NLRB Takes Step Towards Graduate Employee Unions

Washington. The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) took a step towards recognizing the right of graduate employees to form unions at private universities in a recent decision. The Board ordered that a regional officer hold a hearing on the merits of the graduate employees’ petition, signaling that the Board is open to reversing a prior decision (“the Brown decision”) that declined to recognize the right of graduate employees to form unions. The order, signed by Board Members Becker and Pearce, was in response to a petition for a union election by graduate employees at New York University.

The American Federation of Teachers/AFL-CIO (AFT), a longtime leader in helping graduate employees organize unions, released a statement commending the Board’s decision. Administrators at NYU were quick to criticize the decision.

The Board’s recent decision occurs in the context of increased awareness of the working conditions of adjunct professors and teaching assistants on campus.

In the Philadelphia area, graduate employees have unions at Temple University (TUGSA/AFT) and Rutgers University (Rutgers AAUP/AFT). The graduate employees at the University of Pennsylvania voted to form a union by a wide margin in 2003, but the administration was not compelled to recognize the results of the vote because of the Brown decision. If the Board’s recent order leads to a reversal of the Brown decision, it will restore legal protection for graduate employee unions at private universities.

The Board's decision does not affect the legal protections afforded graduate employees at public universities. Public universities are covered by state labor law. Today, graduate employee unions exist at thirty public universities.

Coalition of Graduate Employee Unions logo (cgeu.org)

U-Penn grad union shirt