{"id":48579,"date":"2025-07-08T11:43:20","date_gmt":"2025-07-08T11:43:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/48579\/"},"modified":"2025-07-08T11:43:20","modified_gmt":"2025-07-08T11:43:20","slug":"aaup-penn-calls-on-university-to-end-anti-union-campaign-in-statements-of-solidarity-with-rapup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/48579\/","title":{"rendered":"AAUP-Penn calls on University to end \u2018anti-union campaign\u2019 in statements of solidarity with RAPUP"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\"rap-up-union-rally-06-12-25\"\/
\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\tAAUP issued a statement on July 7 in solidarity with RAPUP against anti-union campaigns by the university.
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCredit: Ethan Young<\/a> \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

The Executive Committee of Penn\u2019s Chapter of the American Association of University Professors condemned Penn\u2019s \u201canti-union campaign\u201d against Research Associates and Postdocs United at Penn in a statement released Monday, ahead of the group\u2019s vote to unionize.\n<\/p>\n

The July 7 statement<\/a> from AAUP-Penn called on the University to uphold \u201cthe freedoms to teach, learn, study, assemble, and speak [that] are necessary to the integrity of higher education and to democracy itself.\u201d AAUP-Penn also sent a public letter<\/a> to Penn President Larry Jameson, Provost John Jackson Jr., and Director of Postdoctoral Affairs Marta Bartholomew, urging them to \u201cimplement a policy of neutrality in all union organizing drives at Penn.\u201d\n\t\t<\/p>\n

\u201cIn building a union together, [RAPUP is] organizing to make Penn a better, fairer, and more democratic institution,\u201d the Executive Committee wrote in its statement. \u201cAll of us who do the work that sustains Penn\u2019s research and educational mission deserve a meaningful voice in institutional policies that affect our lives.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

The statement classified unions as \u201cessential institutions that provide a democratic voice at work and the capacity to win real change for the better.\u201d\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

The statement also criticized Penn\u2019s response to recent unionization efforts, which included attempts to \u201cstrip postdocs and research associates of their right to organize at all\u201d through an \u201canti-union website\u201d created \u201cin plain violation of federal labor law.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\u201cThe decision to form a union or not to do so lies with the postdocs and the research associates, not with the University,\u201d Vice President of AAUP-Penn Lorena Grundy said in an interview with The Daily Pennsylvanian. \u201cThis anti-union campaign is sowing fear, doubt, confusion, and misinformation among the Penn community, and that is a problem.\u201d\n\t<\/p>\n

Grundy added that the Executive Committee \u201cspecifically object[s] to those messages being shared with faculty in an attempt to get faculty to share that information with our postdoc colleagues and mentees.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\u201cThat sets faculty up to deliver intimidating and misleading messages to our postdoc and research associate colleagues and mentees, which threatens our relationships of mutual respect and trust with those colleagues and compromises our integrity,\u201d she said.\n<\/p>\n

Justin Roncaioli \u2014 a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Pathobiology and RAPUP organizer \u2014 told the DP that he has been receiving \u201cemails and texts from the University with links to a third party website\u201d every Wednesday around 2:00 p.m.\n<\/p>\n

He emphasized that the email account sending these messages \u201cwas initially assembled by\u201d Bartholomew, \u201cwho is ostensibly hired to improve postdoc conditions, but is actively preventing unionization.\u201d According to Roncaioli, Bartholomew’s email is the one registered to the account that sent the first email containing links to the anti-union website.\n<\/p>\n

Roncaioli added that the biomedical postdoctoral program<\/a> “has now linked the third party … antiunion website to their website.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

He said the text, emails, and website were \u201cinfantilizing and contain misleading information.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

The Executive Committee also wrote that Penn\u2019s campaign follows \u201cthe same playbook it has used to fight recent union organizing drives by Penn museum workers, medical residents, resident advisors, graduate research and teaching assistants, and librarians.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

In 2023, AAUP-Penn issued a statement<\/a> against anti-union messaging in response to unionization efforts by resident advisors<\/a> and graduate students<\/a> the spring prior. The faculty group also expressed its support for graduate student workers\u2019 unionization movement at a 2024 rally<\/a> in front of College Hall.\n<\/p>\n

AAUP-Penn\u2019s statement comes a week before RAPUP\u2019s official July 16-17 National Labor Relations Board election<\/a>, the culmination of a yearslong effort for postdocs and research associates to unionize, according to Roncaioli.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

In addition to \u201cautomated messages,\u201d Roncaioli referenced other \u201cclassic anti-union tactics\u201d deployed by the University to delay an election for research associates and postdocs \u2014 including arguing that postdocs are \u201ctemporary trainees and not workers, and that [they] were ineligible to unionize.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\u201cThey also attempted to fraction or divide our bargaining unit into several different pieces so we’d all have to bargain independently,\u201d he said. \u201cThe result of that was [that] the appeal had to be processed, and it delayed our election for about four to six weeks.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

Despite the delays, Roncaioli highlighted that the \u201cNLRB sided<\/a> with [RAPUP] in every single argument,\u201d and the \u201cruling actually quicker than we expected.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

The Executive Committee\u2019s letter<\/a> to University administration referred to a June 12 rally<\/a>, during which RAPUP demonstrators were \u201casked to move off campus by university officials,\u201d according to Roncaioli.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cPenn has a pretty restrictive speech ordinance,\u201d Roncaioli said, echoing AAUP-Penn\u2019s statement that \u201cPenn has illegally deployed the Temporary Standards and Procedures for Campus Events and Demonstrations\u2014now in effect for over a year\u2014to repress union gatherings on campus in violation of federal labor law.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\u201cUnder the 1935 National Labor Relations Act, workers have the right to engage in concerted activity\u2014 that is, collective action to address shared workplace concerns\u2014and on college campuses, concerted activity routinely takes the form of rallying on campus,\u201d the Executive Committee wrote. \u201dYet on June 12, when RAPUP members gathered for a peaceful demonstration at the Button, they were forced off campus.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

Grundy called the University\u2019s response to the rally \u201cdisappointing and illegal.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

She also characterized Penn\u2019s actions as a misallocation of resources during a period of financial uncertainty, citing the University\u2019s retainment of the prominent law firm Cozen O\u2019Connor while \u201cdiverti[ng] funds from other areas amid hiring freezes<\/a>, cuts to graduate training,<\/a> [and] contract non-renewals<\/a> for non-tenure track faculty.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s discouraging to see those kinds of measures being taken while funds are being diverted … to disenfranchise our postdoc and research associate colleagues,\u201d Grundy said.\n<\/p>\n

The Executive Committee also asked the University to institute a \u201cpolicy of neutrality\u201d toward RAPUP and other unionization efforts.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\u201cThe proper posture of an employer during an organizing drive is neutrality: management should simply step back and allow workers to make their decision,\u201d they wrote. \u201cNeutrality not only respects the original spirit of the National Labor Relations Act, but it lays the groundwork for a productive, mutually beneficial relationship with a union should workers vote to form one.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

Grundy noted the significance of neutrality during instances of \u201cgovernment interfer[ence] with Penn’s affairs,\u201d pointing specifically to Penn\u2019s historic resolution agreement<\/a> with the Department of Education to settle its Title IX investigation.\n<\/p>\n

AAUP-Penn previously condemned<\/a> the University\u2019s chosen \u201cpath of political expediency at the expense of trans athletes\u201d in a public statement<\/a> on July 2 following the resolution agreement. \u00a0\n<\/p>\n

In the statement, the Executive Committee emphasized that the University\u2019s decision contradicts the collective action of \u201c1100 workers at Penn [who] signed a\u00a0petition<\/a>\u00a0demanding that Penn uphold research and counter funding cuts, affirm sanctuary and legal rights of immigrants, maintain commitments to DEIA, and stand up for equal treatment for LGBTQ+ members of our community.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

Sam Layding \u2014 a member of the Executive Committee and graduate research assistant in Penn’s School of Engineering and Applied Science \u2014 similarly described \u201ca broad pattern\u201d of attempts by the federal government to install \u201cexcessive external oversight into universities across the U.S.\u201d in an interview with the DP.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cThose kinds of moves are antithetical to the democratic foundation of our society,\u201d Layding said.\n<\/p>\n

Layding also serves as a member of the bargaining committee for Graduate Employees Together \u2014 University of Pennsylvania, Penn\u2019s largest union of graduate researchers and teachers. They emphasized that \u201cit goes without saying that GET-UP stands [with] RAPUP.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\u201cI would say that we’re seeing a stronger anti-union campaign and more direct rhetoric from the university towards postdocs than we saw towards our own campaign,\u201d Layding said. \u201cWe\u2019re looking forward to seeing [postdocs and research associates] show how unified they are in the election in the coming weeks.\u201d\n\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\tSign up for our newsletter<\/p>\n

Get our newsletter, DP Daybreak, delivered to your inbox every weekday morning.<\/p>\n

English professor and Communications Secretary of AAUP-Penn David Kazanjian previously told the DP<\/a> that AAUP is in regular communication with Penn unions to offer support.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom the faculty point of view, we just want a fair and democratic election that the University is neutral in, where the post docs and research associates get to decide for themselves that they would like to unionize,\u201d Grundy said.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re adamant that Penn respect the results of the election and immediately proceed to good faith bargaining,\u201d Roncaioli said on behalf of RAPUP. \u201cWe do not want more delays, and it would be extremely disappointing if they did not respect the will of [the] workers when we win this election.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Daily Pennsylvanian is an independent, student-run newspaper. Please consider making a donation<\/a> to support the coverage that shapes the University. Your generosity ensures a future of strong journalism at Penn.<\/p>\n

Donate<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"AAUP issued a statement on July 7 in solidarity with RAPUP against anti-union campaigns by the university. Credit:…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":48580,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5132],"tags":[23234,8431,5672,5229,8433,8432,8430,1448,2830,1311,277,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-48579","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-philadelphia","8":"tag-academic-research","9":"tag-academics-faculty","10":"tag-administration","11":"tag-america","12":"tag-app-top-news","13":"tag-beats","14":"tag-centerpiece","15":"tag-pa","16":"tag-pennsylvania","17":"tag-philadelphia","18":"tag-trump","19":"tag-united-states","20":"tag-united-states-of-america","21":"tag-unitedstates","22":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","23":"tag-us","24":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114817440347422264","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48579","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48579"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48579\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/48580"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48579"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48579"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48579"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}