loader
Page is loading...
Print Logo Logo
generic_insight_detail

First-Year Report Card on Graduate Student Assistants Unionization


Last fall, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) re-opened the door to unionization by graduate student assistants. The NLRB overturned 12 years of precedent and ruled that graduate assistants at Columbia were employees eligible to unionize under the NLRA. An entire school year has passed since that ruling in August 2016, so we wanted to provide a progress report on graduate student unionization. At Columbia, the university at issue in the August NLRB case, graduate students voted overwhelmingly in favor of unionization last December by a vote of 1,602 to 623. The UAW now represents approximately 3,500 graduate students working as teaching and research assistants at the school. Unions got passing grades from graduate students at other universities, such as: Tufts, Loyola University Chicago and Brandeis. Unions received a failing grade at Duke University, where the union first filed a petition for election with the NLRB, but later withdrew it when the vote neared. Unions received incomplete grades at several other institutions, as the schools continue to fight through the legal process, perhaps in hopes that new appointments to the NLRB by President Trump will reverse course again and deny graduate students the right to organize. Those schools include Harvard and Yale.


RELATED ARTICLES

NLRB Lays Out A Boatload of Remedies for Repeat Offenses in Noah’s Ark Processors

April 25, 2023 | Labor Relations, National Labor Relations Board, Unions and Union Membership

Federal Court Fines Company Nearly $200k for Failing to Negotiate in Good Faith

April 24, 2023 | Labor Relations, Union Organizing, Unions and Union Membership, National Labor Relations Board

Redux: The PRO Act is Back in Congress

March 15, 2023 | Labor Relations, Federal Laws and Legislation, National Labor Relations Board

Unions By the Numbers: 2023 Edition

January 19, 2023 | Labor Relations, Unions and Union Membership

Labor Law Recap: 2022 Was The ‘Year of the Strike’

January 10, 2023 | Labor Relations, Strikes and Picketing

Subscribe

Do you want to receive more valuable insights directly in your inbox? Visit our subscription center and let us know what you're interested in learning more about.

View Subscription Center
RELATED TOPICS
Employees
graduate students
NLRA
NLRB
Union
Unionization
university
Trending Connect
We use cookies on this site to enhance your user experience. By clicking any link on this page you are giving your consent for us to use cookies.