Faculty Union Vote Opens March 21

Dear Colleague,

Faculty and Academic Staff on the University of Kansas Lawrence, Edwards Campus and School of Pharmacy Wichita locations will soon have an opportunity to vote on unionization.

Beginning March 21, the Kansas Department of Labor will administer a mail ballot vote seeking faculty and academic staff voice on organizing with United Academics of the University of Kansas, which is affiliated with national unions, the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) and the American Association of University Professors (AAUP). This is a secret ballot and university administration, including Human Resource Management, will not administer this process.

As negotiated between university administration and the union organizers, ballots will be sent to faculty and unclassified academic staff with academic or research responsibilities, whether tenure track or non-tenure track, full or part time. Some employees will be excluded due to their supervisory or managerial roles.

Eligible voters do not include:

• Department chairs, academic program directors
• Deans and associate deans
• Unclassified Professional Staff who teach a course in addition to their regular staff duties
• KU Medical Center faculty employees
• Graduate Teaching Assistants, Graduate Research Assistants or Graduate Assistants

Voting by mail ballot opens March 21 and all ballots will need to be received by April 25 to be counted. A union will be certified or not certified by the Kansas Department of Labor based on results from a majority of votes cast. A majority is not based on the percent of responses from eligible voters. FAQs are available online to address questions you may have.

The work of faculty and instructors across our campuses is central to the value we bring to our students and the constituents we serve. Regardless of the vote outcome, my leadership team and I are committed to an environment that respects and supports those whose teaching, research and service mission elevates our region, state, nation and world.  I look forward to working with and supporting our faculty throughout this process.

Thank you for all you do for KU.

Respectfully,

Barb

Barbara A. Bichelmeyer
Provost & Executive Vice Chancellor