Yeshiva University Faculty Union Seeks Supreme Court Recognition

The attorney for a union of faculty members at Yeshiva University of New York said today an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court is being planned from a ruling by a federal Appeals Court which rejected an appeal by the union, the Yeshiva University Faculty Association (YUFA), for recognition by the university administration. YUFA had been certified by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).

Ronald Schechiman, attorney for YUFA, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that the union would join with the NLRB in an application to the Supreme Court to sustain an NLRB finding that YUFA was a qualified bargaining agency for Yeshiva University faculty members.

YUFA won two NLRB-ordered elections, one in 1975 and another in 1976, to represent 200 full-time faculty members at six undergraduate and four graduate schools at the university. However, the administration, headed by Dr. Norman Lamm, the university’s president since mid 1976, refused to deal with YUFA. Lamm contended that the administration wanted a court review of whether labor rules intended for industry “should be routinely applied” at a major university where faculty members “have an integral role in academic decision-making.”

After the university rejected NLRB orders to bargain with YUFA, the NLRB filed an application with the federal Second Circuit Court of Appeals in New York City, asking the court to order the university to comply with the NLRB order. Lamm explained at that time that, to take the issue from the NLRB to the courts, it was necessary for the administration to get a “final order” from the NLRB holding the administration’s refusal to bargain with YUFA “an unfair labor practice.”

CIRCUIT COURT OF APPEALS RULING

The three-man Circuit Court of Appeals ruled last Thursday that the full-time Yeshiva University faculty members can be regarded as managerial personnel and the university does not have to bargain with a union of such faculty members. The ruling, written by Justice William Mulligan, declared the NLRB had used “arbitrary standards” and “rigid criteria” in certifying YUFA as the bargaining agent.

Schechtman said application to the Supreme Court, appealing the Appeals Court ruling, would be made 90 days after the parties received the formal circuit court ruling, called a mandate. He said he expected the mandate would be issued by the end of this month. Schechtman called the circuit court ruling a decision of “enormous importance” and one at variance with “consistent precedents affecting thousands of faculty members” in colleges and universities throughout the U.S.