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Don’t PAC the ballot boxes

The Political Action Coalition is at it again, and this time they’re trying to enlist the help of the Student Assembly. OCC Rep Becky Green, with the support of less-than-usual suspects Paul Harrison (SA President) and William Lee (President of the College Democrats), has introduced a resolution that if passed, would ask the student body to take sides on the weighty issue of Sodexho unionization.

The resolution would call for a student referendum on whether or not Sodexho should sign a Right to Organize Agreement. What would happen after the referendum is passed or shot down, however, is unclear. Preliminary debate on the SA floor indicated that if a majority of students agreed that the agreement, that request would be sent to Sodexho as representation of the will of the student body. But if the students voted no, would a similar memo be forwarded to union organizers on campus? If Becky Green has her

way, probably not.

Unionization is a complicated issue

and should stay between Sodexho and its workers. It is an issue far removed from the scope of student life.

Although it is important for workers to have the right to bargain collectively and band together for support against unfair labor practices, it is not up to the students of Binghamton University to make such a decision, especially without objective information about labor practices on campus, or about what the presence of a union would do to Sodexho’s ability to run efficiently on campus.

Slate day for SA referenda has historically been an opportunity for students to weigh in on pressing student issues, such as last year’s vote on the mandatory student activity fee. This year on the other hand, Green is trying to use it to further her own political agenda. She should stop wasting our time.

Green has tried to cover her bases by attaching a provision that there would be an informational forum to express the pros and cons of a Right to Organize Agreement, but knowing the typical turnout of students at “informational forums” at BU, this would hardly educate the campus. And even so, how could a forum be constructed so that it is objective enough to pass muster?

The Political Action Coalition, with the help of union organizers, has in the last few years pushed for a card-check neutrality agreement.

Federal labor laws support the secret ballot election process as a fair method for creating unions, but a Right to Organize Agreement (similar if not indistinguishable from card-check neutrality) would bypass that process for unionization, and ensure that Sodexho gets no say in the issue.