Federal regulation threatens graduate employees’ union rights

By Richard J Chang, writer for The Daily Orange | Published on October 1, 2019

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Photo by Dan Lyons, Asst. Photo Editor

A change in federal labor regulations could threaten the ability of Syracuse University graduate student employees to unionize.

The National Labor Relations Board currently considers graduate student workers as employees rather than primarily students. This gives graduate employees, like teaching and research assistants, a federally-protected right to unionize. A proposal released on Sept. 20 would take away federal protections of unionization rights.

Graduate workers at SU aren’t unionized. That means they can’t bargain with the university about their pay or benefits.

A group of graduate students launched a union drive in fall 2018 as Syracuse Graduate Employees United. The Graduate Student Organization, the academic governing body for graduate students, does not have a legally protected right to negotiate with SU.

In the past, graduate students at private universities have looked to the NLRB as a guardian of their union rights. Unionization through the board typically involves the graduate student body taking a vote on whether to recognize a union as their legal bargaining unit.

“Things like pay, benefits, all of that — absolutely grads should be worried about that.  And not just because of the new rule,” Lucas Hann, a graduate teaching assistant in communication and rhetorical studies. “We don’t negotiate. If the university decided they want to pay us less next year, they just do it.”

Lucas Hann, a second-year graduate student in the Communication and Rhetorical Studies program, is working to organize his fellow graduate students into a union. This is despite the recent NLRB ruling that graduate students can not be allowed to unionize at private institutions.[/caption]

Graduate students should be worried about the proposal threatening their ability to negotiate with the university, Hann said. He is also a member of SGEU’s Organizing Committee.

The NLRB has a 60-day comment period for people to give their opinions on the proposed regulation. The Graduate Student Organization sent an email to graduate students encouraging them to take advantage of the period, which closes on Nov. 22.

“If the proposed rule changes go through, Graduate Workers … will LOSE the right to self-determination in regards to unionization or collective bargaining,” reads the email obtained by The Daily Orange. “We URGE all grads to comment via the online form and let the NLRB know how the proposed rule changes will affect you.”

To spread awareness about the proposal, SGEU is working with graduate unions  — both recognized and not — at other universities and labor unions such as United Auto Workers and Service Employees International United. Many service, maintenance and library workers at SU are currently represented through part of SEIU.

“We want the greatest number of comments to come through as possible,” said Jamie Gagliano, an SGEU member. “And we want those voices to be as individual as possible to prevent the NLRB from clumping them together and respond to them as one comment.”

Union efforts have helped relationships between employees and employers — contrary to what many believe, said Gretchen Purser, an associate professor of sociology at SU who specializes in work and labor. Without unions, graduate students do not have mechanisms for addressing concerns, as there is “always a power relationship with faculty,” she said.

Congress enacted the National Labor Relations Act in 1935 to protect the rights of employees and employers, as well as to allow negotiations between the two. It is also meant to restrict private management methods that harm workers, businesses and the U.S. economy.

The NLRB is responsible for determining the rights of employees and protections of union bargaining. Three of the four current board members are Republican appointees. Student-employee rights change when a new administration holds the White House, Purser said.

Gagliano said because SU manages graduate employees by department or school, certain departments make more money than others. This is one reason why advocating for better working conditions individually is not as effective as collectively, she said.

Graduate employees will likely continue to advocate for better working conditions without bargaining with the university if the proposal goes into effect, Purser said. But SU will still have no obligation to bargain with them.

The university tries to address concerns through other pathways to prevent employees from unionizing, Purser said. She said it wouldn’t be surprising if workers were offered benefits “to try to stifle them.”

“The university has a vested interest in the work and career prospects of graduate students because that’s what makes the programs strong,” Hann said. “The fact that we have offices and salaries and health care plans and are required to do these things seems to indicate that we’re working.”