Worker Advocate Asks Federal Labor Board to Uphold Precedent Disallowing Forced Unionization of Grad Students

Foundation files brief supporting university teaching assistants' First Amendment freedom of association

Washington, DC (July 29, 2011) – The National Right to Work Foundation filed an amicus curiae ("friend of the court") brief with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) asking the Board to uphold its long-standing precedent to disallow union officials to corral university graduate students working as teaching assistants into unwanted union affiliation.

Foundation attorneys filed the brief with the NLRB in a case involving United Auto Workers (UAW) union organizers’ attempt to forcibly unionize graduate students at New York University (NYU) in New York City and ultimately to force them to pay union dues to maintain their status.

Seven years ago, Foundation attorneys filed an amicus brief in a similar case involving the UAW union attempting to forcibly unionize teaching assistants at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. In that case, the NLRB voted to return to its long-standing position of more than 50 years that teaching assistants have an academic, rather than economic, relationship with universities, and that teaching assistants are not “employees” as defined by federal labor law who can be subjected to union monopoly bargaining.

In their latest brief, Foundation attorneys argue that UAW union lawyers are using the NYU case as a means to overturn the Brown University case, even though the facts are different.

Meanwhile, Foundation attorneys undercut the union lawyers' arguments for new precedent that establishes teaching assistants as employees of the university, because grades are the central form of compensation for graduate students who are paid to teach, research, or perform temporary work.

Read the entire release here.

Adding the a string of cases supported by the National Right to Work Foundation, the U.S. Supreme Court took up another case Monday. At issue is whether a Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals decision that limited the applicability of an Idaho state law banning payroll deductions for union Political Action Committees (PACs) will stand. Foundation attorneys urged the High Court to take up the case alongside the Sutherland Institute and Utah Taxpayers Association.

Foundation Vice President Stefan Gleason told the AP earlier this week that:

"Payroll deduction should not be a constitutionally protected right. We feel it's bad public policy to have government bodies essentially be bagmen for union political monies."

To read the full article, click here. To read more about the Foundation's Supreme Court track record, click here.

The Press of Atlantic City today wrote about the brief filed by Right to Work attorneys in the Trump Plaza union election dispute, which you can read more about here. The brief states that if the election is not set aside:

"...politicians can (and will) use the authority of their office to mislead employees that the government requires or favors a particular result in Board certification elections."

To watch video of the sham union "certification" event at issue, click here.