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.

Speaking of "card check," a Washington State University student is calling out the United Auto Workers union on its recent use of a deceptive "card check" drive to forcibly unionize academic student employees. The student writes:

Several students were led to believe they were signing to get
information or support exploring the efficacy of students unionizing.
With a sense of urgency and high pressure tactics, many students filled
out cards.

In addition to noting that students would be forced to pay dues if the UAW was installed, the student adds:

We find it insulting to our intelligence and levels of educational
achievement to mislead, misrepresent and misinform us to gain student
support.

As Karen Mayhew, a National Right to Work Foundation-aided employee from Portland, Oregon, told Congress last year:

...union abuses of a wide variety are the rule in 'card check' campaigns, not the exception.

All the more reason that employees should be aware of their rights during a "card check" drive.