Without us, certain types of work would not be possible, Cohen said, adding that if universities didnt have the graduate students, research functions the very thing on which schools pride themselves would be hamstrung.. It was very inconsiderate of them and it shows lack of character and respect. Can Barbie Be Rebranded as a Feminist Icon? - The New York Times New Haven Register(Published 10 September 2016), HANSEN: Why I oppose unionization of graduate students Graduate student union will leave us financially worse off. A union is an organization that serves as an external or third party agent representing a specific group of employees in all dealings with an employer that concerns employee terms and conditions of employment. Here are the major points regarding strikes: 1. Eligible voters are people who are part of the NLRB-approved defined voting unit at the time of the election. The union may show you contracts from other places, but Northeastern would not be bound by those contracts. Departments which currently pay their students too little would have to increase the pay, and hence they would need to take on fewer students. On April 6, 2022, Chancellor Melissa Nobles and Vice Chancellor Ian Waitz announced the results of the April 4-5 graduate student unionization election; congratulated current and past MIT GSU-UE members on their four years of dedicated work that culminated in the union's victory; and committed to bargain in good-faith with . Harvard should not hire people if they cant be paid a reasonable amount and on time, and given good benefits. I work 70-80 hours a week, every week, to eventually report my research in a good journal and constantly fear that someone will publish the same discovery first and diminish the impact of my article and therefore prolong my PhD and limit my job prospects. Dear University of Chicago Graduate Students, With the possibility of a vote on graduate student unionization at the University of Chicago becoming more and more likely, we believe it is our role to offer resources to students in advance of making this important decision. It simply requires that the parties meet at reasonable times and confer in good faith.. We write this op-ed to explain why we welcome union representation for the graduate school community. As many of you may know, these organizing efforts follow a 2016 decision by the National Labor Relations Board that gave graduate students working as teaching or research assistants at private universities the right to unionize. Experts predict a surge in. Myth #5: A union would interfere in the relationship between graduate workers and their advisor. If a union can collect enough cards to constitute a valid showing of interest (generally a showing that 30 percent or more of the potential members the union seeks to represent have signed cards), it can file a representation petition with the NLRB. For the latter, once 30 percent of the . If the union called a strike requiring students in the bargaining unit to stop their teaching and research duties, the university could temporarily or permanently replace those striking graduate student assistants. Struggles over Graduate Student Unionization - Chicago Maroon Will the union solve all of these things instantly? Columbia Spectator (Published 2 December 2016), Barnard contingent faculty union negotiations remain stalled in midst of strike authorization vote The examples above demonstrate that it could take 3 or more years from the filing of a petition to see a negotiated contractand no petition has even been filed yet for Northeastern. Columbia Spectator (Published 26 October 2016), At What Cost Group Challenges Unilateral Actions, Exclusivity of Grad Student Union Campaign Then came the peer reviews. 1) The union has been completely transparent about dues. There are legitimate arguments for and against unionization. 2) In my opinion, union organizers have done a wonderful job spreading their message in the most direct way possible. In addition, benefits to students dont only show in paychecks; simply obtaining dental insurance would cover the value of the dues. As noted above, during this period of negotiations, all conditions usually remain frozen where they were at the time of the union election. You may like to gamble, but I dont. Student Unionization at BC - Boston College PDF Graduate Student Unionization: Frequently Asked Questions Faculty, staff, and students automatically receive Stanford Report emails. 1) good luck receiving an advanced degree within a reasonable period of time if you take leave from your work to protest. Second, this is a complex topic, on which reasonable people can disagree. Graduate students are cheap labor de Leon said, so schools capitalize on them. The Daily Princetonian (Published 4 October 2016), Summary of Union Grievances at NYU and Yale For some of these complaints, I simply say: Graduate school is hard. Organizers will engage in discussions with those identified as potential members. Original music by Elisheba Ittoop , Dan . Some examples of how the graduate student experience may change: Broadly, the union will be deciding what it thinks is best for graduate students. SEAS students), there is not much financial gain, and possibly concrete financial loss. The unions goals are transparent and available. Although 1,456 students voted against unionization, and 1,272 voted in favor, more than 300 additional ballotslarger than the voting marginremain under challenge. Piland and Gonzles see collective power as the solution to graduate students very material problems. And we really need that, because right now, it takes a lengthy suicide note with a list of suggestions to enact change (see Chemistry Dept). Performance & security by Cloudflare. Jaime Danies. Excellent arguments! There are no guarantees in collective bargaining. As tenure-track jobs have steadily declined, universities have grown more dependent on part-time labor from adjuncts and graduate students. How does a group of employees become unionized? Since the nation's first graduate student union was formed in Wisconsin in 1969, a debate has raged over whether those unions are good for colleges. Columbia Spectator (Published 6 October 2016), Editorial: Questions on graduate student unionization The process typically begins with a paid organizer(s) from a union. As many of you . It often takes a year or more to negotiate a first collective bargaining agreement. The idea of an argument often conjures up images of two people yelling and screaming in anger. For example, if one hundred individuals are identified as eligible to vote, but only ten actually vote, the future of the entire one hundred is determined by the ten who have voted. Disputes that arise under the contract would be decided by an external labor arbitrator. As graduate students consider their path forward, we wish to summarize the principles that will inform the universitys approach. Even elected leaders in my department who are non-organizers but favor the union, have not held themselves to standards of neutrality in disseminating information on both sides of the issue. We recognize and greatly value the many contributions that graduate students make to Stanfords mission of teaching and research. For some industries, a union is the best way for workers to get benefits and pay that they may not otherwise receive individually. Union representation is determined by a secret-ballot election in which those deemed by the NLRB to be eligible to be in the proposed bargaining unit are entitled to vote yes or no on the question of whether they want union representation. current classification of graduate students. Six Arguments - Graduate Student Unionization: A Critical Approach 98% of union contracts are reached without a strike., 2. In a special project, The Daily Princetonian charts the debates about legacy admissions, drawing on different arguments for and against the practice from its inception to the present day., Though noble in its cause, class-based affirmative action is an insufficient means of achieving racial diversity. There are MANY students in this same boat. Graduate student union will make our institution less equitable, Graduate student union will make our institution less democratic. Unionization Graduate Council A Case Against the Union - The Heights In most collective bargaining relationships, even those who do not become union members are required to pay an agency service fee, which is roughly equivalent to the union membership dues. I do not disagree that there are institution-wide and workplace-specific issues that need to be addressed. Newly formed groups will usually affiliate with an established labor union. It is asinine to cluster students into the same union when their funding mechanisms differ. Graduate student union does not make a convincing case. Graduate students at Princeton are seeking to join this group, and more than half of the graduate student body signed a union card in support of Princeton Graduate Students United (PGSU). The Cornell Daily Sun (Published 25 October 2016), Welcome to At What Cost The challenges that he and other students face arent that different from those that workers around the country in nonuniversity settings are up against, he believes. Why subject them to a union when a majority of them do not directly benefit and will not enhance its power to elicit change? This provides us a voice for the first time in a university that normally makes policies without our input. Should graduate students vote to be represented by the SGWU, it is our strong position that academic matters, including admissions decisions, curriculum and degree requirements, organization of programs, academic standards, evaluation of academic progress, and assignment of research and teaching assistant roles, are rights that should be retained by the university. Their arguments are inconsistent and incoherent. It is possible that graduate students seeking different degrees, studying in different colleges and different programs within colleges, and doing different research or teaching may be grouped together and bound by the same terms and conditions as negotiated by the union for all. Union supporters do not make a convincing case for unionization. The union would become the exclusive external representative of the bargaining unit, including those who voted against union representation or did not vote. Surely everyone must agree that having student representatives on the grad student council lobbying for a union and organizing/executing unionization efforts whilst receiving monetary compensation from UAW is a direct conflict of interest. The union organizers may or may not have a background in higher education. The following are just a few examples of the potential impacts you might experience if the Autoworkers were elected as your union: Because the union believes you are an employee, not a student, collective bargaining could mean that the university would have to deal directly with the union regarding terms and conditions of your teaching or research responsibilities. The law does not require any specific frequency of meetings. This group is called a bargaining unit. Most unions are large, national organizations with local chapters. There is a movement culture afoot.. WE elect the graduate workers to be on the bargaining committee. If a union was formed, what would happen to graduate student assistants pay and benefits while the collective bargaining agreement is being negotiated? What Is Unionization? If theres an issue of certain schools or disciplines wanting to keep what they have, then I wonder why they should be included in the bargaining unit at all, especially if they are being paid by outside grants. yourstipend level (which could increase, decrease or remain the same, particularlywhen taking into account the cost of union dues oragency fees). Arguments against the Unionization of Graduate Students at Harvard (4 November 2016) University to Give Thousands of Students' Information to Labor Board Columbia Spectator (Published 26 October 2016) It can take months or even a year or more after an election before bargaining starts: Once an election is held, both the union and the employer may file legal challenges that can delay a final decision for many months, or longer. This may be true in certain ways, but we would argue that much of this would be for the better from the sides of both the students and the professors. Stanford commits to providing factual information to our community through this website. Ruling on Grad Student Unionization Sparks Mixed Reactions Unions cannot tolerate such rejection by workers. With Alex Stern. Yes, Academe Is a Calling. No, That's Not an Argument Against Unions. In fact, it is very possible that it could take many months or even years before any contract is signed and many SGAs, including the organizers, may have already graduated and moved on from Northeastern. According to a Boston College graduate union website, the United Autoworkers spent two years organizing at BC before their election petition was filed. FAQs about Graduate Student Unionization. We were just obeying the law, LeoGrande said of the union recognition process. This is a very common concern. Graduate workers perform vital roles and in many ways are the lifeblood of universities. Heres more accurate information straight from the source: http://harvardgradunion.org/frequently-asked-questions/. For some students who already earn more than the projected increase in salary promised by the union (e.g. It is unclear why UAW charges members based on a funding package that exists separate and apart from any obligation to teach or conduct research. The alliance of the HGSU-UAW signifies the diminishing power and influence of unions rather than their strengths. Unions often try to convince people to sign Authorization Cards by telling them that everyone is signing cards and that there will soon be an election and a new contract that will earn everyone more money and improve working conditions. Arguments for and against reconsideration have been submitted to the NLRB. And further, it cannot take American racism writ large seriously., We implore Princeton to take steps as far as the limits of the law provide to progress on the issue of race, not to turn backward as our highest court suggests we do, and to do so in a way that truly promotes diversity on campus and invests in the potential of historically underrepresented groups., Class-based affirmative action is not as forward thinking as Princetons progressives promise, The three ways Princeton can respond to the affirmative action ruling. Is it fair for the union to include students who have a wide range of different funding structures and sources? The university is financially constrained, so pay cannot increase Gonzles knows he is a student, but he also thinks he is a worker, and says the two arent mutually exclusive. University of Chicago students are part of a growing movement of graduate students opting to unionize for fair wages, adequate health care and other workers' rights. I was extremely disturbed by union supporters who tried aggressively to get students to sign cards in the dining hall and interrupting our lunches and dinners, without giving both sides of the story. Student assistants at private universities have the right to organize unions, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) ruled last week. 2) are you so impoverished that you cannot contribute to your lab? Photograph by Harvard Magazine/LC Harvard's graduate-student union election ended inconclusively last December. The question arose recently when Nicholas Christakis, a professor of sociology at Yale, tweeted his opposition to graduate-student unionization this way: "Graduate students are primarily . POV: Unionizing BU Grad Students Would Be a Mistake But Im not persuaded that a union is the best way to help. For example, a Harvard Crimson article reported that following an initial election at Harvard, legal challenges delayed an outcome and required a second election a full year and five months later. Yale Daily News (Published 9 September, 2016), NLRBs Columbia Decision Marks New Federal Encroachment on Campuses The Harvard Crimson (Published 14 November 2016), Graduate Students: CGSU Coerces Members With Emotional Blackmail How? A large literature in labor economics demonstrates that union workers enjoy higher wages, more generous benefits, and better working conditions than non-unionized workers. All PhD and a number of master's students at Dartmouth receive a stipend to help offset the cost of living. They are volunteers and are doing this for our collective benefit. In the event you are presented with an authorization card to sign, we urge you to become educated about union representation and collective bargaining before considering signing. What is critical is that a large majority of graduate students have expressed their desire to be represented by PGSU. Would status as an international graduate student impact inclusion in a union? News Struggles over Graduate Student Unionization Undermined Faculty Trust in the AdministrationEven for Professors Opposed to a Union Faculty members worry that the University has mismanaged its response to graduate student unionization. I have known students who were not allowed to get married over the summer (becuase of summer students), or were told that parental leave is incompatible with the project, or that they should consider the weekend as another weekday. Columbia Spectator (Published 2 December 2016), Vote No to the Harvard Graduate Student Union, Yes to More Discussion What happens when the unions views arent yours? We teach classes and provide supplementary and individualized instruction, Cohen said. Opinions of people like the author of this blog is exactly why such awareness is needed. Elissa Cohen is at a school that took a different approach. The latest campus battle: Graduate students are fighting to unionize Throughout the last year, the union organizers have kept many of its decisions and votes quiet (including the one to affiliate with the UAW) in order to prevent any interference from people who might think differently. How frequently are an employer and a union required to meet when they are engaged in collective bargaining? By refraining from voting, a student would be essentially casting a ballot for union representation because the lower the actual voter turnout, the fewer number of votes a union needs to win the election. They are very open about this fact, to their credit. In states like Massachusetts which are not right to work states, it is legal for a collective bargaining agreement to require students represented by a union to either pay union dues (see above) or an agency service fee as a condition of employment with their employer. An agency service fee is a payment to the union that reflects the cost of administering the collective bargaining agreement and representation by the union. If the union forms, union organizers intrusive organizing activities at your offices, classrooms, dining halls, dorm rooms, libraries, apartments, and labs will continue.