Dive Brief:
- The National Labor Relations Board will reconsider whether graduate students at private nonprofit universities have the right to unionize in a case that could reverse a decision made in 2004 over Brown University graduate student organizing.
- The case, involving New School grad students and the United Auto Workers, will give the NLRB a chance to rule on the issue during the labor-friendly Obama administration and force change nationwide.
- Inside Higher Ed reports that those who oppose graduate student collective bargaining are likely to file briefs in the case arguing that a union would interfere with the professor-student relationship, and that it could limit academic decisions made by professors as graduate student supervisors.
Dive Insight:
Graduate students at NYU went on strike during the 2005-2006 academic year, but did not earn recognition of their union until 2013, after an NLRB official questioned the 2004 ruling and the full board considered the case on appeal as an opportunity to reverse it. Because NYU and the UAW withdrew their case, coming to an agreement on their own, grad students at other private universities were not affected. The presidentially appointed NLRB tends to shift course based on which party is in power. The New School case is seen as the only chance for a major reversal before President Barack Obama leaves office.