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Published: September 8, 2008

n the continuing battle between Nova Southeastern University and big labor, union leaders are attempting to torpedo an effort by the school to obtain up to $60 million in tax-exempt bonds through county government.

The Service Employees International Union is targeting an item on Tuesday’s County Commission agenda that would help finance new graduate student housing and a new power plant. Nova wants commissioners to bless the financing deal, which has already been agreed to by their appointees on an education facilities board.

Janitorial workers last year tried to unionize, only to have the school switch contractors. The Service Employees International Union charges that management at the Davie school threatened and disciplined off-duty workers who tried to pass out union literature on campus.

The National Labor Relations Board has set a hearing for Nov. 17 to determine if Nova treated the janitors unfairly.

The SEIU is questioning how independent the Educational Facilities Authority is. The authority meets at Nova and more than 90 percent of the bonds issued by the authority since 2000 has been for Nova even though it can support other higher educational institutions in Broward.

Neal Kalis, the chairman of the authority, wrote commissioners that the board is trying to stay above the fray. “The Authority does not serve as a forum for grievances between third parties and universities nor does it wish to set any precedent to do so,” Kalis wrote.

The Nova labor dispute has boiled over into county politics before. The SEIU questioned county financing on the library it shares on the school campus.