Why have EDMC employees never unionized? Seems like the only good option to combat the poor work environment here.
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At this point, whats the point? The ship is half way in the water. The White Star company went with the Titanic and so will the AI brand. On the upside, the internet makes a great reference for who saw the iceberg coming and did nothing about it. Those upper management people think they can just change the name of their product and everyone will for get who EDMC was but its not going to work. Their names will forever be tied to the failure known as EDMC The Art Institute. Basicly, we will end up with an army of failed CEOs, Presidents, Deans, HR Directors all acting like Carly Fiorina trying to spin their horrible decision making into masterful successes. But no one will buy their BS because as the end of the day, when they are done talking, their business model failed and they drove it off the cliff.
Union organization of faculty won't save jobs or the sinking ship.
I worked online and contacted a few different union reps. I also talked to the reps that handled NY and Philly's unionization. They felt that it would be far to hard to organize and unionize the online division, since the school is spread across different states. Also, the school increasingly has made it difficult to organize by not having online faculty meet in person, and not giving faculty access to lists of other faculty members.
AI Philadelphia has two unions - technology and faculty. AI NYC has a union faculty (but they are closing).
Unfortunately, a union would not give faculty the one power they need the most, and that's to be self-determining in academic matters. And I mean really self-determining, not the cosmetic stuff that passes muster with accreditors and Dept of Ed. If Faculty truly had a voice in things like curricula, hiring, sabaticals, tenure, adoption of materials and hardware, and even basic things like the way the studios are laid out and the type of furniture used, a lot of the quality issues would dissappear overnight. No, about the only thing Unions can do, at this point, is deal with the pay and benefits issues. They can't even guarantee tenure because many of the EDMC schools are in "right to work" states. Also, I had a conversation with an organizer from SEIU who was helping to unionize a non-profit where I work as an adjunct and he said that EDMC schools are just too difficult to get into, the fight isn't worth it for the unions. They would want to see a guarantee of more than 50% solid support of the faculty before even beginning to organize. My experience in floating the idea with other faculty members when I was there was a lot of, "gee, I'd love to stick it to management, but I need my job." Besides, at this point, there's a very good chance that many, if not most EDMC locations are going to be warehouses and boiler room call centers for insurance companies within a couple of years. Unions would be just one more nail in the coffin.
And anyone who talks union (speaking of online divisions) is gotten rid of- one admin lady at AIO in 2010/11 was fired over talking to the union and she was a really solid admin person, really a shame. EDMC would be done if unions were allowed in- the practices that are in place are so illegal the union would bring that all to the surface. So, of course, fear of unionizing......
If you mention union in the faculty lounge or general conversation, somehow your manager brings up how harmful unionizing is to keeping our jobs and pay - adjuncts are simply not offered any more classes if they talk about unions, even in what they think are private conversations. It has been that way for years
The Art Institute in NYC has a union contract (UFT). Haven't heard them say a word.......................................https://www.thelayoff.com/university-phoenix/post/6260987604762624#replies
As a former management person, I will tell you that EDMC is scared to death that their teachers will unionize! We had many discussions in EC meetings about "keeping our eyes open" for any sign thT the faculty was being contacted any Union and to keep the unions off campus. I thought that the teachers had probably gone with the union in the last few years. I understand that it makes a huge difference when facility join the union. EDMC is petrified that this might happen.
I'm just along to milk this cow until it expires. I'm not going to fight destiny!