Six professors at the City University of New York (CUNY) have filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the faculty union, saying that the union shouldn’t have a “monopoly” to represent them.

The lawsuit comes following a resolution passed by the union that condemns Israel for “the continued subjection of Palestinians” and calls by the union to support academic boycotts of Israel.

The professors who filed the lawsuit say that since then, they have been subjected to a hostile work environment and were essentially forced to resign from the union.

One of the plaintiffs, Jeffrey Lax, says “CUNY and [union] leaders discriminated against him, retaliated against him, and subjected him to a hostile work environment on the basis of religion.”

A second plaintiff, Michael Goldstein, said he experienced “anti-Semitic and anti-Zionist attacks from [union members],” including bullying, harassment, destruction of property, calls for him to be fired, organization of student attacks against him, and threats against him and his family.

The professors are now challenging the union’s power to be the sole voice for faculty.

“By forcing these professors into a union collective against their will, the state of New York mandates that they associate with union officials and other union members who take positions that are deeply offensive to these professors’ most fundamental beliefs,” Mark Mix of the National Right to Work Foundation, which is providing assistance to the professors’ legal effort, said.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)