St. John’s University is facing a new allegation from two faculty unions the school cut ties with earlier this year, escalating a labor conflict the university has already faced repeated criticism for.
St. John’s union chapters of the American Association of University Professors and the Faculty Association filed an unfair labor practice charge on Wednesday with New York State’s Public Employment Relations Board against the university’s president, provost and the Board of Trustees. The labor action comes after university president, Reverend Brian J. Shanley, announced last February that the Catholic university would no longer recognize the two unions that had previously represented faculty for over five decades.
In the months following the separation, union representatives accused St. John’s administration of targeting and threatening faculty union leaders and members. The unions alleged on Wednesday that the school surveilled and recorded faculty who participated in union-related activities, and solicited faculty to join a working group to unilaterally change the terms and conditions of employment without negotiations.
In doing so, the unions allege, the school has violated state labor laws under the State Employment Relations Act, which guarantees certain protections to collective bargaining…