The CSCU Board of Regents currently outsources legal services to Jackson Lewis, one of the three largest union-busting law firms in the United States. Attorneys from Jackson Lewis regularly represent the CT Board of Regents in grievance arbitrations and labor board hearings. Worse, a member of the Regents’ Special Committee on Collective Bargaining overseeing union negotiations - David Jimenez - is a principal attorney in the Hartford, CT office of Jackson Lewis.
The Jackson Lewis law firm is a leader in union-avoidance strategies and keeping unions out of private industries:
This is no secret. Just look at the webpage “Union-Free” from Jackson Lewis’ own website:
https://www.jacksonlewis.com/unionfree
The CT Board of Regents are actively adopting strategies from Jackson Lewis in their attempt to weaken collective bargaining in CT. Our unions represent workers in CT public colleges and universities. Rather than negotiate fair contracts with our unions, CSCU managers are actively attacking our union contracts with hostile negotiation tactics. Our unions understand these anti-worker tactics and are organizing and mobilizing against them. We are standing together in coalition with our students and our communities, and fighting for our colleges, our universities, and our students.
Our unions are not just fighting for ourselves. We fight for the rights of all workers in both the public and private sectors. We fight for all workers to earn a living wage and for all workers to be treated with dignity and respect.
We champion racial, gender and economic justice. Unions are responsible for creating the middle class in America and raising family incomes and health benefits. Public-sector unions are responsible for creating the Black and Latino middle class and leading the fight for equal pay for equal work for women.
Law firms like Jackson Lewis seek to destroy unions across the United States and lower the standards for all workers. They empower large employers across our country to pay starvation wages to their workers. Their actions and their industry actively hurt community college and university students in CT and across the nation. They lead in the destruction of the middle class. They are the enemy of any person or organization committed to racial, gender and economic justice.
It is despicable that public investments in CT higher education are being directed to a company that directly contributes to the suffering of working-class communities of all races and ethnicities. It is shameful and disgusting that an attorney from this predatory law firm sets the agenda and direction of the CT Board of Regents for Higher Education.
Sign Your Name on this Petition and Demand CSCU President Cheng Fire Union-Busting Law Firm Jackson Lewis!
