Graduate students at private colleges can unionize - U.S. labor board

[Eugene]

Source: Reuters

Columbia University graduate students who work as research and teaching assistants can form a union, the U.S. labor board ruled on Tuesday, opening the gates for graduate student organizing on private campuses all over the country.

On a 3-1 vote, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) said that graduate students are employees who get organizing rights under federal labor law.

The NLRB's decision allows Columbia University research and teaching assistants to vote on whether they want to join a United Auto Workers affiliate.

The decision only applies to private colleges. Organizing rights for graduate students at public colleges depend on each state’s labor laws. Graduate students have formed unions in more than a dozen states.


Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-education-unions-idUSKCN10Y1ZZ

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U.S. | Tue Aug 23, 2016 1:55pm EDT
By Robert Iafolla

[msanthrope]

1. Good. nt

[Recursion]

2. Great! Curious: why UAW, though?

That just seems odd...

[mike_c]

4. they were willing to organize the students....

Grad student teaching assistants at the California State University are also organized by UAW.

[Recursion]

6. Cool. Good for them

Obviously lots of unions have expanded past their original purposes. It just surprised me.

[brooklynite]

11. I get invites from UAW to join the Adjunct Union at NYU.

[Recursion]

12. Very well

If they have a track record with academics, awesome!

[Helen Borg]

3. Yay! Enough exploitation!

Weird that it applies only to private colleges though. WTF?

[mike_c]

5. public and private institutions are governed by different labor laws and bodies....

Private colleges and universities are regulated by the NLRB, while public institutions are regulated by state public employer labor laws. For example, in California we're regulated by the Public Employment Relations Board (PERB). In practical terms, that means that the NLRB's ruling only applies to private institutions.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graduate_student_employee_unionization

[alcibiades_mystery]

7. Public colleges are already covered

Grad students at public universities have been able to unionize for some time.

[closeupready]

8. K&R

[Hortensis]

9. Terrific! Thanks, Eugene.

[friendly_iconoclast]

10. Good! Thanks for posting this

[pampango]

13. One of the often overlooked advantages to a Democratic president. A repub NLRB would not have done

this. If Trump were to win, this kind of pro-union decision would be extremely unlikely.

[Recursion]

14. ^^ Yup (nt)