The nation's oldest labor laws give employees the fundamental rights to organize and join a union. An increasing number of graduate student workers across the country are seeking to exercise these rights at the private universities where they work while they pursue their education. During the 2011-2012 school year, 12.1 percent of all graduate…

The recent decision by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) in the "Columbia University"case granting students who serve as teaching or research assistants at private universities the right to unionize dealt a major blow to private higher education as we know it. In a long-anticipated decision, the NLRB ruled that any student who…

Drew on extensive archives from 10 graduate employee unions' Web sites to examine their publicly presented identities (marginalized workers and future professionals), ideologies (traditional and professional unionism with little focus on social justice), and strategies (disruptive protest and professional politics locally). (EV)

Describes how New York University has become the first private institution to recognize the right of teaching assistants to bargain collectively and possible implications for other private institutions. (EV)

Examined unionization trends and outcomes among graduate students: where and why they have organized and whether unionization has affected student-mentor relationships. Uncovered several implications for institutional and departmental autonomy, student-mentor relationships, and labor relations outcomes. (EV)

Describes the effects of and universities' response to a recent National Labor Relations Board decision which defined graduate assistants at private institutions as employees, giving them the right to organize, collectively bargain, and strike. Includes a sidebar on the effects of the graduate student union at the University of Iowa. (EV)

The cultural landscape of graduate employee life in the research university faces significant change. Ten years ago just a handful of recognized graduate employee unions existed. Today, more than two dozen campuses have recognized unions and another two dozen or so are in the process of organizing graduate student employees. The extant literature…

This qualitative study of graduate employee unionization seeks to explore the critique graduate student organizers have of the contemporary academy. The number of unionized graduate employees has increased by 175% since 1990; close to 40,000 graduate employees are now unionized. Data were collected using a multisite case study approach, a method…

Leaders of the movement to unionize graduate teaching/research assistants are learning organizing tactics through the Coalition of Graduate Employee Unions, and plotting strategies for a critical campaign year. Graduate students at 20 universities already have collective bargaining units, students at 15 institutions are campaigning for union…

Presents a range of responses from professors and graduate students to the questions: "Will the National Labor Relations Board decision to allow graduate students to unionize dramatically reshape the academic environment? If so, is that for good or ill? Will unions help cure graduate school life of its many afflictions or make those afflictions…

This publication, written partly in response to increased interest in collective bargaining among graduate student workers, is a directory of recognized graduate employee labor organizations and other student organizations not yet recognized as bargaining agents. Section 1 contains entries on recognized collective bargaining agents organized by…

The collective bargaining agreement between the Board of Regents of the State University System of Florida, the University of South Florida, and Graduate Assistants United, the United Faculty of Florida, covering the period April 26, 1985-June 3, 1987 is presented. The bargaining unit covers the following employees: graduate research associates…

A growing component of the instructional workforce in higher education, graduate teaching and research assistants are frequently viewed by university administrators and trustees as students rather than employees, according to this American Federation of Teachers (AFT) report. As the number of new full-time faculty hired decreases, an increased…

This paper examines the 1991 graduate assistant strike at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, the underlying reasons for the strike, and the role of graduate assistants at American universities. It argues that low pay, lack of fringe benefits, poor working conditions, and uncompromising administration attitudes forced graduate assistants…

This report presents information on faculty contracts and bargaining agents in public and private institutions of higher education. It begins with a listing of higher education institutions, by state, indicating the bargaining agent representing the regular college faculty, the unit size, date of current agent election, date of initial contract,…