Nearly seven years after a Republican-dominated NLRB stripped graduate teachers and researchers at private universities of the right to form unions, the Board will revisit the question of TA and RA’s employee status. The move comes as the result of regional labor board decision in New York involving UAW members at New York University.

NYU teaching and research assistants were the first such employees at a private university to win union recognition and bargain a contract in 2001. After the Bush-appointed NLRB ruled in 2004 that grads are not employees, NYU refused to bargain a second contract with the union, GSOC/UAW, in 2005, leading to a protracted strike by graduate assistants. Read more.

On Tuesday, May 10 GESO members delivered a petition signed by over 650 graduate employees to Graduate School Dean Thomas Pollard, Yale College Dean Mary Miller and Provost Peter Salovey.

GESO members deliver the petition to Dean Pollard's office in the Hall of Graduate Studies

The petition said, in part: “Decreases in teaching and research opportunities, arbitrary restrictions on time to degree, and downsizing support staff all threaten graduate teachers’ and researchers’ ability to produce excellent work, endangering the sustainability of a vibrant academic community.  We therefore call on the administration to create a more democratic decision-making process that respects the needs of those who do the university’s work, and recognizes the right to organize and negotiate collectively.”

At a membership meeting just before the delegation, members reflected on an eventful year of organizing, and discussed the work ahead to continue building consensus and to fight back on changes to teaching and research work.   They were joined by Local 34 and Local 35 Presidents Laurie Kennington and Bob Proto, who spoke with the group about the importance of GESO’s ongoing organizing efforts and the need to continue working more closely together.

March 31, 2011

GESO members joined together with members of UNITE HERE Locals 34, 35, 217, and the New England Joint Board, other private and public sector unions, students and New Haven residents in a march and rally on the New Haven Green. Unions and communities across the country are coming together to show solidarity with workers in Wisconsin, Ohio, Indiana and other states where workers’ rights are under attack.

Thank you to the hundreds of GESO members whose attendance at the march helped to make it a huge success! Read more.