NLRB: Grad Students at Private Schools Can Join Unions

Well, law school certainly felt like a job to your humble correspondent, and now it appears that the National Labor Relations Board agrees.

Actually, it's not quite that simple; however, on Tuesday, the NLRB ruled that grad students working as teaching and research assistants at private universities (specifically Columbia University) are entitled to collective bargaining. In so doing, the Board reversed its 2004 decision concerning a similar push for unionization at Brown University. Pending a challenge to the decision, the UAW will represent the Columbia grad students.

Decision accessible here; story containing a timeline of efforts at graduate student unionization here and here.

Also, stay tuned for follow up post by my colleague, Joanna Bowers, with her take on the dissent.