No. The National Labor Relations Act of 1935 provides (most) private sector employees the right to collectively bargain, but leaves up to the individual states whether state employees enjoy that right. The bill giving Ohio public sector workers the right to collectively bargain (ORC 4117) was signed into law in 1983 and came into effect starting in 1984. If the State Legislature and Governor DeWine decide to weaken or eliminate the rights contained in that law, that will negatively affect our union whether or not we are affiliated with AAUP, the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), or any other national entity.
AAUP and AFT invested a significant amount of both time and money in attempting to elect pro-higher education and pro-union candidates at both the state and national level. They are no doubt extremely disappointed with the outcome of the national election on those fronts. We can only hope that AAUP and AFT will be more successful in lobbying those who were elected and convincing them to support – or at least not negatively impact – institutions of higher education and unions. We hope that AAUP will accept support from us in those endeavors if we ultimately vote to disaffiliate. (They have at various times threatened not to do so.) Whether or not we vote to disaffiliate from AAUP, our union will continue to work with other unions (including AAUP and AFT) and fight against any bills proposed in Columbus that would undermine our academic freedom, shared governance, tenure, or our right to collectively bargain.
