The union representing former faculty and staff members at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, which closed its doors last month to the surprise of its students, has filed charges of unfair labor practices against the school.
The web portal for the National Labor Relations Board shows that the workers filed documents on July 15 alleging the university refused to “furnish information” after failing to negotiate severance and other benefits with employees since the school closed on June 7. Artnet News has filed a Freedom of Information request for the documents.
The United Academics of Philadelphia, which represents unionized faculty and staff at UArts, said it met briefly with the university’s lawyers to talk severance and benefits but nothing has come of the meeting, Higher Ed Dive reported.
The union has reportedly updated its initial charge to accuse the university of surface bargaining, which is when an employer pretends to negotiate but actually has no intention of reaching a deal. The practice is considered bad-faith bargaining and illegal by the NLRB.
The charges come as faculty, students and staff attended an initial status hearing on Monday as part of a separate lawsuit alleging that the university violated the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act, which requires employers to provide a 60-day advance notice before a mass layoff.
“During today’s hearing before a federal judge, we heard the UArts lawyer attempt to head off any legal discovery process that might lead to accountability for the collapse of UArts,” the union said in a statement on social media.
The union claimed that university lawyer Kristine Grady Derewicz is seeking to prevent the case from reaching the discovery stage before a trial, which would require the disclosure of documents and evidence that show what led to the school’s shuttering. Former students and faculty have expressed frustration at the abrupt closure and lack of transparency.
The initiation of the discovery process is expected to begin at a hearing scheduled for August 12, the union said.
“Today’s hearing furthers UArts leadership’s disregard for faculty, staff, and students whose personal and professional lives have been derailed by catastrophic decision-making by Board Chair Jud Aaron and the rest of the UArts Board of Trustees,” the union said.
As for how the university intends to pay its laid-off workers, WHYY-FM reported that the university faced “unforeseen business circumstances” and is trying to raise money to give the faculty a severance package of 60 days of wages. She did not say what those circumstances were.
“I would love to have more information. I would also love a check,” Rick Rein, a former adjunct music instructor, told the radio station. “I will take what I can get.”
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References: this article is based on content originally published by Adam Schrader on Artnet. You can read the full article here.
