Graduate Student Unionization: An Overview

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Graduate Student UnionizationAn Overview

• The Pros and Cons of what a Graduate Student
  Union entails at a Private University
• Anindita Sinha
• Yale University

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What is a union?

• A union is an organization that represents a
  group of employees at an institution.
• Federal law (under the National Relations Labor
  Act) gives the union the sole and exclusive
  authority to negotiate for "conditions of
  employment" for all employees the union
  represents

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Current state of graduate students and teaching

• Increasing numbers of teaching assistants and
  research assistants at universities
• Substantial part of undergraduate teaching being
  conducted by graduate students
• IRS considers teaching assistants salaries
  taxable, indicating employee status for tax
  purposes

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Are graduate students employees?

• Fledgling student unions say YES.
• Graduate students have teaching responsibilities,
  therefore they are employees.
• Anti-union groups and administrations say NO.
• Teaching responsibilities of graduate students
  are an integral part of the graduate educational
  experience.

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Why do graduate students need a union?

• Graduate students do a significant amount of the
  undergraduate teaching at universities
• They have no say in what sections they are given
  to teach and what compensation they will receive
• Student unions claim that problems within the
  infrastructure of a university can be better
  solved with the advent of a student union

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Process of becoming a student union

• The National Labor Relations Board has to decide
  whether students at private universities are
  employees
• This can be accomplished by an NLRB vote held at
  the institution however, the effects of this
  vote are irreversible
• Private institutions are required to form unions
  under national labor laws

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How have student unions fared so far?

• At UC Berkeley, graduate students have not
  received an increase in stipend for seven years
  due to contract negotiations
• In a recent study (Hewitt, 1999) surveying
  faculty members at five universities with student
  unions, 90 stated that faculty-student
  relationships have not suffered
• All agree, however, that the long term effects of
  unionization at private schools are not known

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So what is the current state of things?

• March, 2002 Columbia and Brown Universities
  requested review of the Jan 2002 NLRB decision
  that graduate students were employees. The NLRB
  agreed to review the decision, however, no action
  has been taken yet.
• Yale Universitys Graduate Employee Student
  Organization went on strike in March, 2003
  however, they were unable to facilitate a meeting
  with the administration
• Graduate student unions continue the struggle to
  be recognized, while those opposed continue their
  fight against unionization.

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The challenges of being a student leader at a
school
that is divided between forming a union amongst
students.

• Must always remain neutral in a group of
  potential conflict
• Must think for the benefit of the group without
  allowing personal bias to enter into a decision
• -Must be extremely careful to respect and
  appreciate all views brought into a group,
  regardless of origin

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So is student unionization the answer?

• Only time will tell.
• In the meantime,
• Educate yourself on the subject and form your own
  opinion. Only in this way will we ever know if
  this is the right decision or the wrong one.

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The Allies for Unionization

• UAW - the International Union, United Automobile,
  Aerospace, and Agricultural Implement Workers of
  America
• Other professional workers unions
• The 13 student unions already formed at public
  universities e.g. UMass, Amherst, UC Santa
  Barbara, U. of Wisconsin, Madison, etc.

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The New York University case

• Based on the NLRB decision and vote (619 vs. 551)
  in 2000, NYU decided to commence bargaining with
  the UAW on March 1, 2001.
• NYU was the first private university to formalize
  a contract between itself (employer) and the
  graduate student union on Jan. 28th, 2002.

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What were the terms in the NYU contract?

• The UAW is the sole bargaining unit between the
  students and the university
• All students (now termed graduate assistants)
  are required to become a part of the union and
  are required to pay fees (deducted from the
  biweekly stipend check)
• Any grievances between a student and an advisor
  may include a Union representative

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Terms of contractcontinued

• No strikes are permitted by the student union
• The contract is legal until August 31, 2005, and
  covers about 1030 of NYUs 18,000 graduate
  students (mainly those students who teach the
  bulk of undergraduate courses)