After our election on September 26, we reached out to the NLRB to address what we believed to be an inappropriate impounding of our ballots. This week, the labor board agreed to allow a tally of eligible ballots to move forward. Because Sinai challenged the eligibility of everyone on the voter list, we did not expect this tally to include the total number of yes and no ballots – just the total number of votes cast.
However, when we met with the NLRB and representatives from Mount Sinai earlier today we learned that, two weeks after our vote, the administration had decided to reverse course and withdraw their challenges to the voter list. While Sinai’s larger legal effort to overturn our right to unionize is still ongoing, withdrawing their challenges allowed a full vote count to move forwards, and we now finally have the results of our historic election.
The NLRB just finished counting ballots, and we voted by an overwhelming 90% (218-yes to 24-no out of 360 eligible voters), in favor of Sinai Student Workers-UAW (SSW-UAW) as our union!
More than 60% of eligible student workers voted yes, sending a clear and unambiguous message to Sinai to respect the vote and commence bargaining with us.
To discuss these results further and learn more, join us at our Next Steps Meeting on Tuesday, October 15 at 6pm. For now, we want to thank everyone who participated in our historic election and in the months of discussion, debate, and outreach among student workers that lead to this point.
Together, we have finally won the right to determine our role as student workers at our institution, taking an unprecedented stand for the value of the work we do here at Mount Sinai.
We will be celebrating our victory this Friday from 5pm onwards at Lexington Publick (1504 Lexington Ave). We hope to see you there!
In solidarity,
Sam McConnell, Neuroscience
Member of SSW-UAW Organizing Committee