Submitted on behalf of President Tom Rochon
The letter below is being sent to all part-time and adjunct faculty members who are eligible to vote in the union election:
I write to you at a time of shared joy in the many accomplishments of our campus community over this past academic year. I thank you for the vital role you play in educating our students—especially those preparing right now for Commencement day—and know that you take great pride in contributing to their success.
I write to you also at a time when you are preparing to make a critical decision on the nature of your relationship with the college as a member of our faculty.
You are about to receive a ballot from the National Labor Relations Board. It will give you a choice, either to maintain the direct individual relationship that you currently have with your department chair and faculty colleagues or to become part of a collective in which your only voice is through group representation as articulated by an outside labor organization.
I ask you to once again take a look at the informational website we have created. Additions to the site include comparative salary data for part-time faculty at Ithaca College and part-time faculty at several institutions that have collective bargaining agreements, along with complete copies of their contracts. We have also included important information on what you might expect as part of a collective bargaining process.
This decision belongs to you, not to the IC administration or the professional union organizers, and it is you who will be most directly affected by its outcome. As I have said before, I believe our mission as educators is best served by maintaining a flexible, collaborative, and individualized approach to college relationships with faculty and to faculty relationships with students. That is why I hope you will join with the majority of our part-time faculty in deciding to vote against unionization.
Regardless of your views on this matter, I hope you will vote. Though everyone will be bound by the outcome, it is the majority of properly cast ballots—not the total number of eligible voters—who will decide the results. This decision is too important to leave to others.
Please follow carefully the instructions for completing and returning your ballot. Failure to do so could result in the voiding of your vote. Please also act promptly, since ballots received by the NLRB after the May 27 deadline will not be counted.
I offer you my best wishes and most sincere appreciation for the work you do for Ithaca College.
Tom Rochon
President
https://www.ithaca.edu/intercom/article.php/20150512170714391