Graduate
Student Organizing Decision
I am delighted to report that the NLRB has rendered its decision
in our graduate student organizing case. The Board today issued
an order sending our case back to the Regional Director for
proceedings consistent with the decision released yesterday
in the Brown graduate student organizing case, which was the
lead case.
...more
Why Penn has Appealed the NLRB Ruling
Over the last several years, regional directors of the National
Labor Relations Board (NLRB) have ordered that union elections
for graduate students be held at several private universities,
including Penn, Brown, Columbia, and Tufts. These elections
have been held but the ballots remain sealed by the National
Labor Relations Board, pending the outcome of an appeals process.
In May, 2003, the National Board agreed to review Penn’s
case, concluding that the University’s appeal “raises
substantial issues warranting review.”
Like these other universities, Penn appealed the regional
NLRB ruling to the National Board because of the fundamental
educational principles that are at stake. Some graduate students
maintain that because they are required to teach in order
to receive their degree, they are university employees. However,
Penn and the other private universities have maintained that
graduate students are students, not employees and that teaching,
as a long-standing requirement for doctoral programs, is an
essential component of graduate students’ educational
experience. This view that the relationship between a private
university and its students is primarily educational has been
upheld by the NLRB and federal courts for nearly 30 years.
To date, the sole case in which the National Board has held
to the contrary concerns New York University (2000). We believe
that the National Board will conclude, as we did, that graduate
students at Penn are students, and not employees. |
An
Introductory Note from Judith Rodin and Robert Barchi
For the past year, there’s been a lively debate among
members of the University community about the issue of unionization
by graduate students. That debate has raised important issues
that are academic, economic and also legal in nature.
Full
Statement
|
| February
26-27 Election Concluded.
The election was held on Wednesday, February 26 and Thursday,
February 27, 2003 in the Benjamin Franklin Room at Houston
Hall. The polls were open from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. both days.
We hope you made your voice heard and your vote count.
Read
the January 24 memo on who could vote
|
