(Republican) Labor Board denies grad student workers right to unionize

[UpInArms]

http://newstandardnews.net/content/?action=show_item&itemid=703

Jul 17 - In a crushing blow to the growing movement to unionize graduate students at private universities, the Republican-dominated National Labor Relations Board reversed its opinion and ruled on Thursday that students who work as research and teaching assistants are students, not workers, and do not have the right to unionize.

Four years ago, the then Democrat-controlled Board ruled that graduate students could unionize. As a result a successful movement at New York University became the first in the country to form a graduate employees’ union at a private university. Unionization drives followed at Brown, Columbia, Tufts and the University of Pennsylvania, but were stalled when those universities appealed to the Labor Relations Board, leading to Thursday’s decision.

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(orig article at http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/16/education/16union.html)