In a major decision that opens the door for graduate students across the country to unionize, the National Labor Relations Board ruled Tuesday that grad students who work as teaching and research assistants are employees covered by federal labor laws.
The 3-1 decision _ which stems from a petition filed by a group of graduate students at Columbia University in New York who wished to join the United Auto Workers union _ reverses a 2004 decision involving Rhode Island's Brown University that had held that grad students are not employees because they are primarily students.
The majority wrote that the Brown decision "deprived an entire category of workers of the protections of the (National Labor Relations) Act without a convincing justification."
The decision states: "The Board has the statutory authority to treat student assistants as statutory employees, where they perform work, at the direction of the university, for which they are compensated. Statutory coverage is permitted by virtue of an employment relationship; it is not foreclosed by the existence of some other, additional relationship that the Act does not reach."
The Service Employees International Union, which has been behind a recent surge in unionization efforts of adjunct instructors at private schools across the country, released a news release stating that grad students at a number of schools "are launching a massive drive to build unions with SEIU."
There are also efforts with the American Federation of Teachers, which is affiliated with Graduate Students United at the University of Chicago.
"This favorable verdict is a big shot in the arm for the union we have built over these last nine years at U. of C., giving graduate students another powerful tool for improving our working lives," said Abhishek Bhattacharyya, a University of Chicago doctoral student in South Asian languages and civilizations as well as anthropology. "We remain committed to building a robust, inclusive and democratic union, working alongside teachers in the city, activists in South Side Chicago, and others looking to change the way things work."
