Epic Win For Student Assistants And Labor Unions – Colleges PISSED

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) ruled yesterday that student assistants working at private colleges and universities are protected by federal labor laws. This means that thousands of PhD candidates and undergraduate assistants can engage in collective bargaining for benefits and higher wages.

Featured image by BrOnXbOmBr21 under available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial license.
Featured image by BrOnXbOmBr21 under available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial license.

The 3-1 ruling comes after graduate students at Columbia University, in cooperation with the United Autoworkers, filed a petition in 2014 for representation as unionized workers. Previously, the work of graduate and undergraduate students — instructing classes, grading essays and tests, and conducting research for faculty – was considered part of their education and training, not legitimate work in itself.  Until now, these students were ineligible for collective bargaining rights.

The American Association of University Professors weighed in on the situation earlier this year, filing an amicus brief (a document offering support for one party in a lawsuit) on behalf of the students. The brief reads, in part:

“Throughout the American economy, employers and their lawyers are devising methods to manage labor forces performing the company’s core services while avoiding the legal responsibilities inherent in the employment relationship. … Teaching is the work of universities and it is work for which graduate students must be paid, because if they were not doing it, the university would have to pay the existing faculty to do it or hire new faculty to cover teaching obligations.”

Under certain state laws, a small minority — about 2 percent — of graduate students are already unionized. But federal recognition of student workers under the National Labor Relations Act (the law governing employees’ ability to strike and engage in collective bargaining) means that student assistants across the nation are eligible to unionize and lay claim to their rights as workers.

This isn’t the first time student assistants have fought for equal rights. Back in 2000, the NLRB ruled that student assistants were eligible for collective bargaining and employee status. But in 2004, it reversed its decision, siding with the universities.

This latest ruling will, hopefully, inspire other students across the country to unionize.  But Columbia University has already expressed intent to appeal the decision. A university spokesperson said,

“While we are reviewing the ruling, Columbia — along with many of our peer institutions — disagrees with this outcome because we believe the academic relationship students have with faculty members and departments as part of their studies is not the same as between employer and employee.”

Featured image by BrOnXbOmBr21 under available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial license.