TRACBRA: TRACBRA background
From CGEU
The Teaching and Research Assistants Collective Bargaining Rigths Act and the Organizing of Teaching and Research Assistants: A Brief Historical Background
1.) The Introduction of the Bill: A Response to the NLRB under the Bush Administration
The “Teaching and Research Assistants Collective Bargaining Rights Act of 2009” was introduced in the U.S. Senate by Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) and in the U.S. House of Representatives by Representative George Miller (D-CA). If passed, this legislation would extend the right of union recognition to teaching and research assistants at private colleges and universities, where TA’s and RA’s had been denied those rights since a 2004 ruling by the George W. Bush-appointed NLRB.
In reference to the legislation, Senator Kennedy said, “Teaching and research assistants are in the classrooms every day, educating students in colleges and universities across the country. This bill restores the bargaining rights unfairly denied by the NLRB to these hard-working graduate students.” S. 813 is co-sponsored by Senators Brown, Clinton, Feingold, Obama, and Schumer; and H.R. 5338 is co-sponsored currently by Representatives Andrews, Davis, E
The movement by teaching and research assistants to unionize and bargain collectively with their employers began at public universities around 1970. As graduate assistants began taking on a greater and greater share of jobs traditionally performed by faculty, their desire to improve pay and working conditions grew and organizing drives began on a number of private campuses in the 1990s. In 2000, the National Labor Relations Board ruled, in a case involving the UAW and New York University, that graduate teaching and research assistants were “employees” and therefore entitled to the rights and protections of the National Labor Relations Act. The Board majority correctly reasoned that someone can be both a student and an employee, noting that graduate assistants are directed in their work by their employer and that they receive compensation for their work, which is what defines an employee.
Unfortunately, after President Bush took office and appointed anti-worker members to the NLRB, the Board, in a 2004 decision involving the UAW and Brown University, reversed the NYU decision and held that graduate teaching and research assistants were students and not employees, thus stripping them of their federal right to unionize.
The Teaching and Research Assistants Collective Bargaining Rights Act seeks to reverse the Bush Board, which Kennedy characterized as “the most anti-worker, anti-labor, anti-union NLRB in history.” The bill would restore collective bargaining rights to graduate teaching and research assistants at private universities by clarifying that they are employees within the scope of the NLRA.
2.) Why the Bill is Important: NYU as an Example of Teaching and Research Assistant Organizing and the Responses of their Employers
After the 2000 National Labor Relations Board NYU decision, a collective bargaining agreement at NYU led to historic gains for NYU graduate assistants, including an average 40% salary raise with guaranteed raises in future years, healthcare benefits, sick leave, and paid teacher training. That contract meant a better learning environment for NYU undergraduates as well as fair working conditions for the graduate employees.
When that first contract ended in August 2005, NYU hid behind the NLRB Brown decision and refused to negotiate a new contract. NYU graduate assistants have demonstrated again and again that they overwhelmingly want to work under the security of a union contract, including by going on strike in 2005. Academics and elected officials from around the country have also sided with graduate employees, condemning the NYU administration for its union-busting tactics. Still, the university administration refuses to negotiate.
In 2006-2007, more NYU graduate assistants than ever signed union authorization cards. After NYU refused to negotiate with the graduate employee union, the university set up a student group, the “House of Delegates,” to give a “voice” to graduate students. Grads overwhelmingly voted in a union-supportive slate of representatives who pledged to continue to work for real rights and protections. Unfortunately, over a year of talks between NYU and the House of Delegates failed to produce any results. NYU refused to abide by any principles that could make those talks substantive and fair. In the meantime, NYU graduate assistants face increased workloads, decreased raises, unstable health benefits, and no workplace protections.
Graduate workers at NYU are still fighting for their rights. On May 3, 2010, GSOC/UAW filed a petition for recognition with the National Labor Relations Board, seeking the reconsideration of the Brown ruling. They, and graduate student workers at universities and colleges across the nation, applaud all congresspersons who support the Teaching and Research Assistants Collective Bargaining Rights Act -- legislation that will return and guarantee legal protection to their unions.
