The Duke University Press Workers Union was legally certified by the National Labor Relations Board, according to a Monday tweet from @DUPWorkersUnion.
This comes a year after employees announced their plans to unionize and the University refused to voluntarily recognize the union. Following multiple rounds of appeals from Duke, the NLRB’s decision overruled all of Duke’s objections to the unionization election.
“Whether or not Duke continues to fight a fruitless legal battle, we’re confident that the election will stand,” wrote union members James Moore, Ben Kossak and Alejandra Mejia in an email to The Chronicle.
Employees originally voted in June, with 35 in favor of unionizing and 31 against. It resulted in eight challenged ballots, though five were later dropped.
A week after the vote count, however, lawyers representing the University petitioned the NLRB for a re-run election, citing “administrative failures” and technical issues during the ballot count. The NLRB overturned this request in October, a decision Duke then appealed with a request for review.
In December, an NLRB regional director ruled against a new election and determined that the three challenged ballots were eligible to be counted. Duke and DUP leadership subsequently requested a review of the regional director’s decision.
In February, the five-member NLRB Board dismissed Duke’s request. A final tally, including the challenged ballots, resulted in a majority in favor of unionizing. Despite requests from the union for Duke to respect the election results and begin bargaining, Duke appealed the results and unsuccessfully pushed for a second election.
The union’s next steps are to elect union leadership and work toward bargaining with Duke management. Concerns among employees include low pay, high turnover and frustrations with leave policies. Union members hope to negotiate a $45,000 pay floor for all employees at DUP. They also look to match some of the Duke Faculty Union’s contract, which includes up to one month of paid medical leave and an additional nine weeks of parental leave.
The union described these as “good starting points,” but negotiation priorities will be determined by future conversations with union membership and the “demands and needs of the bargaining unit.”
“We also hope that this victory will inspire workers from across Duke's campus, Durham, and the academic publishing industry to organize their workplaces,” they wrote.
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.
Milla Surjadi is a Trinity junior and a diversity, equity and inclusion coordinator of The Chronicle's 119th volume. She was previously editor-in-chief for Volume 118.