NYU research and teaching assistants file for union representation

NEW YORK — After giving officials at New York University a week to voluntarily recognize their union — GSOC/UAW Local 2110 — 1,800 graduate teaching and research assistants at the private university this morning filed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) asking for a union representation election. Although federal law requires submission of authorization cards from only 30 percent of a workforce to call an election, members of the Graduated Students Organizing Committee (GSOC) said they submitted “far in excess” of 50 percent.

The research and teaching assistants are counting on new labor board members recently appointed by President Obama to reverse the Bush-dominated board’s 2004 Brown decision, which stripped student employees of their right to bargain under federal law. That decision was prompted by university administrations trying to set aside union authorization elections at Brown, Columbia, and Tufts universities. It came just two years after the NYU group became the first graduate student workers to win an NLRB-supervised election and negotiate a contract with a private university.

“Winning this new election means we will regain the rights that were taken away from us five years ago,” said Kari Hensley, a third-year Ph.D. student in media, culture and communications who teaches several courses. “Workers’ rights are human rights and we work hard for this university.”

“The teaching assistants and research assistants do work that is critical to the success of NYU,” said Bob Madore, director of United Auto Workers (UAW) Region 9A, which includes New York and New England. “All they are asking for is what other workers at NYU have — the right to collective bargaining.”

UAW Secretary-Treasurer Elizabeth Bunn said, “Over the last 10 years, a majority of NYU graduate employees have consistently chosen GSOC/UAW for union representation. The university has consistently denied them their rights and left these workers no choice but to take legal action.”