Background:

On February 28, 2006, janitors and groundskeepers at the University of Miami went on strike over unfair labor practices committed against them by their employer, Unicco, a company with whom UM contracts for campus maintenance services. The National Labor Relations Board has already found reasonable cause to believe that some charges were true and issued a complaint (tantamount to an indictment in labor law) alleging that Unicco violated US labor law by threatening, intimidating, interrogating and spying on pro-union workers on campus. The NLRB is currently investigating a dozen more charges, including the unlawful firing of a janitor who was leading the union organizing among her co-workers on the eve of the strike vote and making numerous threats against other striking workers.

By April 5th, there had been no tangible resolution of the unfair labor practices, no commitment by Unicco to stop pursuing its tactics of intimidation towards the workers, and no intervention by the University of Miami to address the unfair labor practices. Ten workers decided to go on hunger strike and were soon joined by about six students. On Friday, April 21, after five workers and one student had been hospitalized, the workers and students ended the hunger strike, but some UM faculty members, local clergy and community leaders, and national SEIU union leaders are continuing to fast on their behalf (mostly by using 48-72 hour relay fasts since things are changing on a daily basis, please check Faculty for Workplace Justices blog at www.umstrike.org for up-to-date information).

A majority of the striking workers wish to decide whether to unionize by means of a majority sign-up card check election, a process used in the majority of private sector unionizations last year. Unicco and UM have been insisting that there should be a vote organized by the NLRB although a) the NLRB will not allow a vote until the unfair labor practice charges against Unicco are settled; b) it often takes years between successful votes and their implementation; c) Unicco uses card check frequently in other cases; d) NLRB elections are attended by a much greater rate of intimidation of workers by both sides - but especially by the employer; and e) 57\% of the workers at UM have said they want to use the card check process.


Petition:

Dear University of Miami President Donna Shalala,

We, the undersigned, write to you to urge you to bring to bear your skills as a leader and an administrator in order immediately to resolve the strike by janitors and groundskeepers at the University of Miami.

At stake are two core principles with far-reaching implications for tens of thousands of contract workers at institutions of higher education across the country: the basic right to stand up for a better life and choose to form a union free from intimidation or the threat of firing, and the ethical and moral responsibility of all institutions of higher learning to hold their contractors accountable for their actions, and to ensure contractors cannot break the law and violate their employees basic rights without consequences.

To resolve the crisis at the University of Miami and demonstrate your leadership on these issues we ask you to make three statements:

1. That contractors that break the law will be barred from doing business with the University.

2. That contract workers should be allowed to unionize by whatever legal, democratic method they choose.

3. That Unicco or any other campus contractor will not lose their contracts with the University based on whether or not the contractors workers have a union.

Finally, we urge you to do everything in your power to bring Unicco, the workers and SEIU together in person to negotiate a resolution to this crisis. Its prolongation is unjust, unnecessary and hugely harmful to the great reputation enjoyed by the University of Miami.

Like institutions of higher education everywhere, UM should be a leading example in our community at large of an institution that values the highest ethical standards and the preservation of basic rights and freedoms.

Rebecca Biron, Associate Professor
Director of Latin American Studies, University of Miami

Ambassador Ambler H. Moss, Professor
International Studies, University of Miami

Bruce Nissen, Professor
Director of Research, Center for Labor Research and Studies,
Florida International University, Miami