The National Labor Relations Board dismissed charges last week of unfair labor practices filed by SEIU Local 200United, but a vote by RPI’s service workers on whether to unionize, rescheduled to take place yesterday, was canceled by a petition to the NLRB filed by SEIU.
SEIU Local 200United is working to become the bargaining unit for approximately 97 employees of Environmental and Site Services at RPI.
In a statement released by the Office of Communications, Vice President for Human Resources Curtis Powell interpreted the petition as “a very clear message that our service workers do not want to be represented by a union.”
However, Rich Drucker, a lead organizer for SEIU, denies that is the case. “There are many service workers who do want to form a union,” he said.
“I don’t know how the Institute would have a gauge on [service workers’ opinions] because they basically ran an anti-union campaign through literature with the signature of Curtis Powell,” he said.
Rather than a concession of defeat, Drucker says the petition is a move to regroup. “We want some more time to build a union and to refocus goals,” he said.
However, the most recent petition comes with a stipulation that the SEIU will not file any more petitions for the next six months. Drucker says that once the bar is passed, the union will try again.
“It is likely that in six months there will be a refiling,” he said.
The vote was originally scheduled to take place on January 16, but was canceled after the SEIU filed unfair labor charges against the Institute, claiming that service workers were unable to vote freely for fear of retribution from their managers. The NLRB decided that the charges were either without merit or did not warrant further action.
