University of New Hampshire administrator rejects invite from union organizers

DURHAM — A University of New Hampshire administrator rejected an invitation to participate in an open forum with the National Education Association-NH as the union tries to organize two groups on campus.

David May, UNH’s associate vice president in the Office of Business Affairs, told a NEA-NH official he was “disappointed that you so openly misled our employees.”

“You wrote that you would like a ‘free and fair exchange’, but as you are aware, under the law a ‘free and fair exchange’ is not possible,” May said in the letter posted on a UNH website. “We both know that the law permits a union to make promises about the future because the union is powerless to make any of them come true. On the other hand the law prohibits an employer such as UNH from making any promise because it has the power to implement it.”

May pledged UNH will “continue to follow the law” as NEA-NH tries to unionize two groups on the Durham campus. “We respect our employees too much to agree to participate in a forum that won’t provide them with the facts and information they are seeking,” May said.

Read more: http://www.fosters.com/news/20160922/unh-administrator-rejects-invite-from-union-organizers