Bates College staff has made headlines recently with their efforts to unionize a solid majority of their staff, save that of managers, supervisors, tenured/tenure track faculty, and security personnel. With that unionization effort has come a sharp backlash from the Bates administration. Workers recently filed a complaint to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) about Bates’s union-busting practices in response to a selectively applied non-solicitation clause in the employee contract.
USLAC stands in solidarity with the Bates workers fighting to amplify their voices in the workplace. We also strongly condemn the Bates Administration’s efforts to suppress these very voices. Unions are the strength of the modern day labor force, and an attempt to unionize is not only a material win for the workers and their conditions, but also a moral win in the furthering of the workplace towards a more democratic model.
Wesleyan’s mission statement dedicates itself to fostering an education of “practical idealism” and the creation of a “community of students, faculty, and staff who think critically and creatively and who value independence of mind and generosity of spirit.” We must recognize that our workers are important members of our Wesleyan community, and as such, they should be supported in organizing efforts. Similarly, we believe that an administration that holds these stated values must stand up for other workers in similar situations, especially at an analogous institution like Bates.
We call on Wesleyan as an institution to take a stand in solidarity with the Bates workers in their efforts to unionize. We call on Bates at a bare minimum to maintain neutrality, ideally even to support this union. And we call on the Bates workers to continue their fight, for their justice will be won.