For Release: Monday, May 7, 2001

Brown University Teaching Assistants and Research Assistants File Union Petition with National Labor Relations Board

Move by Brown TAs & RAs Mirrors Recent Labor Activism at Columbia University and New York University

A majority of Brown University's teaching assistants and research assistants will file a petition today with the National Labor Relations Board in Boston requesting union representation. The move by Brown student employees is part of a growing trend in higher education -- the unionization of non-tenured university teachers and researchers. Within the last two months, New York University became the first private university in America to begin bargaining with its TAs and RAs and Columbia University's TAs and RAs petitioned for union representation. The Brown, NYU, and Columbia groups are all part of the United Auto Workers.

"The teaching and research we do at Brown makes undergraduate education and faculty achievement possible. By unionizing we're saying that we want a voice in our working conditions, wages, and health benefits," said Keith Hall, Brown Computer Science Department teaching assistant and Ph.D. student.

Most TAs make about $6,200 a semester, but some are paid as little as $800. TA work ranges from grading papers and conducting laboratory and discussion sessions for professors, to teaching classes on their own. Research assistants, defined as employees by the NLRB in its NYU decision, do a variety of research support tasks ranging from administrative work to highly technical research and analysis.

"Collective bargaining is the only way for us to have a real say in the terms and conditions of our work," said Christi Hancock, a Brown teaching assistant and Ph.D. student in American Civilization. "The overwhelming support of TAs and RAs sends a clear message to the Brown administration that they should not stand in the way of a democratic election for unionization."

"All across the country student workers and students in general are building a new movement for social and economic justice. It's gratifying to see the student employees follow in Brown's proud activist tradition by filing this petition today," commented UAW vice-president Elizabeth Bunn who heads the UAW's Technical, Office and Professional (TOP) department.

"We are delighted to welcome more university workers to the growing movement to win dignity and respect for university employees. They have our full support," said Phil Wheeler, Regional Director of UAW Region 9A.

The UAW represents over 15,000 graduate employees at Columbia University, UC Berkeley, UCLA, the University of Washington, the University of Massachusetts, and New York University, and thousands of clerical and support staff at Columbia, Barnard, Teachers' College and other universities.

Press Contact: Christi Hancock, 401-273-3305