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Unions and Universities Editorial The New York Times November 25, 2000
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The National Labor Relations Board made the correct move
last month when it recognized the right of graduate students who work as
teaching and research assistants at private universities to join unions.
The universities are worried that the [National Labor Relations Board's]
decision could erode student-teacher collegiality and the faculty's control
over academic affairs. But their fears appear overblown. Whatever discomfort
occurs will be a price worth paying for the basic right to unionize. The question before the board was whether graduate teaching and research assistants at New York University who voted in April to organize, are employees as that term is used under the labor laws. The university said no, arguing that teaching and research duties are important parts of the students' own training. But the board found that, in general, teaching and research assistantships were not required of graduate students, nor were they granted academic credit. The graduate students worked for reward under university control --- a typical employer-employee relationship. Some prestigious universities predicted that unions could transform collegial relationships between students and teachers into adversarial relationships and encroach on faculty prerogatives. For example, the criteria for selecting teaching assistants --- such as the grade point average they need to earn --- could become subject to collective bargaining. Universities also fear that the ruling will jack up labor costs. But the country decided nearly 70 years ago that the rights to bargain trumped the inconvenience and other costs. American graduate programs, the envy of the world, are not so fragile they cannot coexist with unions, or provide workers the rights they enjoy elsewhere in the economy. |