Dive Summary:
- The discussion of graduate students' right to unionize was divided along party lines at a U.S. House of Representatives panel Wednesday, with Republicans, and college administrators called as witnesses, arguing that grad students should be grateful for the opportunity to teach, and Democrats and a lone labor representative arguing that they should have the right to unionize and collectively bargain.
- Earlier this summer, the National Labor Relations Board began reconsidering a 2004 decision that barred grad students at private universities from being able to organize after receiving arguments for whether grad students at New York University should be able to unionize.
- The NLRB has been especially active lately on the unionization front, which Republicans on the House Committee on Education and the Workforce said represents an attempt to "change something that isn't broken" that could infringe upon academic freedom and lead to increases in the price of college.
From the article:
WASHINGTON -- A U.S. House of Representatives panel on Wednesday attempted to deal with a question that will be key for rulings on labor issues in higher education in the coming months: Are graduate students at private universities primarily employees or students? And should they be allowed to unionize? ...