Working People: Unionizing at a religious institution

Adjunct faculty and lecturers at Santa Clara University, a private Jesuit university in Silicon Valley, have been working to organize a non-tenure track (NTT) faculty union for five years. Along with navigating the particular challenges that come with worker organizing in higher education, theirs is a historic campaign because it is taking place at a religious institution, which the National Labor Relations Board does not exercise jurisdiction over. Nevertheless, after years of organizing and union busting, NTT faculty at Santa Clara are currently voting in their long-awaited union election. In this mini-cast, TRNN Editor-in-Chief Maximillian Alvarez reconnects with former Working People guest Maggie Levantovskaya to talk about why NTT faculty have fought so hard for so long to get to this point and why organizing your workplace—in higher ed and beyond—is so important. Levantovskaya is a lecturer in the English Department and member of AFLOC, the Adjunct Faculty and Lecturer Organizing Committee, at Santa Clara University.<br /><br />To read the transcript of this episode and see full show notes, visit: <a href="https://therealnews.com/the-long-uphill-battle-to-unionize-workers-at-religious-institutions" rel="noopener">https://therealnews.com/the-long-uphill-battle-to-unionize-workers-at-religious-institutions</a><br /><br />Featured Music (all songs sourced from the Free Music Archive at freemusicarchive.org):<br />Jules Taylor, "Working People Theme Song"<br /><br />Pre-Production/Studio: Maximillian Alvarez<br />Post-Production: Jules Taylor