At Columbia College, a contested part-time faculty union election
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.
It's coming in the form of an election of officers. And it's being policed by the feds.
CFAC, which represents part-time faculty, is supposed to elect officers every two years. But disaffected members say no proper election has been held for the past two election cycles. They complained to the U.S. Department of Labor, which launched an investigation that turned up a different problem.
The union's constitution called for the election of four top officials to a steering committee, but not to any particular office. Once elected, the officials would decide among themselves who'd serve as president, vice president, treasurer, and secretary. Under this arrangement, Diana Vallera—who came into power charging that previous leadership hadn't been aggressive enough in pursuing members' interests—has been CFAC president since 2010.
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.
Read more: https://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/cfac-columbia-college-faculty-union-election/Content?oid=75586420