Preparation Begins for Unionizing Elections

By Amba Datta

Spectator Senior Staff Writer

Columbia Daily Spectator

February 25, 2002

 

In two weeks, the issue of unionization will emerge from abstraction to become a concrete choice confronting large populations of Columbia's teaching and research assistants. The outcome of a secret ballot union election --which will begin March 13 on the Morningside campus-- will determine whether the United Auto Workers will represent approximately 1,900 to 2,000 graduate and undergraduate teaching and research assistants in contract negotiations with the University.

The regional director of the National Labor Relations Board issued a decision on Feb. 12 ruling that teaching and research assistants at Columbia were employees entitled to union representation. The decision also determined which teaching and research assistants would be eligible to vote in the election.

Eligible voters include all current graduate and undergraduate teaching assistants, teaching fellows, Law associates, preceptors, instructors, listening assistants, and course assistants, as well as readers, graders, and all graduate research assistants and departmental research assistants at the Morningside campus, the Health Sciences campus, and the Lamont-Doherty and Nevis observatories. This includes students in the Graduate School of the Arts and Sciences, the Graduate School of Business, and the College of Physicians and Surgeons.

All students in this bargaining unit who are currently TAs or research assistants are eligible voters, including international students, regardless of citizenship or visa status.

The election's outcome will be determined by simple majority. A quorum in this election is not necessary, and no fixed percentage of turnout among the members of the bargaining unit is needed to validate results.

Teaching fellows and research assistants at the Law School, instructors and teaching assistants in the summer session at Columbia; teaching, course, and program assistants at the School of International and Public Affairs; departmental research assistants in the Film Division of the School of the Arts; and service fellows in the School of the Arts were excluded from the bargaining unit and cannot vote in the union election.

The original NLRB decision also said that all teaching and research assistants who were members of the included schools and had been employed in the last 24 months were eligible to vote. This stipulation was a mistake and has since been corrected by the Board; only teaching and research assistants of the included schools who are currently employed can vote.

The outcome of the upcoming election remains uncertain. While the employee status ruling of the NLRB's regional director was a victory for GSEU, the expanded bargaining unit --which almost doubled the bargaining unit the union petitioned for from approximately 1,100 TAs to approximately 1,900 to 2,000 teaching and research assistants-- may present a greater challenge to the union in terms of winning the election.



GSEU organizer and history graduate student Beverly Gage said she was confident the union would win the election. Gage said the union was in no way opposed to the inclusion of research assistants within the bargaining unit. "I couldn't be more emphatic that we're for workers asserting their rights," said Gage, who added that the exclusion of research assistants from the union's petition was based upon precedent in the NYU case.

Dean of the Graduate School of the Arts and Sciences Henry Pinkham hinted he thought the union's decision to petition only for TAs was a more practical one in terms of the election. "There's a reason why the union tried to exclude the GRAs [graduate research assistants]," he said.

But vote-counting in the weeks before the election is occurring on both the pro- and anti-union sides. The smaller bargaining unit that the union originally petitioned for and collected union card signatures from would have likely resulted in an easier electoral victory.

"Are we happy that the GRAs are included?" asked Pinkham. "We're happy on electoral grounds and on substantive grounds." The University argued in union hearings before the NLRB last year that no line of distinction should be drawn between teaching and research assistants, in part because they are all on the same University payroll.

Although voting days are just around the corner, the reality of the election does not preclude the possibility of appeals to the regional director's decision from both the University and the union. Neither side has decided to appeal yet; the deadline for appeals was moved from Feb. 25 to March 4, according to Associate General Counsel for Columbia Patricia Catapano.

The union may decide to appeal questions related to the composition of the bargaining unit. The University may appeal to the NLRB in Washington on the employee status question, a course of action which both NYU --whose appeal was overturned-- and Brown University followed.

The election, however, will proceed on the dates planned. An appeal from either side would result in ballot boxes being sealed until the NLRB rules on the appeal.

On the Morningside campus, the election will be held on the second floor of Earl Hall. Voting will begin at 10 a.m. on March 13 and 14 and will conclude at 8 p.m. On March 19, voting will begin at 10 a.m. and end at 5 p.m. On the Health Sciences campus, the election will be held in the Black Building in the Alumni Auditorium Lobby. Voting will begin at 10 a.m. on March 13 and 14 and will conclude at 8 p.m. on both days.

At Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, the election will be held in the Geoscience Building, room 110. Voting will begin at 10 a.m. on March 13 and run through 3 p.m. that day.

At Nevis the election will be held in the conference room with voting commencing at 10 a.m. on March 13 and ending at noon that same day.