National Labor Relations Board to review graduate student petition seeking union recognition

Emma Kolchin-Miller:

The National Labor Relations Board decided to review the current precedent that denies recognition for graduate student unions at private universities on Friday afternoon.

The decision comes after the New York chapter of the National Labor Relations Board dismissed a petition on Feb. 6 for union recognition from the Graduate Workers of Columbia—a group of Columbia graduate students seeking official union recognition. The National Labor Relations Board also decided to review a petition from graduate students at the New School on Friday, according to Capital New York.

Students from the Graduate Workers of Columbia say the decision is important, but expected.

“We expected the National Labor Relations Board to grant review,” Maida Rosenstein, president of United Auto Workers Local 2110, the union that GWC would join if it gained recognition, said. “This is the only just and democratic way to proceed, because there is no reason for teaching assistants and research assistants not to have the right to decide for themselves on whether or not they want to unionize.”