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Graduate-Employee Union Threatened at NYU
By Gwendolyn Bradley
Administrators at New York University announced in June that they would not renew the contract with the institution's graduate-employee union, an affiliate of the United Auto Workers. The contract, which was approved in 2002 and expired August 31, 2005, raised stipends for many graduate student employees by almost 40 percent, provided health benefits, and instituted overtime pay. NYU became the only private university to recognize a graduate-employee union after the National Labor Relations Board ruled in 2000 that graduate assistants were essentially employees and directed the university to bargain with the students. However, in a 2004 case involving Brown University , the board reversed its position and found that graduate employees were primarily students and therefore not legally entitled to form unions.
"The actions of NYU's administration constitute a reprehensible attack on the rights of graduate employees at NYU. The administration apparently cares more for the bottom line than for the graduate students," says Michael Livingston, chair of the AAUP's Committee on Graduate and Professional Students.
Graduate students at a number of other private institutions, including Columbia and Yale universities, continue to fight for union recognition. The AAUP supports the right of graduate employees to form unions if they so choose. Part-time faculty at NYU are represented for collective bargaining by another affiliate of the United Auto Workers.
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