Union Seeking to Organize Columbia’s Graduate Students

The United Auto Workers (UAW) first petitioned the National Labor Relations Board to represent about 3,000 graduate assistants at Columbia University in December of 2014. The Regional Director dismissed the petition based on current law that prohibits graduate students from joining unions because they are students, not employees. On appeal, the Board reinstated the petition…
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NYU Graduate Students Ratify Union Contract

New York University graduate assistants are now members of a United Auto Workers affiliate union. They overwhelmingly approved a five-year contract that includes wage increases totaling at least 12% over five years and at least 90% of health care premiums paid for by NYU. The agreement covers about 1,500 research and teaching assistants working at…
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SEIU Suffers More Setbacks on Fight for $15

The following is from an opinion column in the Sun Prairie Star by Richard McCarty, Director of Research at Americans for Limited Government Foundation. For the past several years, the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) has been dumping millions of dollars of its members’ money into efforts across the country to hike the minimum wage…
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Resident Advisors and Peer Mentors Seek Right to Organize a Union on Campus

Organizing unions on college campuses is en vogue. As followers of Roetzel Recap know, the adjunct professor unionization movement is sweeping the country. Graduate students and some athletes, though to a lesser degree, have joined the movement. Now, resident advisors (RAs) and student peer mentors can be added to the mix of groups of people…
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Seattle Proposes Alternative Collective Bargaining Law for Cab Drivers

One limit of the National Labor Relations Act is that it applies only to employees. Independent contractors are not covered by the Act. A Seattle city council member recently introduced legislation that would bring collective bargaining to cab drivers that work as independent contractors who are not covered by the Act. This is another creative…
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UAW Membership Swells to Highest Level Since 2008

The United Automobile Workers membership has grown to 400,000 people. This is the largest the union has been since 2008. UAW’s members include more than just auto workers. The union has successfully recruited members from higher education institutions, such as teaching assistants and graduate students at a number of universities, casino workers, and other non-traditional…
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