This semester, Tulane Workers United, Tulane University’s faculty union, reached a settlement with the university after it failed to notify the union about an annual increase in healthcare premiums.
Last fall, Tulane raised its health insurance premiums for faculty and staff, something the school has done annually since rate records date back to 2019.
However, according to the National Labor Relations Board, once a union is recognized and in the bargaining process, the employer is legally obligated to bargain in good faith before making any changes to “wages, hours, vacation time, insurance, safety practices and other mandatory subjects.”
According to faculty, Tulane failed to bargain with the union before increasing the healthcare premiums for faculty and staff.
“Federal labor law is pretty clear that for the employer to make changes to the terms… things like health insurance premiums, they have to bargain with the union,” Chris Otten, professor of practice of legal studies, said. “That doesn’t mean they couldn’t have increased the premiums, but they had to bargain about it. They had to have a discussion, make proposals and they failed to do that. It was a pretty straightforward thing to do. They didn’t do it.”
“For the faculty who are in the union, we immediately saw this as a violation of status quo,” Casey Beck, professor of digital media studies, said.
In response, Tulane Workers United filed an unfair labor practice charge against Tulane, and instead of going to a labor hearing, Beck said the union wanted a settlement.
“During the negotiation process, the [Tulane] Workers United negotiator and attorney were able to talk with the Tulane attorneys general counsel, and basically, we won a settlement from Tulane,” Beck said. “We were organized. We put pressure on them. We said, ‘this is not legal, what you guys did.’”
The exact settlement amount for the healthcare unfair labor practice was $42,151.96, according to Beck. The union split the settlement evenly among its 315 members.
“Rather than go through that litigious process, the university decided to enter a new settlement agreement, and the settlement basically pays back a good portion of what the premium increase was for the faculty that are part of the bargaining unit,” Otten said.
The settlement marked a significant milestone since the union filed for recognition last April.
“That was a big win,” Otten said. “I think it was probably the first, really tangible benefit of the union that members could see. The university made a mistake, the employer made a mistake.”
Tulane Workers United is the first higher education faculty union in the state of Louisiana.
“What the union is doing right now is forcing a radical culture shift in the way faculty interact with the administration,” Beck said. “For almost 200 years, the administration has been able to make unilateral decisions about the way we work, the benefits we receive, the pay we get as faculty. For the first time in Tulane history, faculty have a seat at the table, and that’s a really radical change for Tulane to have to grapple with.”
The union is made up of instructors, lecturers, visiting professors and professors of practice across Tulane’s Schools of Liberal Arts, Science and Engineering, Architecture, Professional Advancement, and Business.
“Our biggest goal overall is, we really want this to be a job that people can enjoy and feel is sustainable, that it is equitable across all schools, so that all schools feel like they can keep doing their job in a sustainable way, and can support their students in sustainable ways without getting burnout,” said Katelyn Black, senior professor of practice in the School of Science and Engineering.
The following dates for the union to bargain with Tulane are April 22 and 23.
“Our membership, across the board, has put a lot of time and energy into growing our union and making it strong, and to see it pay off in dollars and cents is nothing short of miraculous,” Beck said. “We did this for the first time in Tulane’s history, and within one year of forming our union, we can see the financial gains of forming a union, before we even have our first contract negotiated. That’s huge.”