Graduate Student Employee Bargaining at Columbia University and Yale University

The American Association of University Professors reaffirms its support for the right of graduate student employees to choose representation by a collective bargaining agent. Graduate student employees at Columbia University and Yale University have expressed their desire for representation respectively by GSEU/UAW and GESO/UNITE HERE. This Annual Meeting deplores the refusal of these—and any—university administrations to recognize the right of their graduate student employees to choose collective bargaining. This Annual Meeting also condemns the statements put forward by the Columbia University administration in a February 2005 memorandum indicating that graduate student employees could face loss of financial support and other injury were they to strike for recognition. While all campus constituencies have the right to express their opinions on such matters, threats and reprisals for union activism are unacceptable in principle, potentially censurable, and are a violation of federal labor law on any campus where it is applicable. The very act of issuing intimidating proposals such as those in the Columbia memorandum can have a serious chilling effect on both speech and action on campus. The Ninety-first Annual Meeting of the American Association of University Professors urges the administrations of Columbia University and Yale University to withdraw these damaging positions and to accept the right of their graduate student employees to bargain collectively and to negotiate in good faith with them.

(Posted 6/15/05)