Abstract
For too long in higher education, different worker groups have conceived of themselves as separated by distinct, even competing interests. The isolation between groups reduces communication, fosters unawareness of common interests, and hinders their ability to effectively collaborate in solidarity, as does the divided and largely independent structure of the unions and bargaining units representing them. Without greater collaboration and solidarity, members of the higher education community are less able to resist the harmful trends that have been transforming the sector over the previous decades, subjecting them to increasingly similar working conditions and distancing higher education from its student learning, community service, and research missions. We propose a combination of elements from anarcho-syndicalist and social justice organizing approaches, centering intergroup solidarity and a flexible commitment to shared missions, as ways for higher education workers to build greater power and have a greater influence on the transformations occurring across higher education.
Recommended Citation
Scott, Daniel and Kezar, Adrianna J.
(2019)
"Intergroup Solidarity and Collaboration in Higher Education Organizing and Bargaining in the United States,"
Academic Labor: Research and Artistry: Vol. 3, Article 10.
Available at:
https://digitalcommons.humboldt.edu/alra/vol3/iss1/10
Included in
Collective Bargaining Commons, Higher Education Commons, Labor History Commons, Unions Commons
Publication-Ready Author Bio
Daniel Scott is a research assistant at the Pullias Center for Higher Education and a Rossier Dean’s Fellow in the Urban Education Policy Ph.D. program at USC Rossier School of Education. Daniel's research interests include work, workers, and organizing in higher education and the intersections between higher education and the criminal justice system.
Adrianna Kezar is a professor of higher education at the University of Southern California and co-director of the Pullias Center for Higher Education. A national expert on change, governance and leadership in higher education, Kezar is regularly quoted in the media, including The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, USA Today, The Atlantic, Boston Globe, Washington Post, PBS, and NPR (national and local stations), among others. At the Pullias Center, Kezar directs the Delphi Project on the Changing Faculty and Student Success, and is an international expert on the changing faculty. She also regularly consults for campuses and national organizations related to her work on non-tenure track faculty, STEM reform, change, collaboration, leadership development, and change.