Duquesne U. Adjuncts Vote to Unionize

Adjunct instructors at Duquesne University have voted to organize a union affiliated with the United Steelworkers, according to a preliminary ballot count announced on Thursday, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reported. In a ruling last week, the National Labor Relations Board ordered the ballots to be opened and counted, despite a pending appeal by Duquesne that challenges the board’s jurisdiction over campus-labor matters at the Roman Catholic institution. Duquesne filed that appeal after the board’s regional director in Pittsburgh denied the university’s request for a religious exemption from its oversight. Republican members of the U.S. House of Representatives recently criticized that denial and similar ones involving labor matters at other Roman Catholic institutions. The adjuncts voted to unionize by a tally of 50 to 9, according to a preliminary count. Eighty-eight instructors were eligible to cast ballots. The university has said that it would file another appeal if the adjuncts voted to unionize.