An alleged snub against union leader John Sweeney by University President Judith Rodin has stirred up both Penn's proponents of graduate student unionization and national labor union representatives.
Rodin "rejected" an attempt from Sweeney, the president of the American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Organizations, to discuss the current debate surrounding graduate student unionization, according to a statement released by Graduate Employees Together-University of Pennsylvania, a group organized to lobby for graduate student unionization.
Sweeney came to campus on Sept. 3 for GET-UP's "solidarity picnic." According to GET-UP, he attempted to speak with Rodin about the ballots that were cast during the National Labor Relations Board election last February to determine if select graduate students were in favor of unionizing, but was not able to do so.
And according to a senior AFL-CIO official who wished to remain unidentified, University officials told Sweeney and AFL-CIO VoiceWork Campaign Director Andy Levin that Rodin refused to engage in a phone discussion.
University officials, however, said that the missed conversation was not a refusal on Rodin's part to discuss the matter with Sweeney.
"Dr. Rodin was unable to meet with him when he was on campus over the Labor Day holiday," University spokeswoman Lori Doyle said. "However, she has indicated a willingness to see him when he will come to campus at Wharton in November."
She added that the conversation will focus on "whatever he wants to speak about."
The senior AFL-CIO official said that Sweeney would also be willing to meet with Rodin in November, but that no plan has yet been set.
Members of GET-UP did not consider the administration's statement to be a valid point.
"President Rodin might have been very busy that day, but there are certain phone calls one needs to make time for -- a phone call from the president of the AFL-CIO is one of them," GET-UP spokeswoman Rachel Buurma said.
Differences of opinion are not unusual in the debate over graduate student unionization.
In November 2002, the NLRB granted graduate students employed by Penn the right to hold union elections. However, that December, Penn filed an appeal against the NLRB asking it to reconsider its decision.
As a result, the NLRB decided to hold elections, in which only students being paid by the University to teach or do research were considered eligible to vote -- which consisted of about 1,000 graduate students out of the roughly 10,000 enrolled at Penn.
However, the ballots will remain impounded until the board reaches a decision on the appeal.
AFL-CIO officials underlined the importance of Sweeney's involvement in GET-UP's efforts.
"The situation represents a significant concern on a national scale for Sweeney to request to speak with Dr. Rodin," California AFL-CIO leader Art Pulaski said.
He added that the organization "rarely encounters an unwillingness to talk," and that Rodin's behavior in the matter was a sign of "rare disrespect."
Concerning the University's reticence to drop the appeal, Buurma said that "GET-UP finds it difficult to take President Rodin's sincerity seriously, when we are confronted again and again with this disrespectful delay."
While GET-UP believes that the University could afford the increases in stipends and health care benefits that its members demand, Buurma said that the organization is now mainly concerned with counting the ballots.
"We really want our votes to be counted so that the collective bargaining process can begin," Buurma said. "It's our civil rights that are being violated right now."
