April 2000: The National Labor Relations Board rules that graduate employees at New York University have the right to organize a union. According to the decision by the NLRB, "it is clear that graduate assistants meet the statutory definition of employee. The fact that individuals are learning aspects of their trade or profession is not a basis for an exception to employee status." In a subsequent union representation election, a majority of graduate employees at NYU vote in favor of having a union. http://www.2110uaw.org/gsoc/index.html

Fall 2000: The Columbia administration remains unmoved on graduate employee issues. Tired of waiting and determined to improve conditions, a group of teaching and research assistants begins to campaign for a graduate employee union. Graduate Student Employees United (GSEU) is formed and affiliates with Local 2110 of the UAW, the same local that represents grad employees at NYU and clerical staff at Columbia. GSEU-UAW begins a "card drive" seeking support from graduate employees throughout the University.

January 2001: Eduardo Macagno steps down as Dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. Gillian Lindt is appointed Interim Dean of GSAS.

February 15, 2001: Columbia administration responds to growing support for a graduate union by promising to raise the minimum stipend from $13,000 to $15,000 in the 2001-2002 academic year. However, the administration refuses to make any guarantees about increases in subsequent years, instead stipulating that "planned increases will need to be evaluated annually." http://www.columbia.edu/cu/gsac/macagnoplan.html

February 22, 2001: At a GSAC meeting, Interim GSAS Dean, Gillian Lindt states, "Nobody on the administration is disputing the right of graduate students to form a union. Some of us have actively campaigned for unions and I can¹t imagine that anyone would take another position on it."

March 28, 2001: After only a few months of organizing, a substantial majority of the 1,100 TAs at the Morningside Heights campus file for a union representation election with the National Labor Relations Board. http://www.nlrb.gov

March 29, 2001: Columbia's graduate employees gain national attention as newspapers like the New York Times and Newsday run stories on the union campaign. The Managing Board of Columbia's student paper, the Columbia Daily Spectator, calls on the administration to take a neutral stance on the issue of unionization, stating that "The Administration should trust the judgment of the people it trusts to teach its classes to decide whether a union is right for them."

April 19, 2001 through October 2001: Contrary to Dean Lindt's assurances that "nobody on the administration is disputing the right of graduate students to form a union", Columbia University hires the Proskauer Rose law firm to fight the graduate employees' right to hold a union election. Despite a clear legal precedent for graduate unionization, the administration initiates 7 months of hearings at the National Labor Relations Board in which it challenges our employee status. These hearings delay a representation election at Columbia until Spring 2002.

April 24, 2001: In a letter to President Rupp, the Executive Committee of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences unanimously declares that "our students should be permitted to organize an election." Furthermore, the Faculty Committee warns Rupp that, "overly aggressive steps that needlessly polarize the situation are unlikely to be in the long-term interest of our institution." 

April 26, 2001: GSAC sponsors an Issue Inquiry Forum on graduate unionization. Grad students David Carpio (Biology), Jen Fronc (History), and Eric Matheis (French) debate Dean Lindt, Vice President for Student Services Gene Awakuni, and Vice Dean Michael O'Connor of the School of Public Health. Nearly 200 GSEU-UAW supporters attend the event, demonstrating the growing strength of the unionization campaign. Witnesses declare the Forum a victory for GSEU-UAW. Vice President Awakuni concedes, "If the right to vote is what you are looking for, then a union process is one that supports it." Read the Spectator article here.

May 2001: A letter signed by over 80 faculty members is sent to President Rupp, again calling for his administration to cease interfering with graduate students' right to a union election. 

May 31, 2001: Senators Hillary Clinton and Charles Schumer send a letter supporting the union campaign to President Rupp. Their letter urges the Administration to "allow this election to move forward," and to "adopt a position of neutrality in the election."

June 9, 2001: The AFL-CIO sponsors a rally at Columbia in support of GSEU-UAW as part of its "Seven Days in June" campaign to draw attention to new organizing drives in the region. Several hundred people, including graduate students, undergraduates, and Columbia support staff, attend the rally.

June 2001: Henry Pinkham takes over from Gillian Lindt as Dean of GSAS.

September 8, 2001: A contingent of GSEU-UAW members march in the annual New York City Labor Parade. Senator Hillary Clinton is in attendance and personally congratulates GSEU for its union campaign.

October 3, 2001: GSEU and members of the support staff at Columbia sponsor a benefit raising $1,500 for the New York Central Labor Council's September 11th Fund.

October 18, 2001: After 7 months, the NLRB hearings end; both the administration and graduate employees await a ruling to determine the composition of the bargaining unit at Columbia and set an election date.

November 16, 2001: NLRB rules that Brown University graduate students have right to unionize and sets a date for a representation election at Brown. Significantly, in its ruling the labor board determines that graduate teaching there should be considered employment even if teaching also fulfilled an academic degree requirement. In addition to Columbia and Brown, Penn, Yale, Harvard, and Cornell have on-going grad union campaigns.

November 29, 2001: In light of the USA-PATRIOT legislation aimed at restricting international students, the UAW sends a letter to President Rupp urging him to "join us in opposing any policy, regulation or legislation that attempts to discriminate against such students." In their letter, the UAW states, "International students at both undergraduate and graduate level play an important role in shaping the diverse intellectual and cultural environments that make campus communities engines of social progress and creativity."

December 6-7, 2001: Graduate employees at Brown University hold their union representation election. Ballots are impounded as the Brown administration appeals the November 16 NLRB decision.

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January 30, 2002: NYU graduate students and administrators complete negotiations for their first contract after only 19 bargaining sessions. The new contract raises the average stipend a minimum of 38% over 4 years, guarantees tuition and fee remissions, and provides 100% health care coverage for all grad employees.

January 30 and February 6, 2002: The University Senate holds two evenings of public hearings on graduate unionization at Columbia. In these hearings, a group of student senators questions both a pro-union panel that includes GSEU-UAW members along with members of other UAW-affiliated graduate unions, and an anti-union panel that includes several anti-union graduate students as well as GSAS Dean Pinkham. 

February 12, 2002: NLRB Regional Director Celeste Mattina issues a ruling that recognizes the right of TAs and RAs at Columbia to form a union and directs a representation election for the Spring 2002 semester. The ruling finds that TAs and RAs at Morningside Heights, Health Sciences, and Lamont-Doherty should be included in a single bargaining unit.

February 22, 2002: Seeking to avert unionization, Provost Jonathan Cole announces that the base stipend for most TAs and RAs in GSAS will increase to $16,050 for the 2002-2003 academic year.

March 6, 2002: The Columbia administration submits a Request for Review to the full NLRB in Washington, DC in an effort to relitigate existing precedent.

March 13, 14 and 19, 2002: Teaching and research assistants at Columbia University vote in our union representation election. Of the more than 1900 eligible voters, it is estimated that more than 80% cast ballots over the three days of polling.

March 22, 2002: The full NLRB in Washington agrees to accept the Columbia administration's Request for Review on the issue of TA and RA employee status. Ballots in our union election are impounded pending appeal.

April 23-26, 2002: GSEU members vote by a 78% margin to authorize a one-day strike for April 29 to protest the administration's appeal. Support staff members of Local 2110 also vote to strike in sympathy with GSEU members.

April 29, 2002: GSEU conducts a one-day strike. Hundreds of graduate employees and support staff participate in the action.

October 3, 2002: GSEU members demonstrate at Columbia President Lee Bollinger's inauguration to protest the administration's continuing legal attempts to throw out the results of our March 2002 representation election.

December 2002: TAs at Univ. of Illinois vote 3:1 in favor of certifying their union.

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February 26-27, 2003: TAs at Univ. of Pennsylvania vote on whether to certify their union, GET-UP/AFT. Ballots are immediately impounded as Penn's administration initiates an appeal to the NLRB similar to Columbia's. Now, four elections have been impounded; Columbia, Brown, Tufts, and Penn.

March 3-7, 2003: Hundreds of Yale's TAs and RAs strike for recognition by their administration.

April 3, 2003: Hundreds of TAs and RAs at Columbia hold a rally in front of Low Library to mark the one-year anniversary of their election. City Councilmember Robert Jackson announces plans for a City Council resolution in support of GSEU. GSEU members are joined by TAs and RAs from Tufts, Penn, and Yale.

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February, 2004: 5000 Teaching and Research Assistants in the Cal State University system affiliate with the UAW and file a petition for union representation.

March, 2004: 2400 Teaching and Research Assistants at the University of Washington vote to unionize with the UAW.

March 26, 2004: 2 years after the NLRB sponsored election is blocked by Columbia's administration, GSEU signs a new majority of TAs and RAs onto union authorization cards. The office of New York State Senator David Paterson counts the cards, verifying once again that a majority of TAs and RAs at Columbia support unionization.  Senator Paterson issues a letter to Columbia President Lee Bollinger, requesting that Columbia honor GSEU's majority.  

April 15, 2004: After Columbia's administration fails to honor Senator Paterson's proposal, GSEU members vote to authorize an indefinite strike by an 80% margin.

April 19, 2004: Strike for recognition begins.  Hundreds of GSEU members join the picket line on the first day. Despite the disruption of classes and the tremendous support from politicians, undergraduates, faculty, and local community leaders, Columbia's administration claims that they would rather wait out the strike than have to recognize GSEU. For more information on the strike, click here.

April 21, 2004: Hundreds of undergraduate supporters walk out of class in solidarity with TAs and RAs. Read a New Yorker article about an undergraduate walkout here.

April 28, 2004: John Sweeney, President of the AFL-CIO, joins hundreds of GSEU members and supporters at a noon rally.

May 6, 2004: Columbia clerical staff, also members of Local 2110, join GSEU on the picket line for a one-day sympathy strike. Hundreds of TAs, RAs, clerical staff, and members of other campus unions march onto campus and through Columbia's main administration building. See a video clip of the event here.

May 19, 2004: After a 4 week strike, NY City Council Speaker Gifford Miller and State Senate Minority Leader David Paterson reach out to both sides, requesting that GSEU suspend the strike prior graduation ceremonies, out of respect for the undergraduates, and that Columbia's administration meet with GSEU to discuss union recognition.  GSEU members vote in favor of this proposal and graduation ceremonies proceed, with award-winning playwright and Commencement speaker Tony Kushner praising GSEU for their courage, while condemning Columbia's administration for denying its own community members a voice. See Tony Kushner's speech here (go to the "Live Broadcast" link and click on "Columbia College Class Day")

July 13, 2004: After more than 2 years of delay, the Republican majority of the NLRB overturns the NYU decision, denying union rights to tens of thousands of graduate employees across the country. Read more, and download a copy of the decision, here.

July 22 -25, 2004: GSEU hosts the 13th annual conference of the Coalition of Graduate Employee Unions. Close to 200 graduate employees from across the country and Canada attend the conference. Conference attendees vow to continue fighting for the right to organize for graduate employees, in spite of the NLRB decision, and hold a picket line at the regional office of the National Labor Relations Board in protest of the ruling. Read more about the conference here.

December 14, 2004: A majority of TAs at Yale demonstrate support for the union by signing membership cards.The majority is certified by Connecticut Secretary of State Susan Bysiewicz. Read more about Yale's grad employee union here.

December 17, 2004: In the same week that Yale TAs demonstrate majority support for the union, a majority of TAs and RAs at Columbia also demonstrate support for the union once again, by signing membership cards. The majority is certified by the office of New York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer. Read more, and see photos from the Attorney General's meeting with GSEU members, here.

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August 31, 2005: The GSOC/UAW Local 2110 contract, the first for graduate employees at a private university, expires. Despite an overwhelming show of support for the union by graduate employees, faculty and undergraduates, the NYU administration refuses to renegotiate, citing the 2004 NLRB decision on Brown University. This decision reversed NLRB precedent, which had ruled in favor of graduate employee organizing rights as recently as 2000.

October 31, 2005: By an 85% margin, NYU graduate employees vote to strike for a second contract.

November 9, 2005: NYU strike begins. An overwhelming majority of graduate employees strike their work as teaching, research and graduate assistants, and join their colleagues on the picket line.

for more on the strike at NYU, visit the GSOC Strike Center.