Workplace Blog

Inside Higher Ed: New Tactic on TA Unions

Two key Congressional Democrats on Thursday proposed legislation that would allow teaching assistants at private universities to unionize. While many public universities recognize TA unions (which are regulated in the public sector by state laws), private universities’ labor disputes are judged by the National Labor Relations Board, which in 2004 ruled that graduate students are primarily students, and not employees, so TA’s are not entitled to unionize. The legislation announced by Sen. Edward M. Kennedy and Rep. George Miller, the respective chairs of the Senate and House education committees, would reverse the 2004 ruling by the NLRB. In a statement, Senator Kennedy said: “Teaching and research assistants are in classrooms every day, educating students in colleges and universities across the country. This bill restores the bargaining rights unfairly denied by the NLRB to these hard-working graduate students.” It is unclear what will happen to the bill; President Bush’s appointees to the NLRB have been skeptical of TA unions, as have leaders of private universities. If a law did overturn the 2004 ruling, the impact could be significant. Prior to that ruling, New York University teaching assistants unionized, although after the ruling, the university declined to continue union recognition when its contract expired, and a union strike over the issue fizzled without winning another contract. Several organizing drives of TA’s at private universities that were active prior to the 2004 ruling have been muted since the combination of the decision and the defeat of the NYU strike.

The Chronicle News Blog: AAUP Re-Elects Cary Nelson as President

Members of the American Association of University Professors have given Cary Nelson a second two-year term as president. Mr. Nelson is a professor of English at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Since he took office, in 2006, Mr. Nelson has tried to increase the association’s flagging membership rolls with a national campaign. He has also begun a twice-monthly online newsletter to AAUP members and issued statements on politics in the classroom and academic freedom.

Mr. Nelson was challenged for the presidency by Thomas E. Guild, a visiting professor in the business school at Oklahoma City University. Mr. Guild’s campaign Web site said the AAUP was facing a financial crisis — running a deficit and liquidating investments to meet its staff payroll. He garnered 41 percent of the vote. Only 6,156 of the 40,000 AAUP members eligible to vote cast ballots.

The members also voted in a slate of officers to the National Council, which is the AAUP’s governing body. Results are available on the AAUP’s Web site. —Robin Wilson