Faculty on the Marion campus seek unionization after many of its professors show their support to organize a union. Credit: Lantern file photo
Faculty on Ohio State’s Marion campus seek to unionize over concerns of “inequitable” workload and compensation compared to the Columbus campus.
An “overwhelming majority” of the more than 50 Marion campus professors have shown their support for unionization separate from the union it has with the Columbus campus, according to a May 9 press release from trade union the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. The goals of the union are to have more negotiating power with administration on issues — including workload, pay equity and health care benefits.
Scot Kaplan, associate professor of art on the Marion campus and a union organizer, said university administration will not allow the Marion campus to create its own union. However, Kaplan said the differences — including a higher workload with less pay — between the two campuses should the Marion campus to have its own.
“Whenever there’s a system of separate systems, what we’re talking about is a lack of unity, a lack of oneness,” Kaplan said. “It feels a little disingenuous to say, ‘We’re one system with one group of people that is treated very differently than the other group.’”
University spokesperson Chris Booker said in an email the university will work with the State Employment Relations Board — a government committee that ensures employees the right to unionize under Ohio Public Employees’ Collective Bargaining Act — as the process continues.
“This specific matter is currently pending before the State Employment Relations Board, and the university is committed to following the rules and regulations of the board as this process moves forward,” Booker said.
Kaplan said key differences between campuses arose after the university’s conversion from academic quarters to semesters starting in the 2012-13 academic year. He said before this change, Columbus campus professors taught five classes while Marion campus professors taught six.
Following the switch, Kaplan said many Columbus campus professors had their course loads lowered to four while most Marion campus professors still had to teach six classes with no change in compensation — still lower than that of Columbus campus faculty.
According to a university salary report from 2021, faculty on the Columbus campus make an average of $87,344, while faculty on the Marion campus make an average of $71,083.
For the past decade, unions at American universities have become more common, according to the National Education Association. Between 2013 and 2019, 118 faculty unions covering more than 36,000 faculty members of universities in the United States were recognized.
Booker said the decision to make a union is up to organizers of the union, and the university has no control over the creation of the union.
Yet, Corissa Spence, an AFSCME organizer, said the university’s position presented in meetings between its lawyers and the AFSCME lawyers is against professors organizing separately from other Ohio State campuses.
Spence said the differences presented by Kaplan and his coworkers prove the Marion campus should be allowed to organize on its own.
“The better choice would be for OSU to accept the position as we followed it with, and let their workers do what they’ve set out to do, and gain that voice themselves,” Spence said.
Booker said the university has about 50,000 employees, including many who are in bargaining units, such as unions. He said Ohio State’s administration is dedicated to making an equitable work environment for all its employees.
Kaplan said he is surprised that the university’s administration has been unsupportive of the Marion campus faculty’s position.
“The faculty on the [Marion] campus, as I said, expressed their interest in engaging in the democratic process of having a vote,” Kaplan said. “I just find it startling that a public institution is preventing that from taking place.”
