Chapter 5: Labor Intensive: Workplace Bullying, Union Membership, and Unrealized Civil Rights for People of Color

A recent study considered the extent of workplace bullying in four-year colleges and universities (Hollis, 2015a). However, as 60% of all community college employees (faculty and staff) are represented by collective bargaining (Berry, Savarese, & Boris, 2012), no studies consider the impact of labor unions on the extent of workplace bullying at community colleges and the impact on people of color in labor unions.

Guided by a theory on social responsibility espoused by Dawkins (2010), this study considered a sample of 142 community colleges through a correlation analysis to reveal that 67% of those who belong to unions are subject to workplace bullying, 3% higher than the general population reporting their experiences in relationship to workplace bullying at community colleges. Further, 76% of people of color in unions also are affected by workplace bullying in community colleges. In contrast, 68% of people of color not in unions are affected by bullying.