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The National Labor Relations Board has filed a complaint against Edward Waters University, a historically Black university in Florida, after the university stopped recognizing its faculty union, The Tributary reported. The case goes to trial in November.
Leaders at the university, which is affiliated with the African Methodist Episcopal Church, withdrew recognition of its chapter of the American Association of University Professors two years ago, arguing the university’s “rights as a religious educational institution” permitted them to do so.
In a letter to faculty members, administrators wrote that getting rid of the union would “allow the University to expand its faith-based Christian mission, rather than the political agendas often associated with federal labor policies.” In response, the AAUP chapter filed a charge with the NLRB claiming the university violated federal labor law.
Edward Waters isn’t the first religious higher ed institution to argue that its religious status enables it to shutter its faculty union, The Tributary noted. A 2020 decision by the NLRB concerning Bethany College, a Lutheran institution in Kansas, and a federal court decision regarding Duquesne University, a Catholic institution in Pittsburgh, broke with Obama-era precedent to rule that the NLRB didn’t have jurisdiction at religious institutions, paving the way for the argument Edward Waters leaders made. Also in 2020, Saint Leo University in Florida unrecognized its faculty union, citing its Catholic roots. Based on the Trump-era ruling on Bethany, an NLRB judge concluded that Saint Leo qualified for the religious exemption.
Edward Waters has until Sept. 12 to respond to the NLRB complaint.
