After years of controversy—including the recent trial and expulsion of some dissenting members—the Columbia College Chicago Faculty Union (CFAC) is about to get a referendum on its leadership.
But this setup, the DOL concluded, is a violation of federal labor law: union members must elect officers into specific positions. And the vote needs to be taken by secret ballot. To ensure security, it needs to be a paper ballot submitted through the U.S. Postal Service.
And then there’s the mysterious memorandum of understanding. Betke says that when members voted last spring on a new contract—which most never saw, he says—the union did not reveal that there was an accompanying memorandum of understanding between itself and the college, contingent on getting the contract approved. In the memorandum, the union agreed to pay the college $20,000 to help reimburse the staff teachers it fought to exclude, and—perhaps more important—the college agreed to “not seek reimbursement for its expenses and legal fees,” which the union had been ordered to pay when it lost that battle. How much the college was giving up wasn’t stated in the memorandum, but the Reform CFAC candidates wonder about the impact this deal had on the union’s bargaining position. “What was given up to whittle the union payment down to that figure?” they ask.
“There had been no grievance or unfair labor practice filed in 12 years,” and the union had a contract that put the college in charge, Vallera said. Now, she maintains, CFAC is “an active, member-run union” with “about 40 trained representatives” in its assembly and “exceptionally high” member participation.
