Labor Information

A union is an organization that represents employees in collective bargaining with their employer regarding wages, benefits, and working conditions.

No. We fully respect the legal right of Librarians to vote via secret ballot on whether they want union representation. We are committed to operating in good faith and following the rules and regulations established by the NLRB. Our priority is to ensure that everyone is as well-informed as possible before casting their ballot.

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) is an independent federal agency created in 1935 and vested with the power to protect employees’ rights to organize and choose whether or not to have a collective bargaining representative negotiate on their behalf with their employer.

A bargaining unit refers to various groupings of employees that may be represented by a labor union. Under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), there are rules and case law that define what is and what is not an appropriate bargaining unit, including who should be included and excluded from that unit. For this election, working with the NLRB, Tulane and the SEIU negotiated a Stipulated Election Agreement in which the parties agreed on which positions would be eligible to vote. People in these positions would be members of the bargaining unit if the Librarians elect to be represented by the SEIU.

Per the Stipulated Election Agreement, full-time and regular part-time Librarians will be eligible to vote except for those in the following positions: Head of Circulation and Interlibrary Loan, Head of Archives & Special Collections of Newcomb Archives, Doris Stone Librarian and Director/Research Professor, Librarian for the Freeman School of Business, Director of Technical Services, Vice Dean, Dean of Libraries and Academic Information Resources, Director of Special Collections, Head of Research Services and Curator, Reference/Access Services and Systems Librarian, Head of Cataloging and Metadata, Associate Director of General Collections, Head of Media Services, Director of Scholarly Engagement, Director of Digital Initiatives, Head of Acquisitions and Electronic Resources, Associate Dean for Operations, Associate Dean for Health Sciences, Head of Conservation, Associate Dean for Distinct Collections and Digital Scholarship, Head of Collection Management, Electronic Resources Librarian, Digital Production Librarian, Associate Director of Health Sciences, and all other employees employed by Tulane University, guards, confidential employees, office clerical employees, managers, and supervisors as defined by the Act.

All parties to the Stipulated Election Agreement agreed that some Tulane Librarians will be excluded from voting consistent with federal labor law. The Stipulated Election Agreement identifies by title which positions the SEIU and Tulane agreed would be excluded from voting.

No.

There are no “opt out” rights for any Librarian eligible to vote in this election. The election is decided by a majority of those eligible voters who cast ballots. For those Librarians who do not wish to be represented by the union, the best way to accomplish that is to participate in the election by casting a ballot. That’s the only way to have your voice and choice taken into account. Abstaining from voting does not mean you are opting out of the unit because the winner of the election will be determined by the majority of votes cast, which is why participation is so critical. If the majority of voters who cast ballots vote in favor of union representation, all members of the bargaining unit – including those who did not vote, or cast votes against union representation, or who choose not to pay dues or join the union – will be represented by the union and will be subject to the terms of any collective bargaining agreement that covers the bargaining unit.

We will be posting the Notice of Election in the same locations as the Notices of Petition were posted and emailing it to eligible voters. The Notice includes information from the negotiated Stipulated Election Agreement, including job titles of included and excluded employees and information about voting times and locations.

Union representation elections are held by secret ballot. If a majority of those who vote choose union representation, all eligible voters would be exclusively represented by the union in their dealings with Tulane concerning pay, benefits, and other “terms and conditions of employment.” This means that Tulane could not make individual arrangements with those Librarians with respect to the economic aspects of their work, but instead would have to negotiate with the union about this.

The election will be held in person on August 20, 2025 at locations at the Uptown and Downtown campuses. Please refer to the Notice of Election for more information about dates, times, and election sites.

Yes. The definition of employee under the NLRA does not distinguish between US citizens and non-citizens.

No. The results of the election would bind everyone in the bargaining unit, including Librarians who vote “no,” Librarians who do not vote, and future Librarians who do not have a chance to vote.

The election will be determined by a majority of those who vote. So, if only a handful of eligible voters participate in the vote, they will decide the outcome of the election for the entire unit. Every Librarian in the unit would then be subject to the terms of any collective bargaining agreement that covers the bargaining unit.

Like most membership organizations, unions have operating costs. Unions fund those operating costs and expenses largely from dues collected from their union members, which typically represent a percentage of employee pay. In addition, there may be initiation fees and, in certain circumstances, assessments and even fines. Unions typically negotiate to require the employer to collect, with authorization from the union member, dues from the employee’s paycheck and send those funds directly to the union. Because Louisiana has a right-to-work law, however, employees cannot be required to join the union that represents them. However, even in states with right-to-work laws, unions strongly encourage employees to join the union that represents them. 

Any collective bargaining agreement would apply to all Librarians in the bargaining unit, even those who decline to join the union or pay the dues.

The union would become the exclusive representative of the bargaining unit, including those individuals who voted against union representation or did not vote. The union would have the exclusive legal right to negotiate collective terms and conditions of employment, such as pay and benefits, for the entire group. Because the union represents everyone in the bargaining unit, whether they want to be represented or not, individual Librarians may be bound by a decision with which they do not necessarily agree.

The union would be the exclusive representative of all Librarians in the unit. This means that during the period before a collective bargaining agreement is negotiated, any change to the Librarians’ terms and conditions of employment would have to negotiated with the union before being implemented. Once a collective bargaining agreement is in place, Tulane would have to follow that agreement without any deviation based on individual circumstances unless the agreement gave Tulane some discretion to address individual situations, or the union and Tulane agreed to deviate from the terms of the agreement to address a particular situation.

Nobody knows for sure exactly how union representation would play out for individual Librarians, but there are some elements that are firmly defined by the National Labor Relations Act, as we were reminded by a recent National Labor Relations Board decision. In that decision, the NLRB made clear that a union representing employees is the exclusive representative of those employees, while clarifying that represented employees still can bring issues directly to their employer and have those issues adjusted so long as the adjustment is not inconsistent with the terms of the collective bargaining agreement.

No one can predict what would happen as a result of unionization and subsequent collective bargaining. Not Tulane, the union, nor anyone else. Under NLRB rules, both parties must negotiate in good faith, but this does not require either party to agree to a proposal from the other. Terms and conditions of employment (including salary) could improve, stay the same, or decrease under a collective bargaining agreement.

The timing can vary. For newly unionized employees, the parties must negotiate what is typically referred to as a "first contract." Bloomberg Law recently reported that the average time to negotiate a first union contract is 465 days. (https://news.bloomberglaw.com/bloomberg-law-analysis/analysis-how-long-…- first-contracts)

If a Librarian union were voted in, it is very difficult to remove them -- even if the union keeps none of its promises at the bargaining table. Here’s why that is the case:

• The law says you cannot remove a union while a contract is in effect (for up to three years). So, if the union negotiates a contract with Tulane, Librarians will be represented by the union for at least that long (the length of the contract up to three years).
• Even if Tulane and a Librarian union never sign a contract, Librarians cannot remove the union for at least one full year after the National Labor Relations Board certifies the election results.
• If a Librarian union were formed and some Librarians later wanted to vote them out (this would have to be outside the periods listed above), Librarians would have to figure out the National Labor Relations Board’s complicated legal process on their own because Tulane is legally prohibited from assisting in removing the union.

The collective bargaining process occurs behind the scenes and need not have any direct impact on students. However, if negotiations stall, unions can authorize strikes or other labor actions that can disrupt student access to the libraries as well as services available there. In the event of a strike, students may experience longer wait times and the discomfort associated with crossing a picket line.

Please email laborinfo@tulane.edu with any questions. You can also visit the NLRB’s website at NLRB.gov.

Under the National Labor Relations Act, Tulane is obligated to provide notice and an opportunity to bargain before making any unilateral changes to terms and conditions of employment. While Tulane believes that the changes to the health and welfare benefits was similar in kind and degree to constitute an established past practice, as updates and changes to benefits have long been a regular part of Tulane’s annual open enrollment process, on September 30, Tulane provided Workers United with notice of proposed changes to healthcare benefits for 2026.  Workers United and Tulane met on October 21 to bargain over the proposed changes. Tulane and the union reached agreement on October 30, and librarians can enroll in benefits like all other Tulane employees.