Faculty Life

Your Rights During the Union Campaign and Election

Right of Free Choice

You have the right under federal law to consider whether being represented by a union is the best choice for you. This choice should be free from intimidation, threats or coercion from either the union or ArtCenter. If you feel this most fundamental right is being violated, please report it immediately to Lisa M. Sánchez, Vice President, Employee Experience and Engagement (Human Resources), at lisa.sanchez@artcenter.edu, or the National Labor Relations Board at 310 235-7352.

During the election, you have the right to vote “YES” or “NO” for a union regardless of whether you signed a union authorization card.

Free Speech Rights

You have the legal right to speak and organize for or against union representation. Federal law protects your rights to:

• Talk to your fellow faculty during work time about your views for or against a union, just as you are allowed to discuss other personal matters
• Organize with your fellow faculty to make your collective views known about the advantages or disadvantages of CFT, AFL-CIO representation at ArtCenter
• Distribute information about the advantages or disadvantages of union representation at ArtCenter, as long as you don’t do so while instructing a class or disrupting someone else’s class
• Attend meetings or gatherings to discuss the pros or cons of CFT, AFL-CIO representation or the benefits of having a direct relationship with ArtCenter

You have the right to discuss unionization with your department chair, supervisor or any other members of the administration at any time.

You are free to speak with or refuse to speak with union organizers or advocates who email you, send you text messages, call you or visit you on campus or at home. There is no law or policy that requires faculty or staff to speak with union or CFT, AFL-CIO representatives either at home or in the workplace, and you are free to respond as you wish.

In ArtCenter’s academic environment, listening to and considering different viewpoints civilly is a rewarding and enriching experience, particularly when the views are forged by a strongly held and shared commitment to respect individual rights.

Privacy Rights

The election to determine whether ArtCenter faculty want to be represented by a union will be conducted by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) secret ballot, meaning it is a private decision. No one has the right to see your ballot or fill one out for you. No one will know how you voted—not CFT, AFL-CIO, ArtCenter, the NLRB, or your colleagues—unless you choose to tell them.

ArtCenter is required by law to give the NLRB a list of faculty members who are eligible to vote, including their personal contact information.