The two faculty unions at St. John's University and the New York State Attorney General's Office are requesting a judge dismiss the federal lawsuit that the university filed in June against the state's labor relations board.

The attorney general and the unions argue that St. John's not only lacks standing to bring the case but they also say that because the university is a Catholic institution, it is not exempt from New York State labor law.

St. John's "radical proposal," the attorney general's office also said in its Aug. 7 legal filing, further "undermines the fundamental labor rights afforded to all New Yorkers by the New York Constitution."

In their own filing on Aug. 7, the American Association of University Professors chapter at St. John's University and the Faculty Association accused the university's administration of not being forthright in its legal arguments.

"In its efforts to evade its obligations under New York State's labor laws, the Employer misrepresents the extent to which its Catholic identity impacts its governance, curriculum, and the role and responsibilities of its faculty," the unions said.

On June 1, St. John's University, located in Queens, New York, and founded by the Vincentians in 1870, sued the New York Public Employee Relations Board, citing religious grounds to prevent the board from enforcing the basic tenets of state labor law.

The university had been due to submit a response to an unfair labor practice complaint filed by the faculty...

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