the union, are there any meaningful channels of communication about serious issues? Who can you ask for a raise? What about health/ dental care? With a union, we’ll sit directly across from top administrators to negotiate on things we simply can’t right now.

2. "With a union everything is negotiable; things could get worse"

We will democratically vote on whether to accept any proposals for change, and we have no intention of approving a proposal that makes things worse. If the Duke administration proposes something worse than what we currently have, we can reject that proposal. Our plan is to start negotiations at the current status quo, and improve from there.

Plus, there are so many things that we want to improve, and that other grad unions have already accomplished! This includes: negotiating for higher stipends, dental insurance, transportation discounts, better treatment of international students, child care, and protections from abuse.

3. “Once you form a union it’s nearly irreversible"

In fact, the process to reverse it is quite simple, it just requires a petition to disaffiliate and a majority vote. Though, we’ll get better stipends, benefits, and working conditions by unionizing, so we doubt any of us would even want to go back! Workers almost never choose to disband their unions because workers across the board make more money and have better benefits when they have a union.

4. “Do you want to weaken the GPSG?/You already have the avenues to bring up concerns!”

The truth is that the GPSG recently released a statement in full support of forming a union at Duke! As presented in their statement, the student government (tasked with advocacy) and a labor union (tasked with collective bargaining) play two distinct roles on campus, and will serve to complement one another

5. "The Union is an outside organization that will disrupt our community"

This is blatantly false. We are the union! There are literally hundreds of us who have been actively involved in union efforts, participating in our union’s democratic decision-making process, attending events, or finding other ways to contribute. We've been having conversations with PhD workers across Duke's campuses, which has resulted in over 50% of PhD workers (>1,000 of us!) signing cards 2 indicating that they want a recognized union on campus. If you want to get involved too, there are plenty of ways to do that.

This anti-union tactic is probably referring to the full time SEIU staff who are here to support our election and bargaining process. Staff help us manage data and keep us accountable to our goals, but we are the ones who make the key strategic decisions, determine our priorities for bargaining, and vote to approve a contract

6. "We respect your decision BUT…"

“...here are a bunch of reasons that your decision is wrong.” Maybe if they really respected our decision, they wouldn’t feel the need to run so much interference. As for the “reasons why it’s wrong”, see if you can spot them in the other anti-union tactics bingo squares!

7. "Unionizing hurts your relationship with your advisor"

The truth is, several studies show that relationships with advisors actually benefit from having better stipends and benefits standardized through a contract which allows more space for faculty to focus on mentorship.

8. "We support unions in general, we just don't think it is the right thing for our community because …"

This one probably looks suspicious to you already. “Supporting unions in general” doesn’t matter to our union effort if they don’t support unions “in our community”. For the excuses that follow, about why our community is somehow different, see if you can spot them in the other anti-union tactics bingo squares!

9. “We’ll give you a raise right now, so you have no need for a union anymore!”

This really demonstrates the power of collective action! Just the idea of forming a union was enough to scare the Duke administration into giving us a pay raise. (For example, the day before our big rally to kick off our card drive, Duke promised a 11.4% raise.) Clearly, collective action works. Now imagine: how much more can they afford to give us when we come to the bargaining table as a union? Plus, we need a mechanism to ensure we can fight for fair raises year after year, not just a one-time bump.

10. "The specific union you are organizing with is uniquely bad"

This tactic is meant to distract you from all the reasons we need a union. Also, we continue to affiliate with SEIU because they already work with the non-tenure track faculty union on campus, who have seen major improvements in their pay and benefits since unionizing (the minimum salary for the lowest-paid faculty members increased by 46%!) Other graduate unions that are organized with SEIU include Boston University, American University, Syracuse, Tufts, and George Washington University.

If you want to know more about the SEIU in particular to help address any remaining concerns, please reach out to any of your departmental union reps or feel free to browse the SEIU website for more info

11. "You could be forced to go on strike"

The strike is workers’ most powerful weapon, and not to be taken lightly. That’s why it requires a majority vote to authorize a strike, and often unions choose to strike only with a strong super majority. Furthermore, many contracts allow strikes only during the bargaining/negotiation period. But if we do decide to strike, we would need everyone’s help to make it as effective as possible.

Ultimately, it is the workers in the union who chose whether to strike, and our choice alone. No staff member, lawyer, or anyone outside of our bargaining unit can force us to strike.

12. "If some grad worker's pay goes up, others’ may have to come down"

This is blatantly false and alludes to a false sense of scarcity. In addition, we will vote to decide whether to approve a proposal, and we have no intention of approving a proposal that includes pay cuts for any of us.

A central principle of unions is solidarity; of the tens of thousands of grad workers in unions across the country, no one has fought for their co-workers pay to go down. Mostly, pay raises in union contracts come through percentage raises (e.g., over a three-year contract, 5%, 5%, 5%). To benefit grad workers in departments making the least amount of money, we may also choose to fight to raise the minimum stipend to a certain floor. That could lead to a comparatively larger raise for workers in those departments, but that doesn’t mean any money would be taken away from you. To emphasize one more time, we vote on whether to approve a proposal, and we don’t plan to approve a proposal that leaves us with lower salaries than we have now.

13. “You will have to pay DUES!”

This is false. Because North Carolina is a Right-to-Work state, you will not be required to pay union dues. If you are a member of the bargaining unit and choose not to become a union member and pay dues, the union is still required to represent you. Voting yes during the union election does not bind you into becoming a union member.

It is also worth asking why Duke suddenly cares about how we spend our money. Organized money and organized people means power, the ability to act, the ability to change things. That’s why many of us choose to pay dues.

With dues we support our campaign to build power for graduate students, to gather together to hear from and understand each other, and to show the university through various other actions that we mean business. Dues are the main way to make sure our union is well-resourced and help us pay for things like staff who will help us bargain and organize, legal support, food/space, and more. After successfully negotiating a contract, members will all pay a small portion of our paychecks in dues to fund the union, but the idea is that thanks to our union, we would have the ability to fight for a raise that is at least that is larger than the cost of dues.

14. “Other grad unions have not won much”

We beg to differ. Check out this graphic that shows a small fraction of wins on key issues by other schools with grad union.

15. "One contract could not possibly cover the interests of students across every campus and department"

We have plenty of common goals that we are fighting for and that will benefit all of us. We all want a stipend we can live on in Durham. We all want good health care, dental care, and vision. We all want a reasonable workload and a work environment free of harassment and abuse. Even if we aren’t able to account for every individual interest in the union contract, the point is that together as a union we will all end up better off.

16. "We already provide competitive stipends and benefits"

Not really. Other universities in areas with similar costs of living as Durham have salaries greater than $43,400. While stipends at Duke were promised to be raised to $38,000 (the day just before our union rally), we are all currently experiencing the effects of ongoing inflation and rapidly increasing housing expenses that show no sign of slowing down. Just check out the results of GPSGs most recent housing survey. How many more years will we need to wait until Duke decides to increase pay again? Other universities with yearly, guaranteed pay increases protected by a union contract seem much more desirable.

17. "We want to avoid conflict and the adversarial environment. Can’t we work together?"

Forming a union doesn’t create new conflict; it highlights the tensions that already exist. Duke admin has had plenty of time to show us their version of “avoiding conflict” and “working together”, and it mainly involves ignoring our input and the challenges we face. Once we have a union, we can legally force them to reckon with the stresses we are under, and make positive change.

18. "The union is led by a minority of graduate students with views"

There are hundreds of grad students who have been leading this effort, and we make decisions democratically through votes and consensus in smaller meetings. Also, it’s not extreme to want things to be better than they are now. Finally, the graduate students who participate in leading union efforts are happy to chat about the union and their views for it – reach out to your grad rep today!

19. "You may be 'harassed' by union representatives who contact you without your consent."

We doubt it will be the case, since union representatives are your fellow co-workers, not some outside force. We are the union! If you feel that union reps are contacting you too much, let us know and we will try to reduce or rework our modes of contact.

20. "Nothing you want is guaranteed”

And that is precisely why we need the power to fight for it! Of course, the things we need (or currently have) are not guaranteed, because the Duke administration can decide to play with our salaries and working conditions on a whim, without repercussions. With the power of a union, we can fight for the things we want and need, and we’ll have a much better chance at achieving our goals. Other grad unions have succeeded in many ways, including negotiating for higher stipends, dental insurance, transportation discounts, better treatment of international students, childcare, and protections from abuse.

21. “Forming a union involves risks, costs, and losses."

We will democratically vote on whether to accept any proposals for change. If the Duke administration makes a proposal that would make things worse, we do not have to accept it. Our plan is to start negotiations at the current status quo, and improve upon it.

22. "We care about you and want to hear from you!

*Insert menacing threat about forming a union* We can really tell they care, because we’ve never received so much attention from administrators until we started forming a union… To address the menacing threat, see if you can find it in the other anti-union tactics bingo squares!

23. "Check out this op-ed from two anti-union grad students" ~Ghost written by anti-union law firm~

Yes, this really does happen. In fact, it happened at Duke in 2017. If you see an anti-union article “written by grad students”, it’s definitely worth a quick google to check if the authors are just made-up impersonations used by an anti-union law firm. And even though the article itself probably isn’t trustworthy, if it raises any real concerns for you, we encourage you to reach out to any of your grad student union reps, or look for the answer in our Union Drive Hub.

24. "The Union forced us to share your personal info"

During a union election, it is standard practice for the employer to share a list of workers’ contact information with the union organizing committee. This ensures that we can reach out to all potential union members before the election. Duke will only be required to share your contact info: name, department/school at Duke, email, phone, and address.

25. "We encourage you to read both sides of the debate"

*Sends 4 anti-union links and 1 pro-union link* Need we say more?