After faculty overwhelmingly voted to unionize, Ohio University is suing them again
'To initiate this lawsuit at this time is a dishonest and disingenuous choice by the leadership of Ohio University, and we strongly object to their doing so,' John O'Keefe, communications director for United Academics of Ohio University, said.
O'Keefe said this is the latest in a long string of delays from university leadership. In March, 70% of faculty voted in favor of unionization, but Ohio University challenged the election through the State Employment Relations Board. On May 7, SERB ruled in favor of the United Academics of Ohio University (UAOU). Despite initially indicating they would defer to the SERB ruling, the university is appealing the vote again, frustrating union members.
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Mike Courtney, university director of employee and labor relations, addressed the initial SERB challenge at a Faculty Senate meeting in April. According to meeting minutes, Courtney said the university received multiple complaints from faculty members about the unionization process, prompting the SERB filing.
'Did all faculty have equal opportunity to vote and participate? If SERB finds that the process was indeed fair and the results stand, we will accept that outcome and move forward,' Courtney said.
But SERB did find the process was fair, and Ohio University appealed the decision on May 22 regardless, saying it does not believe SERB thoroughly investigated its concerns. The university also said it does not believe SERB adequately abided by its rules. Ohio University leadership alleges UAOU violated the unionization process by holding member-only meetings before the election and due to issues with mailing the ballots.
'SERB's decision fails to follow its own rules as written and instead improperly changes the regulations outside the required rulemaking process,' Ohio University alleged in its appeal.
These meetings had both a member-only portion and an election portion, and the latter was open to all. SERB found although the meetings held before the election had member-only portions, any faculty could sign up as a union member at the door to attend. SERB ruled that without those guidelines, the union would not have been able to meet exclusively as it planned for the election.
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Both UAOU and Ohio University agreed there were complications in delivering the ballots. Originally hoping to vote in February, UAOU had to extend the election deadline to allow people to request and submit replacement ballots.
Ohio University argued these complications swayed members to vote in favor of unionizing, offering several emails from faculty complaining about the process. UAOU said the ballot issues negatively affected the union's efforts.
'Overall, the emails from OU show frustration with the delivery of the ballots, not with OU, and not with the Union. Union affiants collectively support this notion,' SERB said in its ruling. 'The post office delivery problems did not negatively affect the election in such a way as to require a re-run election.'
Further, SERB found a supermajority participated in the election process, at 82% of eligible voters. Of those voters, 70% were in favor of unionization. SERB said even if every person who did not vote voted against unionization, the measure still would have passed by over 100 votes.
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'The university is still trying to delay this process based on claims that haven't convinced the State Employment Relations Board, but we are ready to sit down and start negotiating a contract that will improve faculty working conditions, and therefore student learning conditions,' O'Keefe said.
O'Keefe said despite the appeal, the union is working to begin contract negotiations. A university spokesperson said it would be premature to comment on the lawsuit but said the university is working with union representatives to arrange negotiations as the appeal moves forward.
According to court records, a resolution should be announced on July 7. If it is unable to be resolved without trial or further arguments, the case will be extended.
With UAOU's vote to unionize, only two of Ohio's 14 public universities do not have faculty unions: Ohio State University and Northeast Ohio Medical University. However, OSU does have AAUP Ohio State, an advocacy chapter that focuses on issues that pertain to OSU faculty and encourages national union membership.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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