Grad students at private colleges win the right to unionize

Student workers at private colleges and universities across the country can now join labor unions.

In a 3-1 decision announced Tuesday, the majority Democratic National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) decided that Columbia University graduate students who also work as teaching assistants at the school are considered employees under federal labor law and have the right to unionize.

Many graduate students at public universities have already formed collective bargaining units, as they are governed by state labor laws, however students at private universities have not been able to do so since 2004.

According to the board, the National Labor Relations Act “contains no clear language prohibiting student assistants from its coverage,” and the majority of the board “found no compelling reason to exclude student assistants from the protections of the Act.”

The Wall Street Journal reported that this decision “would deliver tens of thousands of young, educated potential members to the ailing labor movement—and a giant headache to some of the most prestigious universities in the country.”
 
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