We at GSOC/UAW are pleased to announce that the highly respected American Arbitration Association (AAA) has verified that a clear majority of NYU graduate employees have chosen to be represented by GSOC/UAW Local 2110 in collective bargaining with the NYU administration.

NY City Council Speaker Christine Quinn joined GSOC members and other UAW representatives to demand voluntary recognition of the union on April 26.

On April 26, 2010, a delegation formally presented the NYU administration with the official AAA certificate confirming our majority. The delegation included GSOC/UAW members, New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, United States Congressman Jerrold Nadler and other UAW representatives. In keeping with the democratic will of the majority of NYU graduate employees, the delegation also requested that the NYU administration voluntarily recognize GSOC/UAW Local 2110 as the union for ALL graduate employees at NYU.
We are demanding voluntary recognition from NYU in order to correct an injustice that has gone on for too many years. Over the past decade, the majority of NYU graduate employees have consistently chosen GSOC/UAW for union representation. But time and again, the university has blatantly ignored our preferences and denied our rights. Like any other workers, we want a union so that we can bargain collectively around wage, benefit and workplace issues, and achieve security and stability in the workplace.

GSOC/UAW Local 2110 is the only union that can guarantee the full collective bargaining rights of NYU graduate employees and represent our interests in ALL of the work that we perform for the university, including teaching, research and administrative services.

We deserve the same union protections enjoyed by our colleagues at leading public research universities, including the University of California at Berkley and the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. There is no difference in the work performed by graduate employees at public and private institutions.

If NYU truly wants to project itself as a "global network university," it should start by respecting labor rights, including the right to bargain collectively, which is a universal human right. In 2008, even the International Labor Organization (an agency of the United Nations) condemned NYU's refusal to negotiate a second contract as a flagrant violation of private sector graduate employees' internationally recognized rights to freedom of association and collective bargaining.

We - joined by our political and community allies - have approached the university administration in good faith. We hope that they will do the right thing by recognizing the full collective bargaining rights of ALL graduate employees at NYU and respecting ALL of the work that we do.

If, however, the NYU administration refuses to afford us our internationally recognized rights to collective bargaining and freedom of association, we will seek the legal restoration of our rights with the National Labor Relations Board by the end of the semester.